NICS Approval Database Purged Despite Kennedy and Schumer
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
The Justice Department is continuing to destroy records from a gun purchase database of approved buyers despite a request from members of Congress and the FBI that it be used in terrorism investigations, according to The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
Justice Department spokeswoman Lori McMahon said on Dec. 14 that under the regulations, the approved gun purchases from the National Instant Check System (NICS) are purged after 90 days.
Two Democrats, Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Charles Schumer of New York, asked the Justice Department to preserve the records until Congress can consider legislation that would grant the FBI access to compare the list of approved gun purchasers with a list of suspected terrorists.
Kennedy and Schumer are among the sponsors of S-1788, a bill intended to reverse existing federal law that prevents the creation of gunowners databases and the use of the NICS records for such investigative purposes. The sponsors of the legislation have been attempting to promote national gunowner registration for many years and were willing to accept even a six-month retention of records during the Clinton Administration.
The debate is only about record retention for approved buyers; records of those rejected by the NICS system because the prospective buyers were prohibited persons may be retained. Indeed the records could be used for prosecution, since an attempt to purchase a firearm by a prohibited person is a felony. However, only a handful of such people were ever prosecuted under Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno.
Exploiting Terrorism
The debate over the NICS records is merely a continuation of the anti-gunners’ drive for national registration of legal gunowners given new life by exploitation of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“It is important to preserve all records that could assist in the investigation of the terrorist attacks,” Kennedy and Schumer wrote to Attorney General John Ashcroft. “To allow it to be destroyed may eliminate essential evidence that could tie individuals to terrorist activities.”
The National Rifle Association (NRA), however, said Ashcroft is being asked to “violate federal law” by making privileged records available for a giant “fishing expedition.”
“In reality . . . gun-ban groups are using the issue to promote their agenda to expand NICS towards a national registration scheme of all law-abiding gun buyers,” the NRA said.
The controversy developed in late November when Ashcroft rejected an FBI request to examine the records of people who had cleared checks to purchase a gun. Federal agents had examined the records of 186 of 1,200 suspects before Ashcroft ordered the process stopped.
Ashcroft, a longtime opponent of gun control, told senators during a recent Judiciary Committee hearing that the law does not permit records of approved gun purchases to be examined by law enforcement officials or anyone else. Only the records of people denied the right to purchase a gun are available for examination, he said.
The debate over access to the database extends well beyond the gun community into a wide debate over a variety of government initiatives that affect privacy. While many groups who have opposed federal invasions of privacy authorized by hasty federal legislation have not addressed the NICS records assault, a few voices of objection to S-1788 have been raised by even some anti-gunners.
One such was Brock N. Meeks in an editorial on MSNBC who found himself siding with the NRA on this question even though he supports an end to sales at gun shows. Meeks called the Kennedy-Schumer bill “hairball” legislation that would strip away the privacy of legal gunowners. “The only thing that could make Schumer’s bill more ludicrous would be if it contained a sub-section mandating registration of serial numbers on all box cutters,” he said.
But inspite of objections from privacy advocates, there are signs that some traditional pro-gun lawmakers might vote for S-1788.
Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), who has generally opposed gun control legislation, said that in the fight against terrorism the FBI and other law enforcement ought to have access to all databases, and not just to determine whether suspects bought guns, according to The Times Picayune.
Breaux said the NICS database ought to be used to help the US Department of Transportation decide whether individuals applying or already licensed to drive trucks with hazardous materials, a potential terrorism threat, pose a risk.
“If the data is there, let’s use it for legitimate purposes. And if we have a database for people convicted of crimes, why not use it for any kind of search that requires a criminal background check?” Breaux said.
Defends Ashcroft
Rep. David Vitter (R-LA) said Ashcroft is being unfairly criticized by gun control advocates for following the law.
“His interpretation of the law is absolutely correct,” Vitter said. He said that any plan to allow the instant check system to be used for law enforcement would be a potential invasion of the rights of law-abiding gunowners.
“We don’t want to start opening up criminal files for law-abiding citizens,” Vitter said.
Rep. John Cooksey (R-LA), a candidate for the US Senate seat held by Democrat Mary Landrieu, said he would probably oppose legislation allowing the approved list of gun purchasers to be accessed by law enforcement because it would violate privacy safeguards promised gunowners.
“And the fact is that the terrorists don’t use guns as much as they use bombs, and, as we saw with the hijackings, knives, to carry out their cowardly acts,” Cooksey said.
Landrieu said she needs to examine the issue further before taking a firm position, but that usually she thinks law enforcement should be given as many tools as possible to fight terrorism.
“Generally, no stone should be left unturned trying to track these perpetrators,” she said.
Jim Kouri, vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, a terrorism expert, said that although Ashcroft is right in his interpretation of the law, he ought not be wasting time in asking Congress to give the FBI access to the records.