The government will destroy National Instant Check System (NICS) records on approved gun buyers after 24 hours because of a provision Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) inserted into the massive multiple-agency spending bill that became law in late January, according to The Wichita Eagle.

The length of time for keeping records for approved buyers will be shortened from 90 days to one day after a gun buyer passes a background check.

First proposed two years ago by Attorney General John Ashcroft, the change is a victory for gun rights advocates, who argue that keeping the records is an invasion of privacy.

Gun control advocates say that destroying records immediately will handicap efforts to keep guns away from criminals and others who should not have them.

Tiahrt said that when Congress required background checks in the 1993 Brady Act, the intent was to destroy records at the earliest opportunity. The FBI check is meant to keep guns from being sold to felons, drug users and others barred from owning guns.

“For us law-abiding citizens, there is no need to have this database. It is a freedom issue. It is a privacy issue,” Tiahrt said.

He argued that guns mistakenly sold to felons can still be traced through records that must be maintained by federally licensed firearm dealers.

“It’s not that the records do not exist. If a crime is committed, they can still trace it back through the gun dealer,” Tiahrt said.

Opponents of Tiahrt’s provision say the records should be kept longer because there are delays in reporting to NICS domestic violence restraining orders and other prohibitions to owning guns.

Some law enforcement organizations are among the opponents; the FBI Agents Association wrote lawmakers last year that a reduced retention period would make it harder to use the paperwork to investigate or prosecute crimes related to the gun sales in question.

They point to findings by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, that only seven out of 235 illegal gun sales between July 2001 and January 2002 were noticed after one day. That would suggest that the system needs improvement because it is not working