🚀 go-pugleaf

BRADY LAW SET TO CONTROL ALL LONG GUNS


 (Reproduced complete and unedited from Shooting Sports Retailer,
March/April 1998)


Five-day waiting period ends in November
Industry and public basically unaware of total overhaul

By Alan Korwin
Contributing Writer

 Do you remember the enormous burst of handgun sales that the Brady law
stimulated?
In the days before Brady took effect, factories were working three shifts to
meet the demand.
President Clinton was hailed, somewhat ironically, for bringing about the
greatest sales year
in the firearms industry's history.   Well, its about to happen again, this
time with long guns.
  America is operating under what the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms calls the "temporary" Brady requirements: waiting periods, white
forms, handgun sales, local background checks--these are temporary measures
under federal law 18 USC ~922 (s), while preparations take place behind the
scenes. The temporary measures were scheduled to sunset in five years. How
soon those five years have passed.
  Beginning on the day that is 60 months after the enactment of the Brady
law, the temporary rules expire so the permanent requirements can take
effect. That date is Nov. 30, 1998, a mere few months away.
  When the permanent Brady rules come on line, all gun sales--long guns and
handguns--will fall under the federal control of "national instant
background checks." The centralized federalization of all gun-sale records
will be complete.
  Technically, the new system cannot kick in until 30 days after the U.S.
Attorney General notifies all FFLs that the National Instant Criminal
Background Check system is up and running. A turf war over who would run the
system has left the FBI in charge--and they plan to base the computer
operation out of their Clarksburg, West Virginia, data facilities.
  Whether they will be ready on time is anyone's guess. Speaking at the
January SHOT show
convention in Las Vegas (the largest firearms-industry show in the world),
BATF and other authorities alternately said the system would definitely be
ready, or that they weren't sure, or ask the FBI (which states in a brochure
that they'll be ready). The anti-rights people at Handgun Control have
issued demands that federal authorities step up efforts to implement the
system, which they decry as woefully far behind.
  In addition, every FFL in America will not have to "enroll" with the FBI
to use the system. Failure to enroll would prevent FFLs from legally selling
firearms under almost all circumstances.
  One thing noted by BATF senior counsel Stephen R. Rubenstein, and clearly
stated in the first sentence of the Brady law, is that the temporary
requirements do expire 60 months after enactment (on Nov. 30, 1998). If the
insta-check system isn't up by that time, as Rubenstein correctly noted,
there will be no Brady requirements at all for a period of time. Whether
Congress would allow this to happen is a separate issue, and the ensuing
debates to create law where there is none presently would bear watching. The
expiration date will provide a leverage point for interested parties to
introduce changes.
  Once the new system is up (dubbed NICS by the FBI), an instant national
accounting of gunsale volume will permanently flow through FBI hands. Based
on mandatory direct contact from dealers, every single purchase, city by
city, will be tabulated. Cleveland has a gun show this weekend, it will
show. Nebraska is slow right now, those numbers, like election returns, will
be available to law enforcement and others privileged to view the data.
Manufacturers who would like to watch retail sales activity could
conceivably glean such data on a minute-by-minute basis-though who will have
access to the information is unclear. It will be like no other sales data
collection system in existence in America.
  All this commercial data is being collected, of course, in the name of
stopping crime. As the sales information comes flooding in, the FBI will
move into a new arena as the largest, most sophisticated warehouse of
point-of-sale records for any product in the world. The law  requires them
to obtain complete ID on all buyers, but then to purge this from their
files. It is unknown if there are loopholes or other conditions that will
allow them to avoid the purge; they have indicated they will destroy
"information about an inquiry resulting in an allowed transfer."
  As a side note, fingerprints submitted to the FBI for
concealed-carry-license background checks, despite strict federal bans on
registry of gun owners, are cataloged by the FBI until the applicant reaches
99 years of age, the Bureau reports. As with the current Brady system, no
pursuit of persons denied firearms is planned. Statistics on the numbers of
denials, by the hour
or day or month, will be available, of course (though it's not clear if such
news will be released). Whether anyone will be dispatched to investigate any
felons, fugitives or other misfits, who must provide their names and
addresses to get into the system in the first place, is
no more likely than we see under the current regulations. Under that system,
somewhere between 44,000 prohibited possessors (the BATF number), 186,000
(the Justice Dept. number), and 250,000 (President Clinton's proclaimed
number) were denied handgun sales, with only seven arrests and four
prosecutions.
  When long guns are added to the totals, an awful lot of dangerous people
may be identified and
then left to go about their business. This puzzles some observers,
especially since Attorney General Janet Reno announced that arrests are down
for the second year in a row (despite adding 100,000 new police to
departments nationwide). The cost for the new system, which will catalog
every honest sale of a firearm in America, has been set by Congress at a
staggering $200 million per year. -SSR

  Alan Korwin is a full-time, freelance writer based in Scottsdale, AZ, and
author of six books on gun laws, including Gun Laws of America, Every
Federal Gun Law on the Books.
  In addition, Korwin's company, Bloomfield Press (800-707-4020) features
Supreme Court Gun Cases and The Traveler's Guide to the Gun Laws of the 50
States.
  Concealed carry laws have been enacted by 31 states and others ave
considering similar laws. However, not all these laws are the same, thus
adding to confusion if citizens carry across state
lines. On top of that, some counties and even some cities are writing
legislation for their own jurisdictions that will be in conflict with state
and federal laws.
  Korwin's books are a definite advantage to anyone with a need to know,
which should include just about every handgun owner, especially. Retailers
should consider carrying these books, as well. -Ed .

 SHOOTING SPORTS RETAILER March/April, 1998

--
Long Island Shooting Center
http://www.lisc.net/
lisc@erols.com