Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
For more than two decades, Americans have agreed in principle to use technology to scrutinize the backgrounds of citizens ‘prior’ to them exercising their Constitutional right to purchase firearms and bear arms.
The majority of Americans also want to make sure that these checks are done fairly, efficiently, and constitutionally. Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS), operated by the Pennsylvania State Police, does not adhere to these standards in spite of the millions of dollars of taxpayer money that has been, and is being, spent.
First, one must understand how this process works. The PICS system (overseen by the Pennsylvania State Police) operates as a Point of Contact (POC) for the federal Department of Justice and the FBI, , which operates the National Instant Check System (NICS).
What this means is that Pennsylvania is authorized by the Federal government to operate a stand-alone agency to conduct these firearm background checks on its citizens. The PICS system went online in 1998, enabled by state legislation, ACT 17, enacted in 1995.
Because of very serious flaws in the PICS system, Congress and the state Legislature have enacted laws to correct them. Unfortunately, nothing has significantly improved and citizens are still paying the price.
In a June 2001 letter from the Department of Justice, the PICS/PSP system was directed to correct operational flaws: “Therefore, PICS should not . . . automatically deny individuals where the information cannot be obtained by PICS.” This continuing problem is but one of others identified by the Department of Justice.
Some of these operational flaws even include the PICS/state police system not following the law e.g., retention of firearms sale information and the registration of these individuals into a central database.
The PICS/State Police system also violates a section of Pennsylvania law which states that the background check requirement “shall not apply to any law enforcement of¬ficer whose current identification as a law enforcement officer shall be construed as a valid li¬cense to carry a firearm or any person who possesses a valid license to carry a firearm."
It is important to remember that there is a very significant human cost to these mistakes. As an example of the egregious nature of PICS, this case is of a Federal Law Enforcement officer (name withheld for officer safety) who was (and still is) an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent for thirteen years at the time of his December 2009 PICS denial by the PICS system.
He was forced to go back nearly 20 years to retrieve records to prove his innocence. This agent personally wrote the following statements to me via e-mail: The system is radically flawed and change is needed-This was such a nasty experience. Yes, these laws and processes definitely need to be changed.
It is very important to note that not one pro-gun control organization, such as CeaseFirePA, objected to any of these violations of the law or individual liberties.
It does not appear to matter that citizens are denied their rights because of inefficiencies and incompetence. Their testimony shows that their goal is greater restrictions on firearms ownership.
It is also important to realize the immensity of the problem. From 1998 to 2013 PICS has denied over 150,000 Pennsylvanians the right to purchase firearms.
For all of these denials, there are less than 2,000 criminal convictions.
Of the denials that were challenged (not all denials are challenged) nearly 30,000 were reversed. This means they were not lawful denials. These facts indicate that our Constitutional rights are being repeatedly violated!
Since the inception of instant firearm background checks four states have rejected running their own state systems, such as Pennsylvania operates. They experienced the same problems of bureaucratic bungling, indifference, lack of efficiency, turf wars and Constitutional concerns that continue to haunt Pennsylvania.
Other point of contact system states are also re-examining their systems, for the very same reasons. These include Tennessee, Colorado, and Oregon. At this point there are 36 states where firearms background checks are conducted very efficiently through the NICS system at no charge to the state.
Legislation sponsored by Rep. Tim Krieger is the solution to these inequities. This change will save Pennsylvania taxpayers millions of dollars. Making this change to the NICS system will also create a safer Pennsylvania and nation by consolidating records and firearm background checks into one system.
The NICS system maintains a more effective and more reliable system that also has a better record of fairness and accuracy when citizens challenge denials because of incorrect information.
Legislators should also direct the state police to forward records on domestic abusers with a PFA, just as has been done with mental health records, to the NICS system.
I have testified numerous times before the Pennsylvania legislature regarding these problems and identified many additional flaws that are a real concern to many Pennsylvanians.
At these same hearings, anti-gun organizations, such as CeaseFirePA, have testified that they care nothing about the Constitution or having an efficient system, nor the misery of citizens hobbled by bureaucratic indifference and the denial of Constitutional freedoms. We need to see through the hysteria and outlandish, unfounded statements if we are to arrive at a safer society that also respects individual freedoms.
Kim Stolfer is the chairman of Firearms Owners Against Crime. He writes from Allegheny County.
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2014/04/heres_why_firearms_background.html