Mike Levin: “the Brady law mandated the establishment of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to allow federally…”

“the Brady law mandated the establishment of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to allow federally licensed gun sellers to establish whether a prospective gun buyer is disqualified from purchasing a firearm. The NICS system is working. In its first 25 months of operation, more than 156,000 felons, fugitives and others not eligible to purchase a gun have attempted to do so and have been denied by an FBI NICS check. At the same time, NICS has not placed unreasonable constraints on law abiding citizens' ability to buy a gun. In fact, the Department of Justice reports that more than 7 out of 10 NICS background checks are completed immediately and 95 percent are completed within 2 hours. But I'm concerned that recent action by Attorney General Ashcroft could limit the effectiveness of NICS and hamper law enforcement efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Regulations issued in January allowed the FBI to keep NICS data for 90 days following a check. The 90-day period is critical to law enforcement's ability to audit the NICS system for errors, search for patterns of illegal or false sales, such as purchasers using fake ID's, and screen for gun dealers who may abuse the system. But in June, the Attorney General announced plans to reduce the length of time that law enforcement agencies can retain NICS data to 24 hours.…”