On the recordJuly 18, 2001
Mr. Chairman, it was career civil servants in the Justice Department that argued successfully before the Supreme Court that this retention period was necessary to be retained. When we asked with regard to the 90 days, they found that it would do no harm whatsoever. In fact, when we looked at the information that was prepared for the notice of proposed rulemaking, they said the only reason not to have 180 days was basically that gun-interest groups would object politically. The Justice Department's Criminal Justice Advisory Board in fact recommended one full year's retention of these records.
Source
govinfo.gov
