Flaws in Arizona criminal-background-records system imperil public, study finds

[Ptah]

The criminal-background-check system that Arizona police, gun dealers and employers
rely on is flawed, and fixing it could cost as much as $24 million, according to a new study
by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission.

The system relies on employees at dozens of agencies around the state to properly enter
and track information. Too often, the study found, the system fails, resulting in missing
criminal records and creating large records gaps that can endanger law-enforcement
officers and the public.

<snip>
Of 44,075 outstanding Arizona felony warrants that should appear in the
National Crime Information Center, a minority of 13,344 are actually there.

The absence of a statewide domestic-violence charge, which is typically charged as
another offense such as assault, makes it difficult for courts to identify domestic-violence
crimes and next to impossible to identify the relationship between the victim and the
defendant. While that relationship information is required in the NICS,
“this information is not captured in any system in Arizona,” the report states.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2013/03/21/flaws-in-arizona-criminal-background-records-system-imperil-public-study-finds/

[Hoyt]

1. That's disturbing. There really is a lot of evidence that the system doesn't work very well.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio must be running the system.

Congress seems ti thinks tweaking the background requirements will solve the issue of guns in our society -- it won't, just prolong it and make doing something about guns more difficult down the road.

[Ptah]

4. This report is a reaction to the Virginia Tech Massacre. Now Arizona needs to respond.

The process of identifying flaws in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
began after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, when the U.S. Justice Department started to award grants to states
to improve their records programs. Federal officials recognized the need to improve the database in part because
the shooter, who killed 32 people and then himself at Virginia Tech, was able to legally buy a gun from a federally
licensed firearms dealer despite being mentally ill.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Well, it is not the "system" that fails

it is the people who are not doing their job of not entering correct data.

[Ptah]

5. The system can be improved.

I hope this report helps.

[spin]

3. The criminal background check is and should be the first line of defense ...

against criminals and those with severe mental issue that hope to buy firearms.

We need to make every effort to improve it and insure that it is reliable and accurate. Investing $24 million dollars to fix the system in Arizona might well help stop another tragic massacre and also reduce gun violence by criminals. It could easily pay off in the future. Just one murder trial can cost a fortune.

Arizona murder trial cost county nearly $1 million
Pima taxpayers footed the bill for three who murdered father, 9-year-old daughter

The Associated Press

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

TUCSON, Ariz. — The total cost to defend three border activists ultimately convicted of killing a southern Arizona man and his young daughter in a 2009 home invasion was more than $951,000, making it one of the costliest in Pima County’s history.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that the only defendant to avoid death row accounted for 45 percent of the total expenses, and the six attorneys assigned to the cases received roughly $500,000.
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/aug/31/arizona-murder-trial-cost-county-nearly-1-million/

I imagine the ultimate cost of trying Jared Loughner for the Tucson shooting that severely injured Gabby Giffords and killed six others, will prove extremely high.

I also support universal background checks which would help eliminate the "gun show loophole." I personally refuse to sell any of my firearms to a person that I do not know well and he/she has to be a resident of my state and have a valid concealed weapons permit.

[Ptah]

6. Jared Loughner pleaded guilty. I don't know how much the court costs might be.

[spin]

7. That's true and you may be right and the cost will not be excessive. ...

My point is that gun violence causes not only tragedies but also leads to high legal expenses for government and financial difficulties for the families of the victims.

It's critical that we do our best to insure that the first line of defense against violent criminals and those with serious mental issues purchasing firearms. The background check system should complete and reliable and making sure that it is should be a top priority in every state. It might also require funds to be appropriated by Congress to aid the states in their efforts.

Badly flawed background check system fails to contain firearms sales
Center story detailed 'instant check' system flaws
By Rick Schmitt 2:00 am, June 23, 2011 Updated: 4:05 pm, February 8, 2013

***snip***

The data gap that Geisel exploited should have been closed by now. Four years ago, after the massacre at Virginia Tech exposed gaps in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), Congress and the Bush administration took decisive action to shore up the joint state-federal operation, which is supposed to keep guns away from the deranged and the dangerous.

But the so-called NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 has clearly not improved things much at all, an iWatch News investigation found. And that’s far from the only problem. The federal background check system, conceived as a first line of defense against gun crime, remains riddled with data gaps, loopholes and disputes over just who should be barred – a troubling conclusion brought into sharp relief by the January shooting spree in Arizona that killed six and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

A dozen years after it went fully operational, NICS is still a patchwork operation that, despite a huge data base, often relies on massively incomplete information.

Millions of pertinent documents – from mental health and drug abuse records to the case records of accused felons – remain outside the system, in boxes in courthouse basements or in legal limbo because of state and local laws that prohibit sharing with the feds. As a result, guns are getting into the hands of people who should never possess them....emphasis added
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2011/06/23/4982/badly-flawed-background-check-system-fails-contain-firearms-sales

The above is a rather long but excellent article and was funded in part by a grant from the Joyce Foundation.

[Ptah]

8. I agree that the tragedies cost us dearly.

I think every firearm should be registered and insured.

[spin]

9. Unfortunately such ideas are difficult to get passed into law at the national level. ...

We can improve the NICS background check system considerably and not even have to pass new legislation. We should even be able to extend it and make a background check a requirement for the sale of all firearms as this idea has support from many gun owners.