Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993 TAG: 9312290122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Smaller departments worry about cascading paperwork; others fear that gaps in computer networks may miss some felons or deny guns to legal purchasers.
Still others have questions: How do you check for mental problems when records are sealed? How do you determine habitual drug use?
"This could be a logistical nightmare," said Bobby Jones, police chief in Great Falls, Mont.
The frustration is typified by state police in Arkansas, where a computer system needed to check prospective gun buyers' backgrounds won't be ready when the Brady bill takes effect.
Until it is, officers will have to pore through mountains of individual files.
"It is going to be very difficult for us to meet the five-day waiting period. In fact, I don't see how we're going to do it," said Col. Tommy Goodwin, director of state police in Little Rock.
But federal officials say local departments need to take the long view. Yes, they agree, enforcement will vary among jurisdictions. Some people who should not buy guns initially will slip through the cracks. But down the road, the $200 million a year the bill provides to update state and national criminal databases will make for a better system.
"What will be considered a reasonable search will become much more complete in five years than it will on Feb. 28," said Jack Killorin, a spokesman with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
President Clinton signed the long-debated handgun control bill into law last month. It requires local police agencies to perform "reasonable" background checks of state, local and national records within five business days to determine if people seeking to buy handguns are eligible.
Those prohibited from buying handguns include convicted felons, fugitives, minors, drug and alcohol addicts, illegal aliens and those judged mentally incompetent.
The law will have little or no impact in 26 states, including Virginia, and most of the nation's major cities, where state or local laws already mandate background checks and waiting periods.
But in the remaining jurisdictions, where the Brady bill means new, time-consuming routine, law officers are fretting over the attendant costs and confusion. Some wonder how they can comply with the law when much of the information is not readily available.
The ATF's Killorin readily acknowledges there will be initial problems trying to meet all the requirements of the law. But he says the Brady bill is a step toward the goal of developing a nationwide computer link that can instantly access all criminal records. Similar systems in Florida, Virginia, California and Maryland have prevented more than 47,000 handgun purchases by felons and fugitives.
Killorin said federal officials understand there may be no immediate way to check a gun buyer's mental status or drug use, "but people are getting lost in the hypotheticals."
"The bulk of the issue is criminal convictions," he said. "We probably won't get everybody, but we'll stop a lot of convicted offenders from getting guns, and that's a good thing."
by CNB