Obama Directed FBI to Purge NICS (Gun Background Check Database) of Names of 500,000 Fugitives

Fugitives can't buy guns, at least as long as they're fugitives.

For some reason, the generally anti-gun Obama chose to define "fugitive" in a narrow way, and thus struck the names of 500,000 fugitives -- now no longer defined as fugitives -- from the NICS database.

he Justice Department under Barack Obama directed the FBI to drop more than 500,000 names of fugitives with outstanding arrest warrants from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, acting FBI deputy director David Bowdich testified Wednesday.

Fugitives from justice are barred from buying a firearm under federal law. But what is a fugitive from justice? That definition has been under debate by the FBI and the ATF.

According to The Washington Post, the FBI considered any person with an outstanding arrest warrant to be a fugitive. On the other hand, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives defined a fugitive as someone who has an outstanding arrest warrant and has crossed state lines.

That disagreement was settled at the end of Obama's second term, when the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel sided with the ATF's interpretation.

I don't see this as nefarious, and it's possible the legislative context here supports the more restrictive definition better than the more expansive one.

However, it does seem that someone with an outstanding arrest warrant shouldn't be able to buy a gun until his status is cleared. He might show up for a hearing and merely get a fine, or plead to a misdemeanor, or have charges dismissed. Or, he could be arraigned and tried on criminal charges.

But that does seem like the sort of thing that should keep you from getting a gun at least until you show up in court to contest the warrant.

Add this to the "Promise" program, where Obama bullied schools into agreeing to not call the cops on dangerous students, to keep them free of the arrest record they probably earned (and, consequently -- free to buy guns), and what you have is a NICS background check system that should work very well in theory, but is kept from working properly by Obama's decisions.

Which is then used as an argument as to why we need to Ban All The Guns.

Well, maybe if you weren't sabotaging the system already in place, we'd keep guns out of the hands of more criminals, Guys.

posted by Ace at 03:43 PM

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