This morning’s Linkswarm covered that story that’s been going around about the reporter who thought it was easier to buy a gun than to buy cold medicine. (Spoiler: she apparently didn’t realize you have to fill out a Form 4473 and go through a background check to buy a gun. The story is being presented as “she failed the check”, but the way I read it, the check was never done because the address on her driver’s license did not match her home address.)
Here’s a flip side to this story. Some background: a guy was arrested in one of our local parks earlier this week. He was carrying multiple weapons: “a loaded 9 mm handgun with an extra magazine, a collapsible baton, two knives, and an assault-style rifle loaded with a 30-round magazine and fitted with a stand, scope and tactical light.”
Ignore for the moment the question of what “an assault-style rifle” is (I haven’t been able to find any photos of the rifle in question, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it turned out to be a tarted-up 10/22). The gentleman in question was charged with “unlawfully carrying a handgun and a baton and deadly conduct”. He also had an arrest warrant out of Harris County.
More background: Michael Cargill owns a local gun shop, Central Texas Gun Works. Mr. Cargill is a prominent local Second Amendment advocate, who is frequently quoted in the local media when they run gun related stories.
Mr. Cargill sold the gentleman his rifle about a month ago. Now, it doesn’t exactly look good to be selling guns to folks who have open felony arrest warrants for domestic violence. But Mr. Cargill has an explanation for this, and it’s a doozy:
…
Cargill blamed that lapse on courts in Houston, which he said did not notify the National Instant Criminal Check System that Broesche had been charged with a felony. “When you have a warrant for your arrest,” Cargill said, “that triggers a denial for purchasing a firearm.”
Courts, sheriff’s offices and other local law enforcement agencies across the state often fail to notify the background check system of charges or when people are released from jail on bail, Cargill said. He said he frequently sees people’s applications to purchase a gun delayed because of an arrest, but the National Instant Criminal Check System’s database sometimes doesn’t include additional information related to the disposition of the cases, which can determine whether they are eligible to purchase a firearm.
Nut graph:
So the courts aren’t reporting information that impacts background checks. Meanwhile, the usual suspects are calling for “red flag laws”, when we can’t even trust the police to get the right person anymore than we can trust the government to list the right people on the no-fly list.