Most gun owners agree that the biggest step toward a complete ban on the private ownership of firearms is the registering of gun owners. Using the so-called instant check system, passed as part of the Brady bill, the federal government has taken a giant step in that direction.
For years, GOA has stood virtually alone in opposing the Brady instant check. Because it is widely supported by many "pro-gun" politicians and other groups, it is helpful to revisit why GOA opposes this legislation, and why it is a threat to the very core of the Second Amendment. But first, a brief history.
When the Brady law was being debated by Congress in the 1980s and early 1990s, there were two distinct issues under consideration. One matter was a waiting period, or so-called cooling off time. The pro and anti-gun forces in Congress were fairly polarized on this point. Led by Charles Schumer (D-NY), the anti-gun forces were preaching the virtues of having to wait seven (later reduced to five) days between the sale and the actual possession of a handgun.
The pro-gun side was opposed to the waiting period on Constitutional grounds. Fine so far. But there was a second issue involved in Brady for which the "pro-gunners" had no satisfactory answer; the background check.
Schumer et al, proposed that the background check be performed during the waiting period. The opposing side, both inside and outside of Congress, scrambled for another "solution." What they came up with was the instant check system. "If you back off the waiting period," they said, "we'll give you your background check instantly through the use of computers and technology." As if to prove this, the instant check was passed in Virginia in 1989. The gun banners agreed to let the waiting period expire, and in 1993, the "instant check" passed as part of Brady.
This was considered to be a victory for gun owners. Few questioned the fact that the anti-gunners got half of what they wanted while gun owners were stuck with an empty bag. The "great compromise" was no compromise at all; we got the shaft.
By 1998, the U.S. Attorney General is required to "establish a national instant criminal background check system that any licensee (gun dealer) may contact, by telephone or by other electronic means...on whether receipt of a firearm by prospective transferee (you) would violate Section 922 of Title 18."
All along, GOA had been warning of the dangers of the "instant check." Whenever names are entered into a computer, GOA has argued, there is no guarantee they will ever come out, regardless of what the law says.
Brady mandates that background check names be deleted after a certain period of time, but the temptation of government officials to hang on to the names is overwhelming.
To prove this point, GOA has often cited a 1989 Justice Department report which stated that, "Any system that requires a criminal history record check prior to purchase of a firearm creates the potential for the automated tracking of individuals who seek to purchase firearms."
Now, eight years later, our fears have become a reality.
In 1996, a Commission for the Bureau of Justice Statistics developed a computer database through which all information regarding gun purchases must flow. The result was the Firearms Inquiry Statistical Tracking: FIST.
Any government agent or agency who wants a list of gun owners must salivate at the potential of FIST. This data base includes "fields" for all information that is gathered at the point of purchase, which incorporates the 4473 form, the Brady form, and any applicable state forms.
Put together, these forms contain the name, address, Social Security number, drivers license number, age, sex, race, height, weight, home and business phone, concealed carry permit request information, the firearm's make, model, serial number, caliber and barrel length, information regarding the final outcome of the background check, and more.
Herein lies the opportunities for abuse. All of the above information is sent from the dealer to the Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO), who is the person responsible for executing the background check. This can be done now with the FIST program.
The CLEO is supposed to retain the information for only 20 days, but is in effect accountable to no one for doing so. With all of this information already computerized, it would be an incredibly simple task to gather up diskettes nationwide and compile a national list of gun owners.
Consider the warning given by Mike Slavonic, NRA Director and Chairman of the Legislative Committee for the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League. Noting that the instant background check could be "our downfall," Slavonic states,
What most Americans don't know is that once instant check goes into effect in 1998 the purpose of Brady could be used to set the stage for national confiscation. Instant check could eventually keep guns out of the hands of everyone by registering everyone who purchases a handgun, rifle and shotgun and who obtained concealed weapons permits in a computerized database like 'FIST'. The most difficult problem with a gun ban is locating the firearms. FIST [with the help of the instant check], over time, could solve that problem.
Gun owners must wake up to the dangers of the "instant registration check." Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) has introduced H.R. 102, a bill that would require the National Instant Check System to go into effect on November 28, 1997. This would move up its date of implementation by one year.
Law-abiding citizens should not have to receive prior government approval, whether it be through an instant check or any other means, before exercising their rights. The instant registration scheme is poised to become the downfall of the Second Amendment.
For more arguments on the problems with the Brady law in general-- and waiting periods and background checks in particular-- please see our Firearms Fact Sheet of 1997. Note that you will be in another section and navigation may become more difficult.