By Marion P. Hammer
USF Executive Director
NRA Past President
Florida – -(Ammoland.com)- Regarding the recent hysterical claims by MSM that no background checks were performed on select Florida concealed carry permit holders. The media isn’t getting it right and anti-gun Democrats don’t want to get it right — for some, it’s all about attacking a candidate for political reasons. This issue is extremely important to all firearms owners and license holders. Truth and facts matter, so here is what really happened.
THE FACTS:
The Division of Licensing under the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DOACS) did, in fact, do background checks on applicants for licenses to carry concealed weapons or firearms.
Background checks were done through FCIC (Florida Criminal Information Computer system) and NCIC (Nation Criminal Information Computer system — the national FBI fingerprint data base) and they also did a NICS check (National Instant Check System), which is the name-based background check system.
The NICS system is the same system used by retail firearms dealers to do background checks when a person buys a firearm.
ALL THREE BACKGROUND CHECKS WERE DONE.
During the time the employee failed to do her job, approximately 350,000 applicants for carry licenses were processed. Of those 350,000, 365 had a disqualifier based on the NICS background check.
The employee should have uploaded those 365 into the internal computer system to stop the processing of those applications. She did not. So those 365 applicants got their licenses anyhow.
Although they got their licenses to CARRY firearms, they still would not have been allowed to purchase a firearm from a firearms dealer because the same NICS background check would have been performed by a dealer and would have stopped them from purchasing a firearm.
A license to carry does not exempt a person from the background check required when you purchase a firearm. The license ONLY exempts a license holder from the 3-day waiting period.
When the Division discovered the problem, the employee was let go. The Division then ran new background checks on all 365 applicants who initially had NICS name-based disqualifiers. Of those 365, 74 were cleared and 291 still had disqualifiers, so their licenses to carry firearms were immediately suspended.
How many of those 365 used a gun in a crime since the date of background check? 0. These people were granted their rights by God. Who among us has the power to defy God? Who among us dares to offend God? Not me.
It would be helpful for the media source of this phony news to be given the actual facts such as this article shows, and a demand for a retraction and apology to Florida’s agency that handles these applications. But of course the cowards in media, apparently including the USA Today crap-rag, will run and hide, oblivious to truth and facts. Propaganda whores.
One tenth of one percent were not cleared through NICS first go. That is an astonihsingly low rate, based on background check numbers for the generl public. Of those that came back DENY, it looks like just above a tenth were cleared, the remaining had their new carry permits ssupended. I wonder if any of those probed deeper into the reason for the DENY code and were able to get their denial reversed. The fact that the department responsible upon learning of an “issue” immediately set about to correct it. THIS is government being resposnbile to DO THE JOB they’ve… Read more »
They got their training from O;bummer, the liar- in- chief. Remember “You can keep your insurance if you want too”
It’s getting harder and harder to trust anything the news media puts out as truth since they have proven time and again their hate towards gun owners and conservatives.
My post was supposed to say “anti-gun left will lie…”. Sorry about that. Proofreading is a must with these phones.
Correct …….Guilty on both counts
As a Florida CWP holder, and firearm buyer, I am well aquainted with Florida’s background check process. I know of not one person who has received a FL CWP or purchased a firearm from a FL FFL dealer who has not experienced the sometimes onerous process. It has been streamlined as of late, and can still take a little time while we wait impatiently in the store, but the background checks are done. This incident was due to HUMAN incompetence, and has been corrected, and justly so. The anti-aging left will le, cheat, and obfuscate to further their agenda. Facts… Read more »