ATF Audits Reveal 1-in-4 NH Gun Line Background Checks Are Wrong

Opinion By Susan Olsen, Director of Legislation, Women’s Defense League of NH

New Hampshire – -(AmmoLand.com)- New Hampshire House Bill 109 – calling for Universal Background Checks for every purchase of a firearm – will wrongfully deny even more Granite Staters their rights! It is sponsored by NH Democrat Representative Katherine Rogers [yes, the same Democrat Rep who pleaded guilty to assault the day before Christmas 2017].

After Right to Know Requests were filed, the results of two federally conducted audits performed by the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, revealed that the NH Department of Safety’s “Gun Line” was repeatedly found guilty of:

• 1) Misuse of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS); and,
• 2) Entering “invalid” records in NICS

Out of a statistical sample – a SAMPLE – of 400 entries into NICS by the NH Gun Line, the ATF audits found that 109, a whopping 27.25%, were wrongly entered, and sent to NICS without valid documentation.*1,2

Bear in mind, the ACCEPTABLE “threshold” of error for one of these audits – called the “Integrity of NICS Index Records Policy” – is 10%.

New Hampshire’s Gun Line errors were nearly 3 times the acceptable 10% “integrity threshold” and the only recourse for persons affected is a lengthy and costly appeal process while the bureaucrats responsible for the error suffer no consequences at all.

As the anti-gunners like to say: “If only one person’s life is saved”, then how can it be acceptable for even 1 person’s rights to be wrongfully denied?

Would it be acceptable to NH, the feds or anyone else for that matter if 10% of Granite Staters were denied their fundamental right of free speech, much less 27% of them?

The last thing NH needs is to expand this failed program. It is wrong to impose on every Granite Stater wishing to exercise their fundamental right to purchase a firearm, a more than 1 in 4 chance that some unaccountable, unelected bureaucrat may deny a Constitutional right.

July 2015 NICS FBI CJIS Audit Final Report Redacted-1

July 2012 NICS FBI CJIS Audit Final Plus DOS Response Redacted

• *1 Susan Olsen is the Director of Legislation for the Women’s Defense League of NH, a all-volunteer organization dedicated to educating and empowering women and defending the 2nd Amendment rights of all Granite States. Olsen is an NRA firearms instruction and range safety officer.
• *2 The assessment consisted of a review of 400 NICS Index entries, comprised of prohibitive categories 18 USC 922 (g) (3) and 18 USC 922 (g) (9). The assessment was conducted at 11 courts throughout the state of New Hampshire. The assessment resulted i n 98 invalid records, seven unable to locate records and four inaccurate records producing a 27.25% error rate. The threshold for assessment of the Integrity of NICS Index Records policy is 10%.

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About Women’s Defense League of NH

The League provides women opportunities to learn practical self-defense skills and defends 2nd Amendment rights.

We were founded by a group of women in New Hampshire who wanted to focus on training and educating women in the state as well as standing on the forefront of 2nd Amendment legislative issues at the State House. www.wdlnh.org