From: PA <[H--l] at [utxsvs.cc.utexas.edu]>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: New Data Base for Brady Law
Date: 8 Nov 1994 18:31:33 GMT

From  THE PRIVACY JOURNAL   July 1994

New Data Base For Brady Law

 The FBI intends to include sensitive non-criminal information in a data
base intended to reduce the number of unstable persons who purchase
handguns.  Until now, the FBI's national data bases have included only
criminal information, except for identities of missing persons and
individuals regarded as a threat to the president.

  The new data base, mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention
Act [see PJ Feb 94], will be called the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System (NICS).  The FBI intends to draw on "Department
of Defense records on persons who have been dishonorably discharged," 
Veterans Affairs Department records on illegal aliens, and Department of
State records on individuals who have renounced their citizenship.   [59
Federal Register 28423]

"This could be misinterpreted to include tens of thousands of people with
'less than honorable discharges," said Washington veterans rights
attorney Keith D. Snyder, "people discharged for homosexual tendencies or
bed-wetting."  By the same token, he said, the Veterans Affairs
Department commits many non-violent persons who simply cannot manage
their finances or are homeless.

  As in the past, the FBI is passing on to local agencies the
responsibility to "resolve important questions of fact and
interpretation."

Under the Brady law, gun dealers will not have access to the records
directly.  But through local police they may contact the NICS for a
determination of whether to sell or not sell a weapon.  Under current
law, dealers are prohibited from selling to anyone they know or have
reason to believe has a criminal record or "has been adjudicated a mental
defective or committed to a mental institution."
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Reprinted from Privacy Journal newsletter, published in Providence, RI. A
free sample is available 401/274-7861 or [0--10--9] at [mcimail.com.]