Background Checks A Failure: Oregon Firearms Federation On Oregon State Police Stats

TND Guest Contributor:  Oregon Firearms Federation | 

In a stunning admission that their current background check/ gun buyer harassment scheme is a failure, the Oregon State Police have released statistics proving what we’ve said all along.

As you know, Governor Kitzahaber  has required that every time a firearm’s purchase is denied, at least one State Police officer must leave patrol to “investigate.”  While the OSP’s directive says the investigating officer must be told the reason for the denial, they virtually never are.

Now the OSP has provided details that demonstrate what a staggering waste of time this policy is.

According to an Executive Summary “on the investigations the Oregon State Police (OSP) is conducting regarding denied firearm transactions through the Firearm Instant Check System (FICS) Unit”   of the 331 “denial” investigations only 8 people have been arrested. That’s a total of only 2.41% of the people denied!

And of course, there is no way of  knowing how many of the people taken into custody were arrested for actual offenses and how many were victims of the same sloppy record keeping that kept most of the other 97%  from completing transfers.

Of the 12 people reported to have been denied because of “mental health” we know of at least one  who was clearly denied for false reasons.

Another buyer who was issued a “citation in lieu of custody” was told he had to appear in court and when he inquired about his court date was told everything had been dropped!

Even more surprising was the reported statistic that of the 40 people who were denied because they were “wanted”only 4 were actually arrested!  The State Police describe a person who is “wanted” as having an active felony or misdemeanor warrant.

90% of the people who were denied because they were “wanted” walked out of the gun store. 4 people who were denied because they were “wanted” are listed in the category of “Investigation Complete-No Action.” The State Police list this as “Trooper finished investigation and determined extraneous circumstances did not warrant an arrest,citation or any other action.”

Of the 331 denials 40 were because the OSP determined that the gun they were trying to buy was stolen. That hardly makes the buyer a dangerous person.

The anti-gun crowd is eager to report the number of firearms purchase denials as evidence that the failed background check system is a great success. But three factors make this claim absurd.

First, as is clearly demonstrated by the numbers provided by the OSP, the vast majority of people who are denied have not been proven to have done anything wrong.

Second, assuming that the OSP’s numbers are accurate, (which we can’t) only a tiny fraction of the people who are denied are arrested,  meaning that if they truly are dangerous and should not have firearms, they are still free to walk the streets. So pretending that a denial has any effect on crime is, on it’s face, ridiculous.

Third, in virtually every case of a mass shooting, a mandatory background check would have had no effect. The shooters either PASSED the check or would never have been subject to one because, for example, they stole the gunsused.

Keep in mind that we have faced an ongoing  effort to expand this failed system to transfers made between friends and family members. In the last few weeks the Firearms Instant Check System  has had massive delays with dealers facing waiting times for what transfers do take place  at 350% or more over normal waits. In some cases the FICS system is simply not working at all.

Washington voters are now facing a ballot measure that will expand this failed system to private transfers. Nevada is following their lead.  We will almost certainly face a similar measure here. Make no mistake, background checks are gun registration schemes. Efforts to expand them are being funded by billionaires with armed guards.

The battle is coming.

Get ready.

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This article appeared at the Oregon Firearms Federation website and is reprinted with permission.

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