By Alan Korwin, Author
The Arizona Gun Owner's Guide
[email protected]
July 11, 2002
KeepAndBeararms.com -- Unless Arizona's gun dealers can "enroll"
with the FBI by August 22, retail gun sales in the state will screech to a halt
six weeks from now. On that date DPS closes its office for conducting Brady-law
background checks on gun buyers. Retail sales by dealers cannot legally be made
without this required service.
The state legislature closed the office by repealing A.R.S. 13-3114, the law
that created the Firearms Clearance Center. They characterized their actions as
a budget-cutting move, though all employees will be retained in other positions,
and the air-conditioned office space inside DPS HQ is not going anywhere.
The center was created to comply with the Brady Handgun law, and was
originally called the Handgun Clearance Center. When the Brady handgun law took
control over long guns five years later, the name was changed and DPS began
checking out every retail sale in the state. The DPS staff would check local
records and then the FBI's central "NICS" registry, to get the
required transaction number for each sale.
Now, instead of calling the small DPS office to obtain background check
approvals for gun sales, dealers will make toll-free calls to federal NICS
customer service representatives, huge telephone banks in Pennsylvania and West
Virginia, under contract to the FBI. They are open seven days a week, from 8
a.m. to 1 a.m. EST, and closed for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The call centers already handle 60,000 federally licensed firearms dealers
(FFLs), from the states that do not provide the FBI with a "Point of
Contact" office such as AZ DPS had provided. At last count, only 18 states
provided a buffer between its dealers and the FBI in this manner.
The FBI prefers the POC approach, which transfers some of the burden for
implementing the law to local authorities, increases the records available to
search, and insulates the Bureau's sensitive data from tens of thousands of gun
dealers. The POC plan has received lukewarm reception from the states, with
most, and now Arizona, bowing out.
Arizona at last count had 1,289 FFLs, down from more than 6,000, before
regulatory changes during the Clinton administration forced 75% of gun dealers
out of business nationwide. The authorities have never suggested that the Brady
law was only made possible by drastically shrinking the number of dealers,
thereby reducing the cost to a manageable $300 million plus expenses.
A spokeswoman for the separate FBI NICS Operations Center, which itself has
500 employees, says the FBI is preparing to send enrollment packets to the
state's dealers "shortly," and that the simple registration process
should be easily completed before the deadline, when DPS will not conduct checks
and dealers would be effectively shut down. The dealers' numbers are on file
with BATF, and those lists will be used to coordinate the activity. Dealers will
pick their own access codes, from 6 to 10 digits alphanumeric, no obscenities
please.
Coming soon, the call operators will be able to forward all customer
"delay" responses to FBI agents for clearing up on the spot if
possible, a service not currently available. Delays that are unresolved in three
business days may proceed. All "deny" responses are sent to BATF and
local authorities for followup at those agencies' discretion.
To reach the NICS Operation Center call 1-877-444-6427.
To reach the AZ Firearms Clearance Center while it still exists call
602-256-7559.
At the DPS Concealed Weapons Unit, 602-256-6280, background checks on permit
applicants already run directly through the FBI and are unaffected by these
changes.
Tucson activist Ken Rineer, in his informative report, sums up the
legislation thus:
Arizona Legislature Abolishes the Firearms Clearance Center When HB 2708 was
passed and Governor Hull let it go in to effect without signing it on June 4th,
2002, the Firearms Clearance Center became a thing of the past. The legislature
repealed A.R.S. 13-3114 in its entirety and directed the Department of Public
Safety to notify the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation that the State of
Arizona would no longer conduct background checks on the purchasers of firearms
from federally licensed firearms dealers. According to DPS, the Firearms
Clearance Center will no longer accept calls on August 22, 2002. This is not a
good thing. <snip>
To get on Ken's FACT-Alert list and get the rest of his important report,
send him a note at [email protected],
and just tell him you know me (which I'll deny).
Don't feel bad if all this is news to you. Just sign up for our occasional
reports at -- http://www.gunlaws.com
Please show this to your favorite gun dealer. They have gotten little or no
news of this yet.
Alan Korwin is the author of seven best-selling books on gun law,
including the unabridged guide "Gun Laws of America--Every Federal Gun Law
on the Books, with Plain English Summaries," and state gun guides for AZ,
CA, FL, TX, VA. For some good reading, click Position Papers on our home page.
Available for interview.
Contact: Alan Korwin BLOOMFIELD PRESS "We publish the gun laws."
4718 E. Cactus #440 Phoenix, AZ 85032 602-996-4020 Phone 602-494-0679 FAX
1-800-707-4020 Orders http://www.gunlaws.com
[email protected]
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