Good, they shouldn’t just be able to hang up your getting a gun without explanation.
The FBI is using an administrative function to circumvent Congress, curtail the Second Amendment and impede Americans’ right to due process, according to a Midwestern lawmaker who has proposed legislation to end the practice.
“[The bill] requires them to give citizens who have been denied the right to purchase a firearm a reason, and it gives them an appeals process, so they can actually clear their name and exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told the Washington Examiner.
Emmer in April proposed the Firearm Due Process Protection Act, which would define how the FBI is required to treat consumers who fail the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and are consequently denied the right to purchase a firearm.
Citing a backlog of work in January, the bureau indefinitely reassigned every analyst responsible for processing appeals in the NICS process, leaving about 7,100 applicants with no knowledge of when they could expect to hear back.
As a result, Emmer said, many of those applicants contacted his office. The proposal, which was filed on April 14, would require the FBI to make a determination on appeals within 60 days. If the agency fails to do so, aggrieved consumers would have the right to take the issue to court within 30 days. And if the FBI fails to prove individual ineligibility in court, the agency’s ruling would be reversed.
The FBI will not provide consumers who fail the NICS check with a reason for failing, and according to Emmer, the bureau isn’t much more forthcoming with lawmakers.
“They’re not giving people reasons. They’re not even giving Congress statistics on how many background checks are being denied or how many are being accepted,” he said.