The Aurora shooter Gary Martin went through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) three times within a few months during 2014, but only the third background check found that he had a felony conviction from 1995. Dr. John Lott explained to Fox News what had happened. Here is part of the Fox News news article.
Neither check uncovered Martin’s 1995 felony conviction in Mississippi for aggravated assault.
“I don’t know exactly what happened within the Illinois State Police with respect to these background checks — whether it was simple human error or if they just didn’t do all the checks — but these mistakes involving Martin occurred at the same time there was a lot of pressure on the police to keep up with the huge backlog that they had in issuing the FOID cards because of budget cuts,” said John Lott, a Fox News columnist and founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center.
“I know that the state police felt that they had an almost impossible job to keep up with the ever-growing number of applications for FOID cards and the increased gun sales at the same time that they were facing their budget being cut in half,” he said.
Martin’s conviction was finally discovered when he underwent a third background check for a concealed carry permit he sought five days after the purchase of the Smith and Wesson.
As a result, his concealed carry permit application was rejected, his FOID card was revoked and he was sent a letter notifying him to voluntarily relinquish the gun to either local law enforcement or the holder of a valid FOID card, which he never did. The Illinois State Police said in a statement Monday that local law enforcement could have petitioned a judge to issue a search warrant for the FOID card and any weapons in Martin’s possession. However, state law does not require them to do so. . . .
n Saturday, Aurora Police Chief Kristin Ziman told a news conference the conviction would not necessarily have shown up on a criminal background check conducted for a FOID card. She did not elaborate.
But Lott says that isn’t true.
He said the check for the FOID card would have entailed running Martin’s name through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
“If his name was entered correctly it would pull up his criminal background,” Lott said. . . .
The entire article is available here.
Why isn’t anyone asking why he wasn’t attested for the felony of lying on the 4473 when he purchased the firearm?