Oregon Background Check Statistics.

[Hawaiian]

Here is a pretty detailed report on firearm background checks in Oregon.

http://www.oregon.gov/osp/ID/docs/FICS/2016FICSUnitOverview.pdf

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[HB of CJ]

Hawaiian: Thank you for the site. Required reading.

 

[ma96782]

Interesting.

Beyond all of it.....I can still see a day when the BGC system will be entirely user funded and/or will be used as a political weapon (think as: hidden registration or to collect an additional tax to hinder gun ownership).

Aloha, Mark

 

[nammac]

Of the 522 Felons denied firearms in 2016 by the OSP background checks, how many were prosecuted for such attempted purchase(s)?

Yup, zero, zed, zilch... Because Oregon doesn't prosecute for these attempts. Go figure... Thanks Kate, Floyd et.al. for making us safer...

 

[CountryGent]

Interesting data. Thanks for passing it along.

 

[HB of CJ]

Since they do not prosecute, what is the point of it all?

 

[nammac]

Since they do not prosecute, what is the point of it all?

Some of us have been asking that question for awhile now. Salem can't seem to provide an actual answer...

 

[thorborg]

Since they do not prosecute, what is the point of it all?

Having worked for the State, County and us military, I can point out two constants that plague them all which could apply here*.
1. Its not my job syndrome.
2. If you point out a problem, you become the problem.
Thus, background check are about prevention, (Not my job to prosecute) not prosecution.
So informing anyone, (you become the problem) would make one tax sucking entity forcing work, and expenditure of financial resources (budget), on to another tax sucking entity.

* I know many fine and industrious people working for the government, nevertheless, in my experience, too many did not seek that employment to be a helpful civil servant, instead, due to a high wage, higher benefit, hard to be terminated easy gig.

 

[bikemutt]

Since they do not prosecute, what is the point of it all?

Well, what should they be prosecuted for? Lying? Politicians do that all the time.

Seriously though, if a felon tries to buy a gun from a dealer they have to be either in denial, a state of confusion, just trying to pull the man's chain, or truly crazy. You don't go from felon to really-a-felon to a-really-big-felon.

Rather than wasting public money prosecuting this class, I'd rather change a flag in the record from "No" to "Never", much cheaper.

 

[The Heretic]

Well, what should they be prosecuted for? Lying? Politicians do that all the time.

Seriously though, if a felon tries to buy a gun from a dealer they have to be either in denial, a state of confusion, just trying to pull the man's chain, or truly crazy. You don't go from felon to really-a-felon to a-really-big-felon.

Rather than wasting public money prosecuting this class, I'd rather change a flag in the record from "No" to "Never", much cheaper.

Or they had something on their record that they thought was cleared, that they were told would be cleared after some period of time or participation in some kind of program, and/or the system goofed and did not clear their conviction or reduce it to a non-disqualifying misdemeanor/etc.

How many threads are there on this very forum where someone is dealing with such an issue? I've seen them. Spread that over millions of people and you get some number of people that might match the numbers in the stats.

Then you've got the people where the system has simply made a mistake and it takes forever to get it resolved or the system simply refuses to resolve. There are a couple people here who can attest to that - including one that owns NFA firearms but could not buy (or had a lot of denials) non-NFA firearms in WA state.

Then there are the cases of ID theft - I have a coworker who is still dealing with the fallout of someone who filed taxes as he and his wife - 4-5 years later they still are working it out.

My bet is some significant percentage of those flagged for denial fall into these categories.

 

[Mikej]

Or they had something on their record that they thought was cleared, that they were told would be cleared after some period of time or participation in some kind of program, and/or the system goofed and did not clear their conviction or reduce it to a non-disqualifying misdemeanor/etc.

How many threads are there on this very forum where someone is dealing with such an issue? I've seen them. Spread that over millions of people and you get some number of people that might match the numbers in the stats.

Then you've got the people where the system has simply made a mistake and it takes forever to get it resolved or the system simply refuses to resolve. There are a couple people here who can attest to that - including one that owns NFA firearms but could not buy (or had a lot of denials) non-NFA firearms in WA state.

Then there are the cases of ID theft - I have a coworker who is still dealing with the fallout of someone who filed taxes as he and his wife - 4-5 years later they still are working it out.

My bet is some significant percentage of those flagged for denial fall into these categories.

I was hoping there would be a chart that showed how many delays/denials were wrong and later cleared to own.


I also notice that over the years denials have generally gone down. While we KNOW purchases have gone way way up. Seems to me that is evidence fire arm owners/buyers are becoming more honest? Or the check system is working to keep guns from those that shouldn't have them?

 

[The Heretic]

I was hoping there would be a chart that showed how many delays/denials were wrong and later cleared to own.


I also notice that over the years denials have generally gone down. While we KNOW purchases have gone way way up. Seems to me that is evidence fire arm owners/buyers are becoming more honest? Or the check system is working to keep guns from those that shouldn't have them?

That, and the number of "challenge" calls has skyrocketed - i.e., the number of people calling in to find out why they have been denied. This says to me that these people did not expect the denial, and/or they are wanting to get it cleared up.

I also noticed that the 'unlawful controlled substance user' denials have decreased from 88 to 21. People are either getting smarter about answering questions on the form, or the fact that buying pot legally no longer requires a medical marijuana card, or both.