By
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Undercover congressional investigators using fake IDs were able to skirt mandatory background checks and purchase guns in all of the five states where they tried, according to a report issued yesterday.
The General Accounting Office study concluded that the national background check system for purchasing guns "cannot ensure that the prospective purchaser is not a felon."
The system checks only whether the gun buyer had a criminal history but does not require any check to see whether the name or identification being used by the buyer is real.
"I was shocked to learn how easily one can use loopholes to get around the Brady law," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed in the 1993 shooting on a Long Island commuter train. McCarthy, one of Congress leading gun control advocates, plans legislation to close the ID loophole.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., asked the GAO's office of special investigations to conduct an undercover probe into the use of false IDs to purchase weapons.
The GAO report was released yesterday as part of a larger study - "Lying and Buying: Using False Information to Obtain Firearms" - prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee. Waxman is the committee's ranking Democrat. The GAO is the investigative agency of Congress, responding to study requests from any member.
GAO investigators were able to buy guns from licensed dealers in Virginia, West Virginia, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona.
Those states conform to the minimum requirements of the Brady Bill, the federal law that made gun buyers subject to background checks. But they have no additional state gun control measures like fingerprinting or waiting periods.
Virginia and Arizona, however, are so-called point-of-contact states, meaning that background checks are done at the state as well as the federal levels.
Officials at the GAO used off-the-shelf software to create counterfeit drivers licenses for the five states, inventing fictitious names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. Two undercover GAO agents then went to randomly selected gun stores and gun shops where they filmed their purchases of rifles, handguns, semiautomatic weapons, pistols, ammunition clips and hollow point bullets.
The undercover investigators were able to make the purchases 100 percent of the time, the report said.
"They're in business to sell guns," Patrick Sullivan, one of the undercover agents, said of the gun dealers.
In one buy in Santa Fe, N.M., when the background check did not provide immediate clearance for the undercover agent, the gun dealer suggested that the second agent could purchase the gun and transfer it to his partner.
Federal law prohibits dealers from knowingly selling weapons to individuals who are not buying the weapons for themselves or as gift. The case was referred to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.
In another store in Tucson, the dealer suggested that the agent purchase a .38 caliber revolver from 1893 because background checks are not needed for buyers of antique guns.
Investigators also bought weapons from dealers in Richmond, Va., Beckley County, W. Va., and Billings, Mont. The names of the gun dealers were not provided.
While Democratic lawmakers yesterday said the report provided fresh evidence for gun control legislation to close loopholes in the Brady Bill, the prospects for passing such legislation is dim. President Bush is supported by the National Rifle Association and Congress is controlled by Republicans who are generally pro-gun.
