By Mark Schemper

Guest Writer

A recent report from the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation (AGSF) has raised some serious questions about the enforcement of gun control laws in Michigan and several other states across the country.

In Michigan, gun laws prohibit certain at-risk individuals from purchasing firearms. This includes those convicted of felonies, those with histories of domestic abuse and the mentally disabled. Despite this, over 400 felons have been able to purchase firearms in Michigan since 1999, according to the report.

The report, entitled Broken Records, gave Michigan a B- grade.

Twenty-one other states received failing grades for the poor quality of records which states are required to keep in order to do background checks on potential gun buyers. Nationwide, these inadequately automated records have allowed about 10,000 individuals prohibited from buying guns to purchase firearms.

In Michigan, the problem lies in the fact that the state computerizes only three out of four felony records. This inhibits the ability of the agencies responsible for background checks to complete the task during the three-day waiting period. If the background check takes longer than the three-day waiting period, gun dealers are allowed to release the weapon to the buyer.

This loophole in the background check system has allowed convicted felons to acquire firearms. If, after the purchase, the background check reveals something in the buyer's history that would prohibit him or her from owning a firearm, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) is responsible for retrieving the weapon.

The fact that the firearms do end up in the wrong hands, even if it is for only a short period of time, does not sit well with police.

According to Lansing police Lt. Raymond Hall, ``It puts the general public in danger, not to mention officers that come in contact with the felons.''

The ATF disputes the Americans for Gun Safety report. They claim that the number of felons with guns is about 30 percent less than the number claimed by the report.

According to the ATF, many of the alleged felons with guns are simply legitimate gun owners who share the same name as a convicted felon. The other cause of this disparity may be the fact that in different states, different felonies disqualify a person from owning a gun.

Other critics of AGSF include the National Rifle Association (NRA), which argues on its website that the AGSF is slanting its findings negatively and not taking into account evidence from state police or efforts by the ATF.

The foundation, however, responds that the numbers they received were from the federal government, and it wouldn't make sense, therefore, for the ATF -- an agency of the federal government -- to dispute their findings without adjusting their numbers.

The AGSF has proposed what they call a ``don't know/don't sell'' policy. This policy would extend the waiting period from three days to whatever length of time was necessary to run a thorough background check.

Until the states have adequately automated their records, making it possible for them to do a full background check in three days. The policy would prevent felons and others not allowed to purchase firearms from buying guns, said representatives of the AGSF.

According to the NRA this policy is totally unnecessary and would simply penalize legitimate gun buyers.

``The only thing that AGS does on gun rights is to fight for restrictions on those rights,'' said a recent press release from the NRA. The AGSF ``has a highly focused and barely hidden agenda -- licensing law-abiding American gun owners and registering every firearm they own,'' they said.

Both the NRA and the AGSF agree that records need to be automated more accurately. States should not have to rely on paper records when the technology is available to very easily automate records.

According to AGSF Policy Director Jim Kessler, the foundation's overall goal is ``to effectively enforce the gun laws already on the books; job one is to improve the records.''