In January 2008, George W. Bush signed an NRA-supported bill into law to improve and increase incentives for states to share mental health data with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The money for the improvements was spread out over five years, and only a fraction of it has been appropriated.
According to the Huffington Post, Congress passed the NICS Improvement Act in 2007, with support from both Democrats and Republicans.
The NICS Improvement Act authorized approximately “$200 million a year for five years to improve the submission of mental health records to the NICS.” But according to a Highland Strategies’ funding report card through 2013, only a fraction of the money was appropriated.
Two such examples are found in 2009 and 2012. First, of the $187,500,000 authorized for 2009, Highland Strategies found only $10 million was appropriated. Second, of the $187,500,000 authorized for 2012, only $5 million was appropriated.
Breitbart News spoke with the NRA’s Andrew Arulanandam about this. He said, “Historically, the gun control lobby was against NICS because they were for wait periods–the longer, the better. Ironically, they now claim credit for NICS. Yet they do nothing to lobby for NICS’ maintenance and improvements.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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