National Shooting Sports Foundation senior vice president Larry Keane told Breitbart News that “fix-NICS” legislation is important because it prevents would-be attackers from “lying and buying” on gun purchases.
Keane spoke to Breitbart News on December 9 and said the NSSF and NRA support “fix-NICS” as a way of trying to keep individuals like Texas killer Devin Kelley from “lying and buying” guns via background checks. Kelley was a prohibited gun purchaser who was able to buy a gun at retail because the Air Force failed to report his conviction to the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS).
Keane referenced NICS, which has been in place since 1998, and said:
After the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut…we launched an objective called “fix-NICS” and it is exactly as the name says. The objective is to fix the NICS system, which the industry supports, so that the records of those that are prohibited under current law are in the background check system because the dealers…rely upon the NICS to be accurate and reliable.
What we’ve seen in the past is that states do not do a very good job, some do not do a very good job, of putting the records into the NICS system. And like any database its only as good as the information that’s contained within it.
Breitbart News pointed out that Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) opposed “fix-NICS” and claimed it will actually increase the number of innocents barred from purchasing guns for lawful purposes. Gohmert said, “The House Leadership has combined that good bill, to provide concealed carry reciprocity, with [Fix-NICS,] … a bill that prevents more people from getting guns.”
Keane countered G0hmert’s claim, saying, “Will more prohibited people who are currently–under current law, prohibited persons–be increased in the database? Yes. That is exactly the point. Will it result in more innocent people being incorrectly swept into the system? No. It will not.”
The “fix-NICS” legislation was attached to Rep. Richard Hudson’s (R-NC) national reciprocity legislation this week. That legislation passed the House by a vote of 231 to 198.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.