livingston
20×102mm Vulcan
Senate committee presses FBI, ATF for suggestions to Fix NICS
Senators pressed federal law enforcement officials this week for appropriate ways to improve the databases feeding the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, but received few clear answers.
Fixing NICS became a congressional priority after a former Airman gunned down 26 people at a Texas church last month with a rifle his domestic assault convictions barred him from owning.
The breakdown in the background check system illuminated lackadaisical reporting practices in the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense — a longstanding issue dating back two decades. A review of Department of Justice records in 1997 and 2015 found roughly one third of service members’ criminal convictions were missing from federal databases.
Glenn Fine, acting inspector general for the Department of Defense, offered a simple explanation for the system’s shortcomings — a widespread and well-known problem that previous audits have identified, with little to no improvements made.
“Inadequate training, inadequate verification,” Fine said. “They didn’t take these recommendations as seriously as they should have.”
Senators pressed the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on best way to punish federal agencies that still don’t comply, noting the Air Force’s intention to order disciplinary action for its own reporting failures.
Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy, apparently frustrated with the lack of concrete suggestions, insisted the agencies should take corrective action against employees that ignore reporting directives.
“Can we agree that training is expensive but bad employees are more expensive?” he said Wednesday during a line of questioning directed toward Fine. “Here’s a radical thought. If you don’t do it, you’re fired. Because no one around here ever gets fired.”
Senate committee presses FBI, ATF for suggestions to Fix NICS
Senators pressed federal law enforcement officials this week for appropriate ways to improve the databases feeding the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, but received few clear answers.
Fixing NICS became a congressional priority after a former Airman gunned down 26 people at a Texas church last month with a rifle his domestic assault convictions barred him from owning.
The breakdown in the background check system illuminated lackadaisical reporting practices in the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense — a longstanding issue dating back two decades. A review of Department of Justice records in 1997 and 2015 found roughly one third of service members’ criminal convictions were missing from federal databases.
Glenn Fine, acting inspector general for the Department of Defense, offered a simple explanation for the system’s shortcomings — a widespread and well-known problem that previous audits have identified, with little to no improvements made.
“Inadequate training, inadequate verification,” Fine said. “They didn’t take these recommendations as seriously as they should have.”
Senators pressed the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on best way to punish federal agencies that still don’t comply, noting the Air Force’s intention to order disciplinary action for its own reporting failures.
Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy, apparently frustrated with the lack of concrete suggestions, insisted the agencies should take corrective action against employees that ignore reporting directives.
“Can we agree that training is expensive but bad employees are more expensive?” he said Wednesday during a line of questioning directed toward Fine. “Here’s a radical thought. If you don’t do it, you’re fired. Because no one around here ever gets fired.”
Senate committee presses FBI, ATF for suggestions to Fix NICS
