They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means:

Loopholes in Tennessee law allow citizens with pending felony cases, mental illness and other safety issues to obtain handgun carry permits.

In other words, people not convicted of crimes and people not adjudicated mentally defective can proceed. That’s how the law is supposed to work. You know, due process and all of that. However, interesting stuff on TN’s handgun carry permit:

According to the numbers, the background check for Tennessee handgun carry permits works very well. Out of the 25,224 permit-holders in Shelby County — more than any other Tennessee county — only 25 had their permits revoked in 2006.

But records show seven of those lost their permits for “…failure to provide documentation of disposition of charges.” They had pending criminal cases for charges like DUI, cocaine possession and aggravated assault, but the state basically had them on the honor system, hoping they would report their own criminal charges.

And more:

Wanda Adams, director of the state’s handgun permit office, says those people are often missed in the background checks because they have not been convicted yet. But she says when their pending charges are discovered, the state sends them a letter.

As I said, that’s how it’s supposed to work. And I was unaware but:

“The department of safety can no longer run name searches in the NICS index against the data housed there,” says Kristin Helm, spokesperson for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

In TN, we have our own instant check system. I sort of assumed it relied on NICS. Guess not.

Posted in uncategorized on November 9th, 2007 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |