washingtonpost.com
FBI Curbed In Tracking Gun Buyers
Brady Law Policy Foils Watch List
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 18, 2003; Page A01
The FBI has launched a new background-check system that notifies counterterrorism agents when suspects on its terrorist watch list attempt to buy guns, but regulations prohibit those officials from obtaining details if the transaction occurs, according to federal officials familiar with the system.
If the purchase is blocked, however, the FBI is permitted to investigate the person who attempted to buy the weapon.
The result, according to the officials, is an awkward situation in which terrorism suspects who do not complete gun purchases may be located but those toting lawfully purchased weapons may not be sought.
More than a dozen suspects on the FBI's terrorist watch list have attempted to buy guns since the system was implemented this spring, officials said. Authorities have declined to say how many succeeded.
The rules are the result of Attorney General John D. Ashcroft's interpretation of the Brady gun-control law, according to Justice Department officials, who said they are simply abiding by the federal firearms background-check system the statute established. The law bars authorities from sharing information with investigators about legal gun buyers and does not prohibit terrorism suspects from buying firearms, officials said.
"Being a suspected member of a terrorist organization doesn't disqualify a person from owning a gun any more than being under investigation for a non-terrorism felony would," a Justice Department official said in a written statement
Gun-control advocates said the rules endanger Americans by giving suspected terrorists an opportunity to evade scrutiny while obtaining weapons. The situation also has frustrated many law enforcement officials eager to monitor the whereabouts and activities of suspected terrorist operatives and their associates.
"This policy is mind-boggling," said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who has frequently clashed with Ashcroft on gun issues. "We could have a nationwide lookout for a known terrorist within our borders, but if he obtained a weapon, the Justice Department's policy is to refuse to reveal his location to law enforcement officials."
Officials have declined to reveal how many terrorism suspects were able to buy weapons. It is also difficult to determine precisely how the system works because Justice and FBI officials have refused to provide details about it.
Congressional staff members who were briefed on the situation last month were told that at least 13, and as many as 21, suspects on the watch list tried to buy firearms since the system was established. Two law enforcement sources said subsequently that the correct number is 13 and that all had been suspected of links to terrorist groups, not domestic gangs.
When someone on the watch list attempts to buy a weapon, the FBI is allowed to search for additional reasons -- such as a previous conviction or mental illness -- to deny a purchase and investigate further, the Justice Department official said. But it can do no more unless such an indicator is found, the official said.
Ashcroft, who has presided over an expansion of law enforcement powers in the effort to prevent terrorism, has enforced a relatively narrow interpretation of the Brady law. The law is named for James Brady, the press secretary wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
Ashcroft, a longtime National Rifle Association member, has also altered the government's legal view of the Second Amendment by asserting that an individual's right to possess a firearm is not tied to the maintenance of state militias.
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Ashcroft's advisers stopped the FBI from comparing a list of Sept. 11-related detainees against a list of approved gun purchasers. They said that under the Brady law, the Justice Department is prohibited from using such records for law enforcement purposes. Before it was interrupted, the search had resulted in two matches, sources said at the time.
A Congressional Research Service report released earlier this year found that U.S. gun laws could be exploited easily by terrorists, who can obtain firearms and explosives by taking advantage of delays and loopholes in the system. An al Qaeda training manual recovered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan included a chapter noting the ease with which firearms can be obtained in the United States and urged followers to "obtain an assault rifle legally, preferably an AK-47 or variations, learn how to use it properly and go and practice in the areas allowed for such training."
AK-47 rifles are prohibited under the current ban on assault weapons, but numerous copycat models are available legally.
At the heart of the Brady law is the National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (NICS), a section of the FBI with offices in West Virginia that reviews gun purchases made through federally licensed firearms dealers. The dealer transmits a form to NICS, which runs a computerized check to make sure the applicant is not a member of several categories prohibited from buying guns. These include felons, illegal immigrants, convicted domestic abusers and those found by a court to be mentally ill.
Many of the files accessed during these checks are contained in the FBI's overall criminal database, the National Crime Information Center, which also contains lists that are not used in the gun purchase process. The Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization File contains more than 10,000 names, most of them belonging to suspected terrorists or their alleged sympathizers and associates, officials said.
When NICS runs a search on an attempted gun purchaser whose name is on the gang and terror list, the FBI or another federal agency responsible for entering that name is notified and is able to contact an anti-terrorism team at NICS, sources said. If the person was denied the ability to purchase a firearm, the agency is free to seek records of the transaction, these sources said.
If the person was allowed to buy a firearm, NICS is generally prohibited under Justice rules from providing the FBI or any other agency with information about the transaction, including where it occurred and what personal information was provided on the purchase application, officials said.
The most the FBI can do in such cases is to confirm whether the purchaser is the same person listed on the terrorist watch list and attempt to determine if any incidents have been overlooked that should have prohibited the person from buying a firearm.
The FBI frequently does not know the whereabouts of terror associates listed in the gang and terror watch list, which means that learning where a firearm was bought and what address the purchaser provided could be extremely helpful to counterterrorism investigators, several law enforcement officials said.
"It's obviously frustrating for law enforcement in that kind of situation," one official said. "But we're just following the rules set by DOJ. . . . We can't get in the middle of it."
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said he could not comment on the details of the NICS process. But he said it was doubtful that most terrorist groups would bother to buy legal firearms for use in an attack.
"We support any effort that would prevent firearms from getting into the hands of terrorists," Arulanandam said. "But it is also misguided for anyone to think that gang members or terrorists are somehow en masse going through legal means to purchase their firearms. Most of these firearms are obtained through the black market."
Gun-control advocates disagree about the risks, pointing to the instructions found in the al Qaeda manual and to other incidents that have indicated terrorists have an interest in U.S. guns. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI arrested a Michigan felon who bought weapons at a gun show for the Hezbollah militant group and, in another case, charged a Seattle man for allegedly attempting to set up an al Qaeda firearms training camp in rural Oregon.
Eric Howard, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Ashcroft's interpretation of the Brady law is overly narrow and inhibits the ability of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to monitor and prevent terrorism. Investigators should be allowed to have access to basic information about gun purchases by terror suspects, he said.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company |
