JSandi
06-29-08, 15:42
State slow to take guns from felons
Lack of access to FBI database hindered officials
Four months after it was brought to light that the state had been renewing handgun permits to felons without checking their backgrounds, none of the permits has been collected and the state just last week started mailing letters asking the felons turn in their permits.
The Department of Safety has verified that 193 permit holders are likely felons and need to have their permits revoked. An additional 339 permit holders came up as possible felons when checked against a Department of Correction felon database. The state is still reviewing cases. But as of Friday only 33 letters had been sent to likely felons asking them to mail their permits back.
The problem stems, in part, from a decision by the department to continue renewing permits after September 2006 when the department's handgun permit division lost access to the FBI's national crime database. That was the chief method for verifying whether those seeking renewals had a clean criminal history. The issue was brought to light in February by a news report on WTVF- Channel 5, and the state said it would clean up the problem.
The Tennessean did its own analysis last week and found that since September 2006, the department issued or renewed about 200 permits to people who show up as likely matches in the state felon database kept by the Department of Correction. Of those, the newspaper found about 20 appear to have been issued gun carry permits after Feb. 13, when the problem had been supposedly corrected.
Safety Commissioner Dave Mitchell said the department has started to move to correct the problems and is conducting investigations to determine if any felons lied on their applications. The department regained access to the FBI's national crime database in February and has moved the handgun permitting division under its Criminal Investigations Division.
The department says it is also cross-checking the Correction database of felons with the permit database of 195,251 handgun permit holders. Mitchell said he is unaware of any crimes that have been committed involving felons who have had gun permits issued mistakenly.
"We're very proud of what changes we put in place," Mitchell said. "We believe when we get to the vetting of this database, I feel confident we will have identified those people that don't lawfully deserve to have handgun permits in their possession. It's going to take a little time."
'A very bad decision'
The Second Amendment allows U.S. citizens to keep and bear arms. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a handgun ban within the District of Columbia. But federal law says felons cannot possess guns, and the court has long held that states have the right to regulate handguns to prevent criminals or others who may misuse guns from carrying them.
Tennessee's permitting law is designed to ensure that people who carry guns in public do it safely and are qualified. For example, the state requires handgun carry permit holders to complete a certified handgun safety course. An audit released earlier this month by the Tennessee comptroller's office was highly critical of the Safety Department's problems in verifying that handgun carry permit holders have had the proper training courses.
Most states allow gun owners to carry handguns, but typically have some permitting or training requirements, said Gary Kleck, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida State University, who has studied the issue of background checks.
Background checks are typically conducted during the permitting process, Kleck said.
He said he was not familiar with another case like Tennessee's in which an agency lost its ability to do background checks and kept issuing or renewing permits anyway.
"My thoughts are that was a very bad decision," Kleck said. "They should have done whatever it takes to do the background checks. Either through settling their dispute with (FBI's) NCICor doing background checks using state criminal history files."
Kleck said he wondered if there was some abuse of the system by the state that led to the access being cut off. A call to the FBI's office in West Virginia that manages the National Crime Information Center database went unreturned last week.
Both the Department of Safety and the TBI, which acts as the custodian in Tennessee for access to the federal database, said there was no abuse that led to the gun permitting office having its rights revoked.
Problem arose in 2006
In fact, the issue hit the FBI's radar in 2006 as the Department of Safety, which includes the Tennessee Highway Patrol, was seeking access to the database so its human resources department could perform background checks on job applicants, according to interviews and documents.
The FBI declined, saying the Department of Safety had too many administrative and civilian functions to qualify as a law enforcement agency.
"We were shocked," said Brad Truitt, TBI's director of information systems, an office whose responsibilitiesinclude managing access to the crime database for all police agencies in Tennessee. "We would have done everything we could to get them access back."
There's no clear indication in the record or in interviews why the Department of Safety, which is charged by law with managing the handgun permit program, failed to correct the problem after September 2006.
In fact, Lisa Knight, the manager over the handgun office, said she alerted superiors to the problem in 2006. She said the position of the department at the time was that state law didn't address the checks on renewals and duplicate copies.
"We don't know that we were issuing permits to felons," Knight said on Wednesday. "I think it's safe to assume we knew eventually it was going to happen because we weren't doing the background checks, but state statute had our hands tied. However, we did start notifying the courts and ask them to send us in information. We tried to get word out there to the courts."
State regains access
Deputy Commissioner of Safety Greta Dajani, who was brought in after an agency housecleaning after scandals in 2005, was one of the superiors who were alerted to the problem.
The handgun permit division fell under her responsibility and she said it continued doing "business as usual except for that one element" of the background checks.
Dajani said she wanted to challenge the FBI on its decision to end access to the database, but was advised against it by the department's legal office, headed by Roger Hutto.
"We were in a dilemma," Dajani said. "You get told by a federal agency that oversees law enforcement basically 'no.' It's not just an easy thing to turn that ship around."
After the reporting by Channel 5 in February detailing that felons had been issued permits, Commissioner Mitchell moved the handgun permitting office under the highway patrol. That seemed to satisfy the FBI, which granted access again to the database. Mitchell said the department has a plan to investigate and collect permits from felons who shouldn't have them, but he offered no details.
Mitchell said some counties and local courts are not filing necessary notice to the department when gun permit owners are convicted of crimes. He said the department also runs regular checks against the state correction felony database to help clean up the problem.
"We're aggressively making sure now we're doing everything we can to connect with the courts, connect with sheriff's, connect with the chiefs of police, connect with the databases, and make sure when we do it, we do it right," he said.
Lack of access to FBI database hindered officials
Four months after it was brought to light that the state had been renewing handgun permits to felons without checking their backgrounds, none of the permits has been collected and the state just last week started mailing letters asking the felons turn in their permits.
The Department of Safety has verified that 193 permit holders are likely felons and need to have their permits revoked. An additional 339 permit holders came up as possible felons when checked against a Department of Correction felon database. The state is still reviewing cases. But as of Friday only 33 letters had been sent to likely felons asking them to mail their permits back.
The problem stems, in part, from a decision by the department to continue renewing permits after September 2006 when the department's handgun permit division lost access to the FBI's national crime database. That was the chief method for verifying whether those seeking renewals had a clean criminal history. The issue was brought to light in February by a news report on WTVF- Channel 5, and the state said it would clean up the problem.
The Tennessean did its own analysis last week and found that since September 2006, the department issued or renewed about 200 permits to people who show up as likely matches in the state felon database kept by the Department of Correction. Of those, the newspaper found about 20 appear to have been issued gun carry permits after Feb. 13, when the problem had been supposedly corrected.
Safety Commissioner Dave Mitchell said the department has started to move to correct the problems and is conducting investigations to determine if any felons lied on their applications. The department regained access to the FBI's national crime database in February and has moved the handgun permitting division under its Criminal Investigations Division.
The department says it is also cross-checking the Correction database of felons with the permit database of 195,251 handgun permit holders. Mitchell said he is unaware of any crimes that have been committed involving felons who have had gun permits issued mistakenly.
"We're very proud of what changes we put in place," Mitchell said. "We believe when we get to the vetting of this database, I feel confident we will have identified those people that don't lawfully deserve to have handgun permits in their possession. It's going to take a little time."
'A very bad decision'
The Second Amendment allows U.S. citizens to keep and bear arms. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a handgun ban within the District of Columbia. But federal law says felons cannot possess guns, and the court has long held that states have the right to regulate handguns to prevent criminals or others who may misuse guns from carrying them.
Tennessee's permitting law is designed to ensure that people who carry guns in public do it safely and are qualified. For example, the state requires handgun carry permit holders to complete a certified handgun safety course. An audit released earlier this month by the Tennessee comptroller's office was highly critical of the Safety Department's problems in verifying that handgun carry permit holders have had the proper training courses.
Most states allow gun owners to carry handguns, but typically have some permitting or training requirements, said Gary Kleck, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida State University, who has studied the issue of background checks.
Background checks are typically conducted during the permitting process, Kleck said.
He said he was not familiar with another case like Tennessee's in which an agency lost its ability to do background checks and kept issuing or renewing permits anyway.
"My thoughts are that was a very bad decision," Kleck said. "They should have done whatever it takes to do the background checks. Either through settling their dispute with (FBI's) NCICor doing background checks using state criminal history files."
Kleck said he wondered if there was some abuse of the system by the state that led to the access being cut off. A call to the FBI's office in West Virginia that manages the National Crime Information Center database went unreturned last week.
Both the Department of Safety and the TBI, which acts as the custodian in Tennessee for access to the federal database, said there was no abuse that led to the gun permitting office having its rights revoked.
Problem arose in 2006
In fact, the issue hit the FBI's radar in 2006 as the Department of Safety, which includes the Tennessee Highway Patrol, was seeking access to the database so its human resources department could perform background checks on job applicants, according to interviews and documents.
The FBI declined, saying the Department of Safety had too many administrative and civilian functions to qualify as a law enforcement agency.
"We were shocked," said Brad Truitt, TBI's director of information systems, an office whose responsibilitiesinclude managing access to the crime database for all police agencies in Tennessee. "We would have done everything we could to get them access back."
There's no clear indication in the record or in interviews why the Department of Safety, which is charged by law with managing the handgun permit program, failed to correct the problem after September 2006.
In fact, Lisa Knight, the manager over the handgun office, said she alerted superiors to the problem in 2006. She said the position of the department at the time was that state law didn't address the checks on renewals and duplicate copies.
"We don't know that we were issuing permits to felons," Knight said on Wednesday. "I think it's safe to assume we knew eventually it was going to happen because we weren't doing the background checks, but state statute had our hands tied. However, we did start notifying the courts and ask them to send us in information. We tried to get word out there to the courts."
State regains access
Deputy Commissioner of Safety Greta Dajani, who was brought in after an agency housecleaning after scandals in 2005, was one of the superiors who were alerted to the problem.
The handgun permit division fell under her responsibility and she said it continued doing "business as usual except for that one element" of the background checks.
Dajani said she wanted to challenge the FBI on its decision to end access to the database, but was advised against it by the department's legal office, headed by Roger Hutto.
"We were in a dilemma," Dajani said. "You get told by a federal agency that oversees law enforcement basically 'no.' It's not just an easy thing to turn that ship around."
After the reporting by Channel 5 in February detailing that felons had been issued permits, Commissioner Mitchell moved the handgun permitting office under the highway patrol. That seemed to satisfy the FBI, which granted access again to the database. Mitchell said the department has a plan to investigate and collect permits from felons who shouldn't have them, but he offered no details.
Mitchell said some counties and local courts are not filing necessary notice to the department when gun permit owners are convicted of crimes. He said the department also runs regular checks against the state correction felony database to help clean up the problem.
"We're aggressively making sure now we're doing everything we can to connect with the courts, connect with sheriff's, connect with the chiefs of police, connect with the databases, and make sure when we do it, we do it right," he said.