Few gun buyers ever are prosecuted for lying on forms they are required to complete as part of a background check when purchasing a weapon, says a new federal study reported by USA Today. In the 29 states where federal officials handle background checks, there were only 12 prosecutions in fiscal 2017 of people who were found to have provided false information, such as failing to disclose a felony conviction, reports the Government Accountability Office. It is a federal crime for people trying to obtain guns to make a false statement or furnish false or misrepresented identification intended to deceive people on the legality of the gun sale.
Pennsylvania, which handles background checks itself, made 1,900 referrals for prosecution in 2017 and obtained about 470 convictions. Since 2014, the policy of the Pennsylvania Instant Check System has been to investigate all firearm denials. Nationwide in 2017, 25.6 million firearm-related backgrounds checks were processed through the FBI’s National Instate Background Check System, and about 181,000 or one percent of the attempted purchases were denied because the individual was prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal or state law. Rep. José Serrano (D-NY), who requested the GAO report, said it “reveals some alarming gaps in how we investigate and prosecute firearms denials. It shows that we need more consistent, robust standards for investigating and prosecuting firearms denial cases, and that there are troubling differences in the standards used by states, the ATF, and U.S. Attorneys offices to examine and enforce our laws in these areas.”