MORE ON NEW BACKGROUND CHECKS.
On June 16th, OFF alerted you to new and more invasive background checks being conducted by the Oregon State Police for firearms purchases
.
As you know, OFF has been receiving reports of many lengthy delays for people who have no criminal history.
We contacted Senator Gordon Smith’s office to find out exactly what was going on. Today we received an e-mail from Matt Hill, a staffer for Smith. He provided the following information.
“NICS/FBI was doing a training in Oregon in Spring of 2005. In
conversations with OSP, they found that OSP (in performing background
checks) was only looking for certain types (felony) of arrests and
convictions.
NICS/FBI asserted that OSP needs to be looking at the misdemeanor
crime of harassment to determine if it meets the domestic violence
threshold under the law.
Harassment now triggers a more lengthy check by OSP. In certain
cases, OSP needs to research whether there was a conviction or just an
arrest, and determine if the harassment “victim” is someone within the
household — which would trigger “domestic violence.” OSP said that
this research is what is taking longer for some background checks,
especially if it’s a common name.”
If you have been unjustifiably delayed or denied as a result of these new rules, and you would like to share your story, please e-mail us with the specifics of your case.