States firearms records months behind
OLYMPIA — Had lawmakers passed new rules governing sales of semiautomatic rifles, it could have been months — if not years — before details of any transactions made it into a state firearms database relied upon by law enforcement officers.
That’s because the database, which now only deals with handguns, lacks information on the make, model, serial number and caliber of weapons sold dating back to early 2015.
The backlog reached 478,006 pistol transfer records at the end of February, according to the state Department of Licensing, which maintains the database.
As it has grown from 106,000 in November 2013 to 327,000 in September 2016, agency officials have asked the Legislature for money to hire extra staff to catch up. Lawmakers didn’t come through.
This year the agency didn’t ask and, ironically, lawmakers did allot $382,000 in the supplemental state budget to tackle the problem.
It happened after Democratic senators learned a suite of gun-related bills they were pushing would, if enacted, put further strain on the department’s ability to ensure all the data is up to date.
http://www.heraldnet.com/news/states-firearms-records-months-behind/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=3f593c73d4-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-3f593c73d4-228635337
= new reply since forum marked as read
