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from the San Diego Union Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20030616-9999_1n16gun.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20030616-9999_1n16gun.html
Gun sellers facing background checks
Senate bill would make rules same across entire state
By James P. Sweeney
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
June 16, 2003
SACRAMENTO – A few years ago, a Southern California gun dealer was stunned to notice one of his salesclerks wearing some unusual jewelry – an electronic ankle bracelet, the kind issued to those under house arrest.
More recently, a state review of a select group of people involved in gun sales found 18 with criminal or other records that barred them from owning or even handling a firearm.
One employee of a Banning pawnshop had served time for robbery. Another at a Wal-Mart in Oceanside had been convicted of aggravated assault. A clerk from a Willow Creek store was the subject of a restraining order.
Teachers, locksmiths and pharmacists, among others, must pass background checks in California. But those who work around guns in most of the state do not.
At least 31 cities, including San Diego, have mandated background checks of gun-store employees. Los Angeles and two other counties have enacted similar requirements.
For the rest of the state, existing law actually forbids gun dealers from running prospective or current employees through state and national databases that would show whether they are prohibited from having access to firearms.
That could change soon under a measure that has been moving quietly through the Legislature. The bill, SB 824 by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, would give retailers the option and, ostensibly, the legal incentive to check the backgrounds of employees who handle guns.
"It's not required, but we feel it's going to rapidly become a community standard," said Randy Rossi, director of the firearms division under Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
Lockyer's office persuaded Scott to carry the bill. Rossi and others were surprised by what the computer checks revealed.
"If they are prohibited from having custody or control of firearms and they are surrounded by firearms, that could be dangerous," said Hallye Jordan, a spokeswoman for the attorney general.
The 18 were among about 1,000 people who applied to become state-certified instructors qualified to supervise safe-handling instructions now required with most gun sales.
It was the first time the Department of Justice had gone through the process developed to comply with a new law that took effect Jan. 1. The law did not require background checks, but the state ran one on each applicant as a precaution, Rossi said.
California's list of categories that prohibit someone from owning or possessing a gun is longer than perhaps that of any other state. It includes felons, those convicted of domestic violence and certain other serious misdemeanors, subjects of restraining orders, drug addicts, anyone dishonorably discharged from the military or who has renounced U.S. citizenship, illegal immigrants and the mentally ill. Some of the criteria are established in federal law.
Jordan said the Department of Justice notified each employer involved, as well as local prosecutors. Being in a prohibited category with custody or control of a gun can be charged as a felony.
Thousands of firearms are stolen from dealers every year, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. But Jordan said there was no evidence of any unusual activity, such as high sales volume or missing inventory, at any of the stores that employed the 18 people.
Scott's measure cleared the Senate and is awaiting its first committee hearing in the Assembly. It has no formal opposition, although dealers are not convinced it is necessary.
"We're so heavily regulated in the gun industry already," said Ron Godwin, manager of the El Cajon Gun Exchange. "We cannot have a gun stolen out of inventory and just smile about it and not tell anybody. We're required to report that to the federal government and local law enforcement immediately."
Randy Garell, owner of The Grant Boys Inc. of Costa Mesa, was among several dealers who participated in negotiations on the measure. Dealers persuaded the state to pull back from a mandatory background check, but Garell still considers the resulting legislation a mixed bag.
"In a lot of cases, I suppose I would feel a lot better if I could run a background check on people," Garell said. "On the other hand, the expense involved in doing this is considerable. These are retail clerks basically. Who's going to pay for this?"
Garell and others said they already use extensive application forms and carefully interview job candidates to make sure they are suitable for firearms transactions.
Dealers also aren't happy with the state's insistence on a more comprehensive computerized check, which would immediately notify the Department of Justice if an employee falls into a prohibited category. That system costs at least $80 per employee or applicant initially.
A system already used to screen prospective gun buyers would be faster, simpler and cheaper – less than $20 per person, Garell and Godwin said.
"Everything is there in place and ready to go," Garell said. "I could run every one of my employees before the sun sets today and have an answer by tomorrow morning."
However, that system – known as the Dealers Record of Sale, or DROS – offers only a snapshot of a person's record and would not flag anything that happens later.
Moreover, the legislation already represents a compromise between dealers and those who initially pushed for mandatory background checks. The state is convinced that given the option, dealers' insurance companies will force them to run checks on their employees.
"It's kind of a no-brainer," said Luis Tolley of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly Handgun Control. "It doesn't make any sense to permit anyone to work in a gun store who is in a prohibited category."
© Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.