Firearm seizure orders from the FBI hits record
All About Guns
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A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Gun News
FBI gun seizure orders from people who fail background checks hit historic rates
The FBI has been issuing more seizure orders for guns sold to suspected prohibited buyers than at any time in the history of the federal firearm background check system, according to the most recent data compiled by the bureau.
More than 6,300 such referrals were transmitted to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives in 2020 to take back weapons from buyers when background checks later determined they may have been ineligible because of criminal records, mental health histories, disqualifying military service records and other bans.
An additional 5,200 directives were issued in 2021, adding to the largest two-year total by far since the National Instant Criminal Background Check System began publishing data in 1998.
The numbers follow years of surging firearm sales. Yet they also underscore a longstanding tension in the system: Federally licensed dealers are permitted to proceed with weapons sales in cases when background checks are not completed within the required three business days.
Seizure orders are issued when analysts later conclude that buyers likely should have been barred.
The FBI noted that the retrieval orders represent a fraction of the millions of gun checks processed in 2020 and 2021. The 2022 data is not yet available.
But analysts suggested that the unusual spike in seizure orders is due in part to the aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic. Not only did gun sales skyrocket during the height of the pandemic – a record 39.6 million background checks were initiated in 2020 – placing increased pressure on the background check system
As a result, FBI examiners also were more likely to find that COVID-19 had emptied local courthouses and prosecutors’ offices around the country, where clerks and administrators provide crucial assistance in vetting the criminal histories of prospective gun buyers.
The recent spike in retrieval orders represent the largest totals since 2000 when 5,056 were issued.
While the numbers accounted for a small percentage of the 8.5 million transactions vetted by the NICS system that year, the FBI described the potential “public safety risk” in stark detail at that time.
Featured Firearm
Hawken rifle
Known as a “plains rifle” or a “Rocky Mountain Rifle” the Hawken was a muzzle-loading rifle built by the Hawken brothers that was used on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains of the United States during the early frontier days.
Jacob and Samuel Hawken made each rifle by hand, one at a time, in their St. Louis, Missouri shop, which they ran from 1815 to 1858. Their shop continued to operate and sell rifles bearing the “Hawken” name under later owners until 1915.
They produced what their customers needed in the west: a quality gun, light enough to carry all the time, capable of knocking down big targets at long range. Hawken rifles had a reputation for both accuracy and long range. They are generally shorter and of a larger caliber than earlier “Kentucky rifles” from which they descend. Their “Rocky Mountain” guns were typically .50 caliber or .53 caliber, but ranged as high as .68 caliber.
Did you know?
A number of famous men were said to have owned Hawken rifles, including Hugh Glass, Kit Carson, Jedediah Strong Smith, Theodore Roosevelt and John “Liver-Eating” Johnson.
The legend of Hugh Glass was made into the 2015 film ‘The Revenant’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The legend of John Jeremiah Johnston was made into the 1972 film ‘Jeremiah Johnson’ starring Robert Redford.
The opening narration of the film runs: “His name was Jeremiah Johnson, and they say he wanted to be a mountain man. The story goes that he was a man of proper wit and adventurous spirit, suited to the mountains. Nobody knows whereabouts he come from and don’t seem to matter much. He was a young man and ghosty stories about the tall hills didn’t scare him none. He was looking for a Hawken gun, .50 caliber or better. He settled for a .30, but damn, it was a genuine Hawken… you couldn’t go no better.”
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