Form 4473

Columbia, South Carolina Police report one suspect was killed and a second was driven off when the pair tried to hold up a barber shop containing multiple victims.  They were met by not one, but two licensed concealed carry holders.  One robber died very suddenly at the scene.  The second escaped.

What makes this story noteworthy is that the PD was able to track the origin of the dead crook’s gun, and reported the results of that portion of the investigation by the following morning.

The gun was reported stolen to the Columbia police during the previous summer.  Stolen gun, armed robbery with multiple victims tells me that the dearly departed has (a) done this before or (b) wildly over estimated his skill at armed robbery.

Having a list of the make, model, caliber and serial number of all your guns and making a report to law enforcement should one of them be stolen, is a first step. Such a report will put the gun in the “system” so that law enforcement will be alerted when they come across it on the street. You might even get your gun back.

I think it is safe to say that deceased would not have purchased a firearm in any forum that required a background check. In order to fail a background check you first have to submit to a background check. Here are the stats of how many applicants failed a background check: approximately 1% of applicants for FY 2002 and 2003, or 121,909. To be fair, these 121,909 individuals have an appeal process or could take positive steps to withdraw their application. 

One would think that 121,909 prosecutions would attract attention and would serve as an object lesson to those engaged in purchasing handguns for nefarious reasons. We will never know because those prosecutions never took place.

The next two charts show the extent of criminal prosecution, throughout the United States. These are the cases that withstood initial vetting, made it over various culls and hurdles and eventually settled on an Assistant United States Attorney’s Desk.

The USAOs

The 94 USAOs prosecute criminal violations of federal laws. In NICS cases, prospective firearm purchasers are normally charged with intentionally lying on ATF Form 4473 by not indicating their prohibited status. NICS cases are generally prosecuted under two statutes: Title 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(6) and Title 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(1)(A). Title 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(6) states that it is unlawful:

for any person in connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition of any firearm or ammunition from a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector, knowingly to make any false or fictitious oral or written statement or to furnish or exhibit any false, fictitious, or misrepresented identification, intended or likely to deceive such importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale or other disposition of such firearm or ammunition under the provisions of this chapter.¹⁷

Title 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(1)(A) states that whoever “knowingly makes any false statement or representation with respect to the information required by this chapter to be kept in the records of a person licensed under this chapter or in applying for an license or exemption or relief from disability under the provisions or this chapter” shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

Table 3 shows the number of referrals USAOs received under those two statutes, case filings (instances in which formal charges were filed), and case terminations (convictions, acquittals, or dismissals) during fiscal years (FY) 2002 and 2003. The referrals include ATF referrals of Brady Act cases identified through the NICS. According to the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), these referrals also include prosecutions of illegal gun traffickers and “straw purchasers” (individuals with clean records who purchase firearms for prohibited individuals). The EOUSA’s case management system, the Legal Information Office Network System (LIONS), categorizes case data by federal statute and fiscal year, and therefore we were unable to obtain specific data related to NICS cases for CYs 2002 and 2003.

Table 3: Referrals, Case Filings, and Case Terminations Under Title
18 U.S.C. 922(a)(6) and Title 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(1)(A), By Defendant
FY 2002 and FY 2003

	FY 2002	FY 2003	Totals
Referrals	922	1,059	1,981
Cases Filed	772	825	1,597
Cases Terminated	734	686	1,420

Source: Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys

The prosecutorial results of ATF investigations of NICS referrals initiated during CYs 2002 and 2003 are shown in Table 4. This table shows the number of defendants referred to the USAO, accepted by the USAO for prosecution, prosecuted, and found guilty.

Table 4: Prosecutorial Results of ATF NICS Cases Referred
CY 2002 and CY 2003¹⁸

Category	CY 2002	CY 2003	Totals
Defendants Referred	141	89	230
Defendants Accepted	116	69	185
Defendants Prosecuted	91	63	154
Guilty Verdicts	90	63	153

Source: Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys

Contrary to popular belief there is no such thing as a “centralized gun registry”, in most states. ATF can start at the manufacturer, track the gun to a wholesale distributor and from there to a retail outlet.  Once the gun is purchased in a retail transaction the paper trail grows colder.   

Source: Review of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Enforcement of Brady Act Violations Identified Through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System

Report Number I-2004-006
July 2004

I am not a mathematician, I never took statistics and I didn’t sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night.  Of the 121,909 individuals that got caught lying on ATF form 4473, that is lying on the gun background check, 153 were found guilty in FY 2002 and 2003. Check my math but I think that comes out to .001% were convicted.

If the goal is to keep guns out of the hands of people who are prohibited from possessing them then prosecuting them for the attempt would seem to have some value.  People are prosecuted every day for attempted murder, theft, rape and various and sundry other crimes. In actuality, while ineligible persons are attempting to possess a firearm, they are in fact committing perjury in order to do it.  On the other hand if the goal is cause maximum disruption and inconvenience to people trying to exercise a right specifically reserved for them in the Bill of Rights, then expanded background checks are on the right track.