The FBI ordered the seizure of guns from more than 4,000 people who failed their background checks last year, a report from USA Today revealed.
The retrieval request was one of the largest put forth in 10 years and required agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives to take back guns from buyers who should have been prohibited from owning firearms for various underlying reasons, such as criminal records and mental health issues.
CBS News reported it wasn’t immediately clear just how many guns have successfully been retrieved since the order, but there has been increased pressure on state and local agencies as well as the military to accurately report criminal history and other critical information pertaining to gun owners.
CBS News said those agencies have failed to provide critical records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in the past, and bear little consequence for not following the correct procedure.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month demanded a full review of the federal background check system following the mass shooting incident that took place inside a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, The Hill reported.
It has since emerged that the gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, who was responsible for killing 26 people and further injuring another 20, had a domestic violence conviction – something the Air Force failed to highlight in a background check.
David Chipman, a former ATF official who helped oversee the firearm retrieval program, said many of those who owned guns “shouldn't have weapons in the first place,” USA Today reported, adding that “it just takes one to do something that could have tragic consequences."
Chipman said, “You don't want ATF to stand for 'after the fact.'”
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