Earlier today, I noted a Washington Post report on John Cornyn’s proposed gun-control bill, which suggested that “under-21 gun buyers will have to wait at least 3 days, perhaps 10” to buy a gun.
This evening, the text of the bill was released, and it seems that the Washington Post‘s characterization was incorrect. Specifically, it is not the case that buyers will “have to wait at least 3 days, perhaps 10,” but that they could have to wait that long depending on whether the enhanced background checks in the bill trigger an extended investigation, and on how long that investigation takes.
Essentially, the bill would require NICS checks performed on purchasers who are under-21 to look for some additional information, including:
- “criminal history repository or juvenile justice information”
- “mental health adjudication records”
- “local law enforcement agency”
That process, Cornyn’s office told me, would be “automated through NICS and done immediately by them.” If the purchaser is 21 or older, NICS would not include those items in its search. It is not currently clear how NICS would interact with all those different systems.
If NICS turns up potentially disqualifying information on a buyer, then the FBI would be obliged to investigate that information (as it is currently) to see if it prohibits the applicant from purchasing a gun. Currently, the FBI has three days to complete that investigation. Under Cornyn’s bill, if the purchaser is under 21, it would have ten days. If the FBI cannot find anything disqualifying in that time, the transfer would go through.
Over time, the extra information that NICS would be obliged to look up for purchasers younger than 21 would come to be included within the NICS database as a matter of course, and the need for more explicit checks on under-21s would thereby be negated. In consequence, those extra checks would be discontinued after ten years.
According to an explanatory document issued by his office, Cornyn’s bill “clarifies current law that a person is prohibited from purchasing a firearm if their juvenile record meets the existing criteria for a prohibited firearms purchaser under 18 U.S. 922(d).” If enacted, this would represent a biggest change in the law, in that, for the first time, Americans who have juvenile records (obtained at any age) would be excluded from buying firearms irrespective of their current age. (Possibly due to a drafting error, the text of the law makes it unclear whether these rules apply to possession, or just purchasing.)
It is unclear what happens to Americans whose juvenile records have been expunged.