DOJ Inspector General Acknowledges Need for Oversight in Response to Congressman Neguse's Bipartisan Request for Investigation into Sol Pais Gun Violence Incident

Press Release

Today, Congressman Joe Neguse received a response from U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz regarding the Congressman's bipartisan request for a Federal investigation into the April 2019 incident in which a credible gun violence threat led schools across the Front Range to close. Specifically, Representative Neguse requested that an FBI investigation into the April incident provide specific information on how it was able to occur, as well as detailed information on the frequency of FBI audits of state Point of Contacts (POC) and information on the findings of recent audits. Neguse serves on the House Judiciary Committee, which provides oversight of the Department of Justice, including the FBI and the DOJ Inspector General.

"I thank you for raising your concerns with my office," the letter from Inspector General Michael Horowitz reads."My office has previously examined the FBI's administration of NICS. Because of the importance of this program, we anticipate continuing our oversight of it by initiating an audit of selected aspects of it, including whether the FBI appropriately evaluates Point of Contact state compliance with firearm background checks."

Read the full letter here.

"The incident that enabled a Florida woman to wrongly pass a background check after arriving in Colorado, leading schools across the region to shut down, is deeply frightening," said Congressman Joe Neguse. "We must ensure that our state's background checks are as effective as they can be and that the proper steps are taken to prevent this from happening again. While the DOJ Inspector General's acknowledgement of these issues is a positive development, I implore the Inspector General to provide Congress with a clear and expedited timeline for their audit of the Point of Contact system, and to provide answers on how this incident was able to occur."

"We need all hands on deck to keep our communities safe and to keep guns out of the hands of those looking to do us harm," said Congresswoman Diana DeGette. "What happened in April should never have happened. We need to know why our system failed and what needs to be done to ensure it never happens again."

On April 17, 2019, schools across Colorado's Front Range were closed due to the threat of an 18-year old woman who had purchased a shotgun in Colorado after flying from her home state of Florida. The Colorado gun shop that sold the woman the shotgun stated that she passed the required criminal background check, but a review of federal law shows the transaction should not have been allowed to take place.

Colorado, like several other states, serves as a state POC and conduct background checks using state and federal records and databases. While use of state records in addition to federal records should, in theory, make a state POC check more thorough than a federal FBI check, recent studies show that a larger number of individuals failed a federal background check than state POC background checks. A 2018 Government Accountability Office report found there were approximately 112,000 denials on approximately 8.6 million FBI background checks in fiscal year 2017, but only approximately 69,000 denials on approximately 17 million POC background checks. While the FBI conducts POC audits where there is a legitimate need to evaluate whether POC states are properly complying with the regulatory requirements, these audits are not currently published.

In 2019, Congressman Neguse successfully advocated for robust funding for states to improve their criminal and mental health records as part of the National Instant Background Check System (NICS), funding that was included in the FY2020 funding package.

Source