(fair use for educational purposes only)

FBI's Gun Check Full of Bugs by Declan McCullagh

1:00 p.m. Jun. 21, 2000 PDT

WASHINGTON -- The FBI computer that performs background checks on prospective gun buyers is sluggish and prone to unexplained failures, experts told Congress on Wednesday.

Glitches in the massive database that records information on about 38 million Americans have blocked law-abiding citizens from purchasing firearms for personal protection and delayed one-quarter of all such transactions, witnesses said during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary committee.

-- An Informant (RattingOut@the.FBI), June 22, 2000