[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 16, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011

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                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 15, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other 
     departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes:

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the amendment offered by 
the gentlewoman from New York, the Honorable Carolyn McCarthy, to 
provide needed funding for the National Instant Criminal Background 
Check System, or NICS. The intent of the amendment is for the 
Department of Justice to use $20 million appropriated in the State and 
Local Law Enforcement Assistance account to provide grants to States 
and tribal areas to implement the NICS Improvement Amendments Act, 
Public Law 110-180.
  Representative McCarthy and I have worked together to improve the 
national instant check system since 2002. It was obvious to us at the 
time that the National Instant Check System was not working as Congress 
had intended it should. However, it was the tragedy of Virginia Tech 
that spurred Congress to act unanimously to update the instant check 
system. The perpetrator of that violent attack was adjudicated a danger 
to himself and others--therefore, legally prohibited from possessing a 
firearm--but was able to pass a background check because his name was 
not in the NICS database.
  It is estimated that there are still millions of qualifying records 
that should be in NICS but are not. A study by the National Center for 
State Courts found there should be roughly twice as many mental-health 
records in NICS as there currently are, based on responses from 42 of 
56 States and territories.
  At the time we enacted the NICS Improvement Amendments Act, we found 
that there were two primary reasons there were delays in NICS 
background checks: the lack of updated and available State criminal 
disposition records and insufficient automated access to records 
pertaining to mental illness, restraining orders, and misdemeanor 
convictions for domestic violence.
  The NICS Improvement Amendments Act sought to address these 
inadequacies by authorizing grants to States and tribal areas to 
upgrade their electronic records and technologies, enhance their 
capacities to perform background checks, supply accurate and timely 
criminal history disposition records, and improve reporting and 
transmitting to the NICS database. This amendment would allow the 
Department of Justice to continue making these grants. Adequate funding 
for NICS must be part of the equation to improve it. Between FY 09 and 
FY 11, the NICS Improvement Amendments Act authorizes appropriations of 
over $900 million. Yet, in FY 09 and FY 10, just $30 million has been 
appropriated.
  Mr. Chair, all Members of Congress can agree that we must confront 
our budget and deficit. However, at a time when States' budgets are 
more strained than ever, the federal government must be ready to help 
protect public safety, enforce the laws on the books, and in turn, 
serve our national interest.
  Funding for NICS is not only an important tool to keep firearms out 
of the hands of criminals and those mentally unfit to possess them, but 
also to ensure individuals' Second Amendment rights are protected, as 
States are required to remove obsolete or erroneous records from the 
database. This commonsense amendment is supported by the National Rifle 
Association, an organization whose top priority is protecting the 
Second Amendment rights of Americans. I urge my colleagues to join me 
in supporting it.

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