Criminal Records and Rehabilitation

Today's News about Criminal Records and Convict Rehabilitation Issues

Norton Introduces Bills to Remove Halfway House Subsistence Fees and Co-pays for Federal Inmates During Second Chance Month
Source: Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)
April 29, 2019
In recognition of Second Chance Month, which is in April, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has announced she has introduced two bills regarding Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmates and returning citizens. First, she introduced the Fairness in Federal Bureau of Prisons Medical Care Act of 2019, which would remove the copay BOP inmates are required to pay to visit a BOP-provided doctor. Currently, BOP inmates are required to “pay a fee for health services of $2.00 per healthcare visit.” While $2.00 may seem insignificant, when inmates earn only twelve to forty cents per hour on their work assignments, $2.00 is substantial.

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Blunt Rochester, Reschenthaler Introduce Bipartisan Federal Second Chance Legislation
Source: Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware at Large)
April 24, 2019
Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE-AL) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA-14) introduced H.R. 2348, the Clean Slate Act. The bipartisan bill would automatically seal an individual’s federal criminal record if they have been convicted of simple possession or any federal nonviolent offense involving marijuana, and it would create a groundbreaking new procedure that allows individuals to petition the United States Courts to seal records for nonviolent offenses that are not automatically sealed.

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Cities sue after Pentagon failed to report crimes to FBI gun check system

Source: MSN



Three major U.S. cities on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against the Pentagon to address a "clearly broken system" that they contend allowed a former Air Force serviceman to buy a gun and kill 26 people in a Texas church in November.

New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco seek to have the Defense Department (DOD) "fulfill their long-standing legal obligation to report all service members disqualified from purchasing and possessing firearms to the FBI's national background check system," according to a statement from the law firm filing the case.

Law enforcement officials in all three cities "regularly rely upon the integrity of the FBI's background check system," the attorneys write.

The case was brought after Devin Kelley opened fire Nov. 5 at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 people.

Read more about this at MSN

SAF, Calguns Seek Supreme Court Reversal of 9th Circuit Ruling

By Second Amendment Foundation



Bellevue, WA - December 22, 2017 - (The Ponder News) -- Attorneys for the Second Amendment Foundation and Calguns Foundation have filed a brief seeking U.S. Supreme Court review and ultimate reversal of a ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in their long-running challenge of California's waiting period requirement on additional firearm transactions for people who already own guns.

The case is known as Silvester v. Becerra, which challenges the Golden State's 10-day waiting period on firearms transfers to gun-owning citizens.

"Rights delayed are rights denied," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "By defending this waiting period, the state of California is essentially saying gun owners are potential criminals who are considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent, which is silly because they already own guns.

"The Second Amendment, which was incorporated to the states via the 14th Amendment in SAF's 2010 Supreme Court victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago, is not a second-class right," he added. "Nor are gun owners in California, or anywhere else in the Ninth Circuit, second-class citizens who must be treated differently than any other citizen simply because they wish to exercise their right to keep and bear arms."

Gottlieb said the Silvester case "simply begs for attention from the Supreme Court."

"It is nonsense for the state to enforce a waiting period on someone who has passed a background check and who already owns other firearms and may have a concealed carry permit," Gottlieb observed.

As noted in the brief, "there is no suggestion that the California legislature ever considered or addressed evidence regarding the need for a cooling-off period either generally or, more relevantly, for those who already own a gun."

"It's time for the Supreme Court to straighten out this problem," Gottlieb concluded.

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.


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ALERT on HR 38 (Conceal Carry Reciprocity Bill) -- Too late to stop it in the House: Call Your Senator!

by Thomas Massie (R-KY, 4th)

Feinstein/Schumer sponsored gun legislation that amends the “Brady bill” (was) added to Concealed Carry Reciprocity bill (HR 38) in the House this week.

As Chairman of the Second Amendment Caucus, I’m blowing the whistle on the swamp. Last week, Republicans in the House fast tracked through committee HR 4477, a gun bill titled “fix-NICS.” The Senate version of this bill is cosponsored by Senator Dianne Feintstein and Senator Chuck Schumer and it will send $625 million over 5 years to states to expand the national background check database. The bill will also advance former President Obama’s agenda of pressuring every branch of the administration (such as the Veteran’s Administration) to submit thousands of more names to the NICS background check database to deny gun purchases. The House bill is identical in every way to the Senate bill except the House bill will also commission a study on bump-stocks.

What you don’t know, and what virtually no one in Washington wants you to know, is that House leadership plans to merge the fix-NICS bill with popular Concealed Carry Reciprocity legislation, HR 38, and pass both of them with a single vote. Folks, this is how the swamp works. House leadership expects constituents to call their representatives demanding a vote on the reciprocity bill, when in fact the only vote will be on the two combined bills.

How fast did Fix-NICS, HR 4477, move through the Judiciary Committee? This bill broke the previous records for fast track legislation. It was voted out of committee within hours of being introduced in the House. Check the dates on this link: https://www.congress.gov/…/115th-congr…/house-bill/4477/text . That means the text of the bill wasn’t even discoverable by the public on congress.gov until after the bill passed out of committee! The text was however available over in the Senate where you will find Senator Diane Feinstein and Senator Chuck Schumer are cosponsors. https://www.congress.gov/…/115t…/senate-bill/2135/cosponsors
If that’s not odd enough, consider this: the fix-NICS bill was introduced in the House by a Democrat two weeks ago. https://www.congress.gov/…/115th-congr…/house-bill/4434/text . But, in a very unusual move, the bill was re-introduced verbatim by a Republican two weeks later, with language added to it to commission a bump-stock study. Six Republicans in Judiciary Committee weren’t persuaded by the switcheroo, and voted No. However, because every Democrat voted yes and some Republicans voted yes at the urging of the Chairman, the bill made it out of committee. The deed will be complete this week when the bill is quietly added to the Reciprocity bill, HR 38, and passed without the knowledge of those who would oppose the legislation if they knew what was in it.
To recap, what are some clues that you should be concerned with the fix-NICS bill?

(1) The first sentence after the title of the bill reads “Section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (34 U.S.C. 40901) is amended…”
(2) Senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer are cosponsors in the Senate.
(3) It’s being rammed through, without a hearing, in a very nontransparent process, and it will be passed by attaching it to the popular concealed carry reciprocity bill which already has enough votes to pass on its own.
(4) It spends over half a billion dollars to collect more names to include in a list of people who will never be allowed to own a firearm.
(5) It compels administrative agencies, not just courts, to adjudicate your second amendment rights.

In my opinion, #5 is the biggest problem. The bill encourages administrative agencies, not the courts, to submit more names to a national database that will determine whether you can or can’t obtain a firearm. When President Obama couldn’t get Congress to pass gun control, he implemented a strategy of compelling, through administrative rules, the Veterans Administration and the Social Security Administration to submit lists of veterans and seniors, many of whom never had a day in court, to be included in the NICS database of people prohibited from owning a firearm. Only a state court, a federal (article III) court, or a military court, should ever be able to suspend your rights for any significant period of time.

Does the NICS background check system have problems? Yes, it results in tens of thousands of unjustified denials of gun purchases every year. But like many bills in Congress, the fix-NICS doesn’t live up to its name – it will likely do the opposite. It throws millions of dollars at a faulty program and it will result in more law-abiding citizens being deprived of their right to keep and bear arms.

If we continue to give the executive branch more money and encouragement to add names to the list of people prohibited from buying a firearm (without a day in court) and if the gun banners achieve their goal of universal background checks, one day, a single person elected to the office of President will be able to achieve universal gun prohibition.

House leadership should immediately de-couple the fix-NICS legislation from the concealed carry reciprocity legislation. People hate it when Washington combines bills like our leadership plans to do this week.

A few have speculated that the House is combining the bills to ensure reciprocity will pass in the Senate. I have some news for them: Senators Feinstein and Schumer aren’t going to vote for reciprocity even if it contains the fix-NICS legislation they support for expanding the background check database. If someone is naïve enough to think that’s going to work, and they’re willing to accept fix-NICS to get reciprocity, then they should ask the Senate to go first with the combined bill.

Here’s a dangerous scenario that’s more likely to play out: The House uses the popularity of reciprocity (HR 38) to sneak fix-NICS through, while the Senate passes fix-NICS only. The Senate and the House meet at conference with their respective bills, with the result being fix-NICS emerges from conference without reciprocity. Fix-NICS comes back to the House and passes because all of the Democrats will vote for it (as they just did in Judiciary Committee) and many Republicans will vote for it. Because Republicans already voted for it once as part of the reciprocity deal that never came to pass, they won’t have a solid footing for opposing fix-NICS as a standalone bill. Then we’ll end up with fix-NICS, which is basically an expansion of the Brady Bill, without reciprocity.

If our House leadership insists on bringing the flawed fix-NICS bill to the floor, they shouldn’t play games. We should vote separately on HR 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Bill, and HR 4477, the fix-NICS bill. And we should be given enough time to amend the fix-NICS bill, because it needs to be fixed, if not axed.

See more headlines at The Ponder News Web Site

NSSF PRAISES TEXAS REPS. CUELLAR, CULBERSON FOR FIX NICS LEGISLATION

Washington, D.C. - November 24, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industries, praised U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and John Culberson (R-Texas) for their leadership on introducing the bipartisan H.R. 4434, the Fix NICS Act of 2017 into the House of Representatives. The legislation is a companion to an identically titled Senate bill and both drew support from both Republican and Democrat co-sponsors.

“We are deeply appreciative of both Congressmen Cuellar and Culberson to demonstrate leadership in the House of Representatives to encourage state and federal agencies to enter all applicable records in the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS),” said Lawrence G. Keane, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “This legislation will offer states the necessary resources to promptly and efficiently provide disqualifying records to NICS on those who are prohibited under current law from possessing firearms. Federally licensed firearms retailers rely upon NICS to prevent the sale of firearms to prohibited persons. This legislation will fix NICS so that background checks are accurate and reliable.”

The bipartisan House of Representatives legislation would ensure federal and state authorities comply with existing law and accurately report relevant criminal history and mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The bill penalizes federal agencies who fail to properly report relevant records and incentivizes states to improve their overall reporting. The bill also directs more federal funding to the accurate reporting of domestic violence records.

Fixing NICS has long been a top priority for NSSF. The FixNICS® campaign was launched by the firearms industry in 2013 when the industry examined how many states were failing to fully submit prohibiting mental health and other disqualifying records to NICS. Since then, NSSF’s work has resulted in reforms being adopted in 16 states and a 170 percent increase in records submission, to 4.5 million in 2013 up from only from 1.7 million in 2013. Several states, and as tragically learned through recent events, some federal agencies, still are not fully participated in submitting records to keep firearms from those prohibited from purchasing them.

Congressman Cuellar praised the bipartisan effort that offers promise to strengthening existing laws and keep firearms from prohibited persons.

“Following the horrific shooting that occurred in my district, in Sutherland Springs, Texas, there is a call to action to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again. But many call for new laws often without considering whether or not current laws are being enforced,” Congressman Cuellar said. “Today, we introduced bipartisan legislation that will fill in the gaps in NICS that led to tragedies like the one in Sutherland Springs. The FIX NICS Act is an example of both parties in both chambers of Congress working together to set aside partisan politics and offer real solutions to the American people.”

Congressman Culberson pointed to the fact this legislation is intended to bolster existing law, the common ground on which both parties should agree.

“Had existing law been enforced, the horrific tragedy in Sutherland Springs, Texas would have never occurred. The pure negligence of criminal history reporting into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) must end,” said Rep. Culberson. “I’m honored to join my fellow Texas legislators, Senator John Cornyn and Rep. Henry Cuellar on the Fix NICS Act and am greatly encouraged at the bipartisan effort to hold federal and state authorities accountable to existing law. I urge my fellow colleagues in Congress to support this critical, lifesaving piece of legislation.”

See more headlines at The Ponder News Web Site

Sessions Orders Review of Background Check System

Washington, D.C. - November 23, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo to the FBI and ATF directing them to look at several issues as it relates to reporting information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The memo directs the FBI and ATF to take the following steps:

1. Work with the Department of Defense to identify and resolve any issues with the military’s reporting of convictions and other information relevant to determining prohibited person status under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).

2. Conduct a review to identify other federal government entities that are not fully and accurately reporting information to NICS. If any such entities are identified, a plan should be developed to ensure full and accurate reporting to NICS going forward to the extent required under current law.

3. Conduct a review of the format, structure, and wording of ATF Form 4473 and recommend changes as necessary.

4. Prepare a report that addresses: (a) the number of current open investigations for making a false statement on ATF Form 4473; (b) the number of investigations for making a false statement on ATF Form 4473 for the past five years; (c) the prosecution referral and declination numbers for the current year, as well as the past five years for making a false statement on ATF Form 4473; and (d) the priority level assigned to investigations for making a false statement on ATF Form 4473.

5. Identify any additional measures that should be taken to prevent firearms from being obtained by prohibited persons, including identifying obstacles to state, local, and tribal entities sharing information with NICS.

“The National Instant Criminal Background Check System is critical for us to be able to keep guns out of the hands of those that are prohibited from owning them,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “The recent shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas revealed that relevant information may not be getting reported to the NICS – this is alarming and it is unacceptable. Therefore, I am directing the FBI and ATF to do a comprehensive review of the NICS and report back to me the steps we can take to ensure that those who are prohibited from purchasing firearms are prevented from doing so.”



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SENATORS INTRODUCE “NO CHECK, NO SALE” BILL TO CLOSE LOOPHOLE ALLOWING GUN SALES WITHOUT A COMPLETED BACKGROUND CHECK

Washington, D.C. - October 5, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) joined Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to introduce legislation to close a current loophole that allows gun sales to proceed if a background check is not completed after 72 hours, even if the gun buyer is not legally allowed to purchase a gun. The gap in existing law has allowed thousands of gun sales to prohibited buyers, including the sale of the firearm used by Dylann Roof in his deadly attack at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina last year.

"Background checks can help keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them," said Markey. "If you cannot pass a background check, you should not be able to buy a gun, period. As the tragedy in Charlestown made clear, giving law enforcement the time to perform a full background check could help save lives."

“No check, no sale must be the rule. When Dylann Roof walked into a gun store two years ago, he shouldn’t have been able to walk out with a weapon. But a loophole in current law allowed Dylann Roof – and thousands of others like him every year – to access weapons they are already legally ineligible to buy. Waiting for a background check, even if longer than 72 hours, is a minor inconvenience far outweighed by the benefit of keeping lethal weapons out of the hands of dangerous people,” said Blumenthal.

“If you can’t pass a background check, you shouldn’t be able to walk out of a store with a gun. As we saw in Charleston, this loophole allows dangerous people to get their hands on deadly weapons – it has literally cost innocent lives. This is a commonsense bill to give law enforcement the time it needs before a gun leaves the store,” said Murphy.

“Current law allows gun sales to proceed after 72 hours—even if background checks aren’t approved. This is dangerous loophole that could allow criminals and those with mental illness to complete their purchase of firearms even though it would be unlawful for them to possess them,” said Feinstein. “The shooter in Charleston who killed nine parishioners of Emmanuel AME Church would have failed his background check if the law had allowed it to be completed. Our commonsense proposal will ensure all background checks are completed before sales can move forward.”

When a criminal background check indicates that a firearm purchaser may have a criminal record, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tries to determine whether the purchaser can legally buy a gun. If this process takes longer than 72 hours, gun dealers can complete the sale even though there is a heightened risk that the purchaser is legally disqualified from purchasing a gun.

The Background Check Completion Act would require a completed background check for every gun buyer who purchases a gun from a federally-licensed gun dealer.

The Background Check Completion Act is co-sponsored by: U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jack Reed (D-RI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Patty Murray (D-WA).