Capitalizing on media coverage of the trial of the Charleston church shooter, two South Carolina state senators pre-filed legislation Tuesday that the gun-ban lobby falsely claims could have prevented that murderer from obtaining his firearm.
South Carolina state Senate Democrats Gerald Malloy and Mia McLeod introduced the legislation—SB 159, which would extend the deadline for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to complete checks on purchasers from three days to 28; and SB 143, which would prohibit any firearm transfer indefinitely unless and until the buyer is positively proven to be legally allowed to possess a firearm.
Although the anti-gun lobby blames the fictional “Charleston Loophole” for the accused killer getting his gun, the truth is that the reason the FBI didn’t know he had admitted to felony drug charges, and was thereby prohibited from purchasing a firearm, was because of clerical error—not a lack of sufficient time for a check.
