Feds Order 4,000+ Guns Seized Over Background Check Issues

Posted on December 12, 2017December 12, 2017 by

The largest number of Gun retrieval requests in 10 years, the FBI issued more than 4,000 requests for agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives to seize guns from prohibited buyers, due to invalid background checks.

The Texas mass shooting by gunman Devin Patrick Kelley revealed a shocking revelation that a flaw in the background check system allowed a very troubled man to purchase a firearm. Kelley used a rifle which he legally purchased to gun down 26 victims at a rural church in Texas.

The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) vets millions of gun purchase transactions every year.

The FBI was overloaded with more than 200,000 background check requests for gun purchases this BlackFriday, setting a new single-day record. A background check for gun purchases must be completed within 72 hours of the sale.If the background check is not complete within the 72-hour time limit, federal law states the sale is valid.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a United States system for determining if prospective firearms or explosives buyers’ name and birth year match those of a person who is not eligible to buy. It was mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Law) of 1993 and launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1998.

Under sections 922(g)^[16] and (n)^[17] of the GCA certain persons are prohibited from:

Shipping or transporting any firearm or ammunition in interstate or foreign commerce;
Receiving any firearm or ammunition that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.^[18]

A person prohibited from owning a gun is one who:

Has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
Is under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
Is a fugitive from justice;
Is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance;
Has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution;
Is illegally or unlawfully in the United States;
Has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
Having been a citizen of the United States has renounced U.S. citizenship;
Is subject to a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such intimate partner;
Has been convicted in any court of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence”, a defined term in 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(33)^[18]

Currently, federal law requires background checks (through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System) only for guns sold through licensed firearm dealers, which account for 60% of all gun sales in the United States.

It is not immediately clear how many gun seizure requests were successfully executed out of the 4000, or how many weapons were actually removed from ownership. Multiple firearms can be purchased in a single transaction meaning that the number of guns may very well be much higher than the number of seizure requests.

DOT Announces It Is Amending Its Drug-Testing Regulations

Posted on November 10, 2017May 25, 2018 by

Importance Notice!

Effective January 1, 2018, The Department of Transportation is amending its drug-testing program regulation to add hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, and oxycodone to its drug-testing panel; add methylenedioxyamphetamine as an initial test analyte; and remove methylenedioxyethylamphetamine as a confirmatory test analyte. The revision of the drug-testing panel harmonizes DOT regulations with the revised HHS Mandatory Guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Federal drug-testing programs for urine testing. This final rule clarifies certain existing drug-testing program provisions and definitions, makes technical amendments and removes the requirement for employers and Consortium/Third Party Administrators to submit blind specimens.

On November 10th 2017, The United States Department Of Transporation (DOT) announced they will be amending the mandatory 5-panel drug screen to include expanded opiates, and expanding on CFR 49 Part 40.

Effective January 1st, 2018, the mandatory urine drug screening for all safety sensitive positions guided under CFR 49 Part 40 will include hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, and oxycodone.

This new revision of HS Mandatory Guidelines with which the NPRM
proposed to harmonize Part 40, comes in two parts.

Part 1

Previous to this newly added regulation, the mandatory drug screening was a 5-panel urine which consisted of testing for the 5 most common street drugs.

A 5-Panel Urine Analysis consists of :

Amphetamines (Meth)
Cocaine
Marijuana
Opiates
Phencyclidine (PCP)

As of January 1st, 2018, under the new revisions of CFR 49 Part 40, a DOT drug screening will test for four semi-synthetic opioids (i.e., hydrocodone, oxycodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone). Some common names for these semi-synthetic opioids include OxyContin®, Percodan®, Percocet®, Vicodin®, Lortab®, Norco®, Dilaudid®, Exalgo®.

A 5-panel expanded opiates urine analysis consists of:

Amphetamines (Meth)
Cocaine
Marijuana
Opiates
Hydrocodone
Hydromorphone
Oxymorphone
Oxycodone
Phencyclidine (PCP)

What has caused this new DOT Part 40 Amendment?

Since President Donald Trumps declaration of the Opioid Crisis, America has become much more aware of the rapidly progressing problem of drug addiction.On October 26th, 2017, President Trump directed the Department of Health and Human Services to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency, striving to take action on this salient soar effecting the lives of American citizens today.

Opioid Addiction Statistics

A governmental account of drug overdose statistics shows that from the year 2015 to 2016 the death toll due to drug overdose rose 22 percent.

This upwards trend of overdose has been on a steady incline since the year 2000 and was likely to continue until President Trump declared the opioid crisis.

Knowing the disease of addiction himself through the actions of his brother, President Trump can understand the difficulties those who suffer from addiction face, making it known and urging Americans to remember the phrase “prevention not punishment”.

Since the Opioid Crisis Americans have been made queenly aware of the consequences and statistics of drug abuse. How the opioid crisis has affected the American economy, the American workplace, and just America as a whole. Many now know that you don’t have to be an addict yourself to feel the effects of addiction.

Policy makers have quickly taken notice of these growing trends and decided to take swift action.

Saftey Sensitive Positions

A safety-sensitive position refers to a job in which the employee is responsible for his or her own or other people’s safety. It also refers to jobs that would be particularly dangerous if performed under the influence of drugs or alcohol. For this reason, Safety-sensitive positions are often the focus of drug and alcohol testing.

Generally, DOT regulations cover safety-sensitive transportation employers and employees. Each DOT agency (e.g. FRA, FMCSA, FTA, FAA, and PHMSA) and the USCG have specific drug and alcohol testing regulations that outline who is subject to their testing regulations.

DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance

The Director of the DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance, Patrice Kelley, has been creating government substance abuse policies for many years. Under her jurisdiction, the new amendment to CFR 49 will help serve to uphold the ODAPC mission statement.

“Ensure that the drug and alcohol testing policies and goals of the Secretary of Transportation are developed and carried out in a consistent, efficient, and effective manner within the transportation industries for the ultimate safety and protection of the traveling public. This is accomplished through program review, compliance evaluation, and the issuance of consistent guidance material for DOT Operating Administrations (OAs) and for their regulated industries.”

Part 2

HHS Mandatory Guidelines remove
methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA) as a confirmatory test analyte from the existing drug-testing panel and add methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) as an initial test analyte.

What does this mean?

An analyte is by definition a substance whose chemical constituents are being identified and measured. For example, morphine is the target analyte for codeine/morphine testing. The DOT will now focus on the MDA analyte for its testing analysis, rather than the previous MDEA. This could lead to a test confirming positive due to the difference in the initial test analyte.

Initial test analyte	Initial test cutoff concentration	Confirmatory test analyte	Confirmatory test cutoff concentration
Marijuana metabolites	50 ng/mL	THCA 1	15 ng/mL.
Cocaine metabolites	150 ng/mL	Benzoylecgonine	100 ng/mL.
Opiate metabolites
Codeine/Morphine 2	2000 ng/mL	Codeine	2000 ng/mL.
		Morphine	2000 ng/mL.
6-Acetylmorphine	10 ng/mL	6-Acetylmorphine	10 ng/mL.
Phencyclidine	25 ng/mL	Phencyclidine	25 ng/mL.
Amphetamines 3
AMP/MAMP 4	500 ng/mL	Amphetamine	250 ng/mL.
		Methamphetamine 5	250 ng/mL.
MDMA 6	500 ng/mL	MDMA	250 ng/mL.
		MDA 7	250 ng/mL.
		MDEA 8	250 ng/mL

Other recognizable CFR 49 Part 40 revisions

Creating a name change from the word opiates to opioids now expands the drug testing panel to 6 commonly abused illicit and licit drugs (Heroin); Codeine; Morphine, Hydrocodone; Hydromorphone; Oxymorphone; and Oxycodone.

The DOT added a new section reiterating that, in the DOT testing program, only urine specimens can be collected and analyzed.
The DOT added language further emphasizing the existing DOT prohibition on the use of DNA testing on DOT drug-testing specimens.
The final rule made minor modifications to certain section headings.
The final rule moved the list of Substance Abuse Professional certification organizations from the rule text to ODAPC’s website.
The final rule moved the MIS instructions from Appendix H to ODAPC’s website.
Outdated compliance dates were removed and links were updated.
Appendices B, C, D, and H were updated.

The revision of the drug testing panel harmonizes DOT regulations with the revised HHS Mandatory Guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Federal drug-testing programs for urine testing.

For any questions regarding DOT Drug Testing or DOT compliance please visit us at www.accreditedbackgroundchecks.com or call (800)221-4291.

Rhode Island to Introduce Mobile Background Checks

Posted on August 1, 2017August 1, 2017 by

The state of Rhode Island is getting serious about background checks. The attorney’s office has decided to bring back state and national criminal background check services. They will start to offer the screenings at different locations across the state in August.

The mobile background check services will be offered to anyone required by statute to have a national background check conducted through the attorney general’s office and for those required to have a state background check for employment or volunteering.

A state background check involves a State Criminal Search which provides access to public criminal records from the applicable state. Search results may include felony, a misdemeanor, and/or traffic-case information. And a National Background Check could involve a Federal Criminal Search; which reports the records of crimes committed against Federal Criminal Laws. This report is especially relevant for screening management positions.

The checks will be available as follows:

August 3rd: Bristol
August 7th: North Kingstown
August 10th: Cranston
August 15th: Charlestown
August 16th: Lincoln

The screenings will be offered in the police departments of the towns from 2 pm- 6 pm and will be very affordable.

The Attorney General’s office is committed to making Rhode Island take background checking more seriously and they hope by making it accessible to all people, everyone will be encouraged to feel safe in who they are hiring. Over 80% of employers do background checks in their potential hires to screen out any candidates who could be dishonest, this has proved especially important in the banking world when new hires are going to have access to large amounts of money.

Accredited Background Checks does easy Background Checks through our website and often times you will have the results emailed to you in 24-48 hours. If you are an employer you can create an express account here. The process is fast and easy!

Voluntary Background Checks Law in Gun Industry Producing Few Results

Posted on July 24, 2017July 24, 2017 by

A new state law in Virginia expanded voluntary background checks on private sales of fire arms at a Virginia gun show doesn’t seem to be yielding the results supports thought.

The program was put into place last year and in the first year, only 54 background checks were requested by private sellers across 77 gun shows in the entire state. And only one gun buyer was actually denied the purchase of a gun.

Well, What’s the Difference?

Federally licensed gun vendors are required to do mandatory background checks on customers hoping to purchase and their results from last year were drastically different. 39,738 checks were performed by the federal vendors and that resulted in 325 denials of purchases.

Why are the Numbers so Drastic?

It appears the private dealers themselves are the ones not requesting the background checks on their own customers. If a check isn’t done in the first place, then there is no way to check if your customer has been charged with a crime or has any kind of violent past. Unfortunately, the police keep no record of the number of firearms sold at gun shows by private sellers but on average, about 15 to 20 sales happen over a typical weekend at these shows.

“Back when this law was passed, the Virginia Citizens Defense League believed that it would rarely be used because gun owners really did not want what it offered,” Van Cleave said. “VCDL went along with the law because it was voluntary and it was part of a package that ultimately expanded recognition of Virginia’s concealed handgun permit by more states.”

Supporters of the law are now rallying to push for mandatory background checks on private purchases, but with no way to track this in public records, the accuracy may never be correct.

What do you think of this law? Should private dealers subject their customers to background checks such as federal vendors do? Tell us below!

AirBnB Uses Background Checks to Remove Sex Offenders

Posted on July 17, 2017July 17, 2017 by

If you haven’t heard of AirBnB, you might be living under a rock. The fast growing traveling service is currently worth $30 billion with thousands of hotels copying its’ laid back approach to where people stay when they are visiting a brand new place. The concept started when the founders decided to list their couch on online for people to stay at, and the “couch surfing” site blew up from there.

Things have happened before…

But this concept of having travelers stay in your home has drawn some crazy circumstances that the service is currently trying to regulate. For example, when hosts have rented their entire apartments or houses to guests and have to stay elsewhere, they have some back to theft and wild messes left over from parties. AirBnB is trying to have the situation better for both the hosts and the guests by providing background check services to all those registered on their website. Hosts have routinely gone through the standard background check when renting out their homes, including checking databases of public, state, and county criminal records. They also do local background checks for registered sex offenders.

What else do they check?

Airbnb also checks the OFAC list. The OFAC list, or Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries and regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, those engaged in activities.

But the background checks do have limitations Airbnb warns users about on its website. The site does not guarantee a background check on all hosts or guest. Also, guests who are going to be with the person booking the stay are not checked. And the check is only run once when the user is first registering for the website, so later arrests will not be checked.