MAIG conducting background checks!

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Spats McGee

Administrator
Apparently, Michael Bloomberg & MAIG have taken it upon themselves to conduct background checks on folks that post Armslist WTB ads.
The pro-gun control group combed the public ads from people looking to purchase firearms. Using the contact information posted by the would-be buyers, Bloomberg's advocacy group secretly ran background checks of about 600 people and found that 1 in 30 of them had a felony record, which excludes them from buying firearms.
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Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bloomberg-warns-illegal-online-gun-105653059.html

I have to wonder how they're conducting these checks. I'm pretty sure that you're not 'posed to use NCIC for this.
 
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JimDandy

New member
Criminal Records are public record, aren't they? If they wanted to do it the long way, I suppose they could get the information reported. I'd question the accuracy of their info, though. A name and phone number is not as discrete as a SSN. I'd also question if they double checked that the felony was actually a prohibitive conviction.
 
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mrray13

New member
NCIC can't be used for this, however, as JimDandy points out, criminal records are public. Illinois has a website called judici.com, wherein if you know the persons name, you can look them up by county. You have to do some digging, but you can find out what people have been charged with, convicted of, sentence imposed and fines paid. That's if the county inputted said information, it's not always complete.

All that said, with Bloomberg's money and MAIG's connections, I doubt they took the "long" way. Would definitely be interesting to learn how they did those background checks.
 
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Spats McGee

Administrator
Yes, criminal records are public records, generally speaking. I'm not sure what NY has to track them, aside from NCIC, but it's no doubt fancier than what we have in little ol' Arkansas. The real question is how they went about getting those records, as you two have surmised.
 
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JimDandy

New member
I'm not as worried about how, actually. I don't think they used NCIC. I suspect they used NY's whatever portal, or they used 600 payments to CriminalRecordCheck.Com (probably not a real website, meant to be symbolic not specific). I question whether the 20 felonies they found were either A) correctly matched to the person they checked up on, and B) an actual prohibiting felony.

I realize we're all mostly in the know on prohibited persons, but not everyone knows that not every felony prohibits possession. Nor would I put MAIG above purposely obfuscating this fact to get more felonies on their side.
 
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Brian Pfleuger

Moderator Emeritus
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they cherry-picked the names that looked common and accepted any result with the same name as "proof" that a felon was looking for a gun.
 
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Spats McGee

Administrator
Given that MAIG has been recently accused of using city-owned computers to host their materials, I'm intensely interested in the how. Up until this last legislative session, disseminating ACIC (Arkansas' version of NCIC) information to persons not entitled to access for a legitimate law enforcement purpose was a Class D felony, punishable by up to 6 years in prison.

I agree with you on this, though:
JimDandy said:
. . . . Nor would I put MAIG above purposely obfuscating this fact to get more felonies on their side.
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mrray13

New member
How, to me, is still important. It's not as if NCIC can't be used for this, but rather, it's not supposed to be. I wouldn't put it past MAIG to take advantage of their positions and take the easy route. They need full disclosure as well, and let the public know how they went about collecting this information.

They'll never release that, nor admit that some of those 20 might not be disqualified.
 
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CowTowner

New member
Depending on the data provided in the WTB add, they may be able to run a Lexus/Nexus check. That is what the property manager where I live does, although she has a lot more information to input.
Just a thought.
 
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orangello

New member
Not hating, but maybe they should have started with their membership. IIRC, several have had convictions of varying values.
 
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Wyoredman

New member
What confuses me about the whole thing is this. How can anyone do a background check on an individual with just a name? Doesn't it require a SS# or DL# at the least?

So, did Bloomburg just take a name and search that name to see if anyone in the U.S. by that name was a felon? If so, he is dumber than he thinks we are!
 
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mrray13

New member
Some systems will pull up all names based on spelling and sound, and don't need a dob, ss or dl number. It'll give you that information and you can then pull up specific info. Those are typically law enforcement only systems, and not for public use.

That said, the above mentioned judici.com can still provide info with no dob or other info. You simply pick the county, plug in the name, and it'll give you everyone with that name/spelling charged in that county. I doubt MAIG took this long, hard route.
 
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Ben Towe

New member
Oh, I hope they misused NICS or NCIC. Oh, I really, really do. Few things would make me happier than seeing Nanny Bloomberg dragged out of City Hall in cuffs by the FBI on the 6 o'clock news.

Probably never happen, but it's a nice thought.
 
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Tom Servo

Staff
Few things would make me happier than seeing Nanny Bloomberg dragged out of City Hall in cuffs by the FBI on the 6 o'clock news.
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I wish that were a realistic possibility, but he conducted several illegal "sting" operations against gun dealers in Georgia and Virginia, and he was never charged with any of those. Quite the opposite, he prevailed in court when he sued a couple of the affected dealers.
 
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Ben Towe

New member
I wish that were a realistic possibility, but he conducted several illegal "sting" operations against gun dealers in Georgia and Virginia, and he was never charged with any of those. Quite the opposite, he prevailed in court when he sued a couple of the affected dealers.
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That doesn't surprise me. When you have $27 billion dollars, you can do as you please, legal or not.
 
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Wreck-n-Crew

New member
If they're using the NICS system, there could be a problem for them there.
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That is provided they were caught. Even then what are the chances there would be a prosecution?

If it would be handled the way the IRS scandal is, they would likely get away with it. Maybe let a few fall in front of the bus wheels to protect the real culprits?
 
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tony pasley

New member
Remember Bloomberg is a self confessed Felon when he hired people to go into other states to attempt to buy firearms. Why would a simple thing like it is against the rules to use NICS bother him
 
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