Report: Georgia receives "C" for records on gun sales

ATLANTA - A national gun control group lists Georgia among states not adequately updating records used in background checks of gun buyers. <br> <br> Georgia was one of eight states that did not report sales to prohibited buyers, according to a survey released last week by Americans for Gun Safety Foundation. The group gave 22 states failing grades for maintaining grossly inadequate criminal, domestic violence and mental disability records. <br> <br> Georgia earned a &#34;C&#34; for deficiencies in its automated records, according to the report. <br> <br> ``Georgia is one of the more aggressive states and has done a remarkable job, but there are still holes in the data that allow people to slip through undetected,&#39;&#39; study director Jim Kessler said. <br> <br> ``The dirty little secret is that the records for almost every state are in terrible shape and our front line defense necessary to keep guns out of the hands of criminals is full of holes.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Nationally, the organization said, almost 10,000 people underwent background checks and bought guns over a 30-month period despite being legally forbidden to have them. Survey figures, from December 1998 to June 2001, may be the ``tip of the iceberg,&#39;&#39; the report said. <br> <br> Among those prohibited from buying guns are felons, illegal immigrants, people under restraining orders for domestic violence and those involuntarily committed to mental institutions. <br> <br> State officials said Georgia&#39;s fail-safe is a ``don&#39;t know, don&#39;t sell&#39;&#39; policy that can indefinitely extend the federally mandated three-day waiting period when an initial criminal history check raises questions. <br> <br> ``If there are questions, we continue to research the record until there is a disposition,&#39;&#39; said GBI Assistant Director Terry Gibbons. <br> <br> Within the next year another potential loophole will be plugged when a statewide database of domestic violence records is added, Gibbons said. In 2000, the state ran background checks on 213,110 prospective gun buyers. About 5 percent were rejected, she said. <br> <br> Kessler noted that, unlike most states, Georgia keeps a registry on domestic violence restraining orders, but not all domestic violence orders make it to the state&#39;s database. <br> <br>