News reports are WRONG on number of illegals trying to buy guns
Okay, folks, bear with me here. When I saw the report in the news about 7.8 million illegals being denied gun purchases, I was immediately skeptical. First of all, the document they were citing. At the very top is states "Active Records in the NICS Indices". This is a list of the ACTIVE records in the NICS databases. Nowhere does it indicate that 7.8 million illegal aliens attempted gun purchases. That only means that 7.8 records of illegal aliens are in the database. Here's the link to that document.
https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active_records_in_the_nics-indices.pdf/view
So next I try to find more accurate data. From the 2017 NICS Operations report: There were 103,985 total Federal denials for firearms purchases, and of those, the highest number of 47,119 were for convicted criminals, and only 3337 were for illegal/unlawful aliens. Here is that link, with the information cited being on pages 16-17.
https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/2017-nics-operations-report.pdf/view
Another source to share with you. This is a breakdown by month/year of the number of background checks for firearms. At the bottom is this disclaimer: "These statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold. Based on varying state laws and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale."
https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf/view
Lastly, I found a GAO report from September 2018. It's focus was on how few denials are referred for prosecution, but backs up the 2017 statistics. Out of 25.6 million background checks, there were about 181,000 denials. This report combines federal and state data.
Also backs up that the majority of denials are for convicted criminals. I didn't read the whole report, but scanned through it for charts and tables.
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/694290.pdf
I don't know why this is being misreported in the news, or why there has not been anyone speaking out to correct it. Bottom line, this just reinforces how we have to research for ourselves and not rely on reporting. And hell, maybe I'm all wrong on this since my research has been done pretty quickly this morning with only one cup of coffee so far. I'd like to get other anons to look at this and see what you think.