U.S. gun background check system has loopholes, misses data: NYT

NEW YORK, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The National Instant Background Check System is meant to guarantee gun buyers have clean slates, but its loopholes and scrappy data may partially fail such an aim, reported The New York Times (NYT) on Sunday.

"Almost everything they are doing relies on this system. It's the foundation," said Mark Collins, a top official at Brady, the gun control group that played a central role in creating the system in 1993. "The foundation has problems."

The system "operates with serious built-in limitations inserted by the gun lobby, which pushed to speed up gun sales - inserting a provision that allows gun dealers to give purchasers their weapons if an investigation is not completed within three business days," said the report.

Meanwhile, all 50 U.S. states participate in the system, but it remains technically voluntary, so the federal government has no authority to order states to provide any records - or dictate a timetable for data to be delivered, according to the report.

"This, many law enforcement officials believe, has contributed to persistent gaps in the system that have been associated with several high-profile mass killings and many other less-publicized crimes," added the report.