Report Questions Bush Handgun Initiative

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 3 -- More than 400 people were issued licenses tocarry concealed guns in Texas despite prior convictions under a lawGov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee, signed in1995, saying it would make the state “a safer place.”

Those prior convictions include rape, armed robbery andhistories of violence, psychological disorders and drug or alcoholproblems, the Los Angeles Times reported in Tuesday’s editions.

Some 215,000 Texans are licensed to carry concealed weapons. Andmore than 3,000 of them have been arrested for crimes that includedouble murder and drunken driving.

Texas will not release the names of problem licensees or detailsof their crimes. The screening and license enforcement process isclosed to public scrutiny and exempt from open records laws. Thestate Department of Public Safety provides only lists with no namesof those license holders subject to disciplinary action.

But the newspaper traced many of the most serious law violatorsthrough interviews, police reports, court records and otherdocuments, as well as computer-assisted analyses of state andnational databases.

60-Day Window

Texas authorities only have 60 days to conduct background checksand they routinely issue licenses before the process is completed.So far, retroactive revocation actions have been launched againstthe more than 400 people before officials got the out-of-statecrime records, the newspaper reported.

Background checks do not routinely include interviews with theapplicant or family and friends. State law requires only review of“local official records” and criminal history records.

“If there are no clues, no reasons to suspect a problem, thenwe don’t go knocking on doors,” said state police Maj. Lee Smith,whose troopers conduct the local checks.

Troopers do not routinely investigate an applicant’s mental ormedical history beyond a search of local public records unlesssuspicious information is discovered.