Flaws in Arizona criminal-background-records system imperil public, study finds

[spin]

3. The criminal background check is and should be the first line of defense ...

against criminals and those with severe mental issue that hope to buy firearms.

We need to make every effort to improve it and insure that it is reliable and accurate. Investing $24 million dollars to fix the system in Arizona might well help stop another tragic massacre and also reduce gun violence by criminals. It could easily pay off in the future. Just one murder trial can cost a fortune.

Arizona murder trial cost county nearly $1 million
Pima taxpayers footed the bill for three who murdered father, 9-year-old daughter

The Associated Press

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

TUCSON, Ariz. — The total cost to defend three border activists ultimately convicted of killing a southern Arizona man and his young daughter in a 2009 home invasion was more than $951,000, making it one of the costliest in Pima County’s history.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that the only defendant to avoid death row accounted for 45 percent of the total expenses, and the six attorneys assigned to the cases received roughly $500,000.
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/aug/31/arizona-murder-trial-cost-county-nearly-1-million/

I imagine the ultimate cost of trying Jared Loughner for the Tucson shooting that severely injured Gabby Giffords and killed six others, will prove extremely high.

I also support universal background checks which would help eliminate the "gun show loophole." I personally refuse to sell any of my firearms to a person that I do not know well and he/she has to be a resident of my state and have a valid concealed weapons permit.