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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

The state was sexist, ageist, paid no attention to the state law or the U.S. 
Constitution in  checking out gun purchasing habits of a law abiding citizen, 
when , by law, the records should have been destroyed, and by the 
Constitution, she was merely exercing her civil right to be armed.

  I tell you, if you are going to buy a firearm,anyway;  buy it now, while 
you can still buy one with absolutely no paperwork connecting you to the 
purchase.  The democrats are in total control now; They will 'start" with 
what they call the 'gun-show loophole'; which is the way that most people buy 
guns the way they were always bought before Clinton's first two years with 
the dem. congress -- no paperwork.


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Gun purchase glitch examined

Delaware's small-arms advocate shocked by DSP lack of recordkeeping purge

By Lee Williams • The News Journal • November 4, 2008 


 Buzz up! DOVER -- Delaware State Police stopped Alvina Vansickle from 
purchasing a .22-caliber pistol for self-defense because she was too old and 
a woman, said Superintendent Col. Thomas MacLeish.


 The outrage that followed led to the revelation that Delaware State Police 
had been keeping lists of gun buyers for years; state law requires them to 
destroy these records after 60 days.

Without so much as a traffic ticket, the 81-year-old Lewes resident should 
have sailed through the mandatory state police background check when she 
tried to buy a Taurus revolver from Charlie Steele's Lewes gun shop last 
August.

Problems started after Steele made the required phone call to state police 
for approval of the firearms transaction.

An employee in the state police Firearms Transaction Approval Program noticed 
Vansickle's age and gender, and brought the sale to an immediate halt.

Vansickle's application was then routed to Sgt. Benjamin Nefosky, who heads 
the firearms approval unit.

According to MacLeish, the transaction was halted over concerns "based upon 
age and gender."

"To be very honest with you, we have a legal obligation under the law to do 
approvals," MacLeish said. "We also have an obligation to make sure we're 
safe, and paying due diligence."

MacLeish said the initial call taker "was concerned this individual never 
purchased a weapon before. Age and gender caused her to take caution."

As to whether age and gender are included in the state statute as legitimate 
reasons to reject a firearms purchase, MacLeish stated, "No, they are not."

"I believe there was caution taken on behalf of the call taker," he said. "It 
was done without malice."

Vansickle's purchase was eventually approved -- 10 days after the initial 
application -- after she and the dealer were interviewed by police about the 
purchase. A normal delay is three days.

The sale eventually went through.

Word of the delay rebounded around Delaware's small-firearms community, 
eventually making its way to Dave Lawson, a retired state police lieutenant 
and firearms instructor. Lawson spoke to his former colleague Nefosky about 
Vansickle's dilemma, Lawson said.

Lawson said what Nefosky told him revealed there was a much larger problem in 
the firearms approval unit than keeping a small-caliber revolver out of the 
hands of an 81-year-old woman.

Lawson said Nefosky told him he searched seven years of firearms transaction 
records to see if Vansickle had ever bought a gun before.

"I was totally drop-jawed," Lawson said. "I asked him how far back the 
records went. He didn't know. He didn't care. He felt she was possibly a 
threat because of her age, a threat to herself or her family. That's what the 
implication was. He was concerned that never having bought a gun before, why 
would she want one now, at 81?"

Lawson served in the State Bureau of Identification as a lieutenant, which 
includes the firearms approval section and other specialty units. He knew the 
law. Nefosky's concern about Vansickle's age and sex, he said, should never 
have come into play.

Lawson also knew the gun records should have been destroyed.

In an interview with The News Journal, MacLeish claimed all paper firearms 
records are destroyed every 60 days.

The electronic records, however, are another story.

"Our review of our electronic records indicated we had a glitch in the 
system, back to August 2005," he said. "They have since been purged."

John Thompson is president of the Delaware State Sportsmen's Association, the 
local affiliate of the NRA.

Several people told him of Nefosky's delay, and expressed their outrage about 
the list of gun owners maintained by the Delaware State Police.

Legally, he said, Vansickle's reasons for wanting a firearm are moot, and he 
knew the lists were a problem.

"This suggests two violations: one is denial without cause, and the other is 
keeping records of gun purchases," Thompson said. "Under statute, the 
Delaware State Police are required to destroy any purchase records that 
involve approvals. Now they're maintaining lists of gun owners, which we 
think is inappropriate. We did not create this system to allow this to 
happen."

Vansickle's civil rights were violated, he said.

Retired Dover police captain John Sigler is president of the National Rifle 
Association, a position once held by legendary actor Charlton Heston.

"I was literally shocked that such an event would occur in the state of 
Delaware," he said.

Both Sigler and Thompson pointed to the recent Supreme Court decision 
District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the court found that the Second 
Amendment protects an individual's right to possess firearms for personal 
use, such as self-defense.

Sigler brought the goings-on in his home state to the attention of Bob 
Dowlut, NRA general counsel.

In a letter to MacLeish sent Aug. 28, Dowlut and the NRA requested two 
separate investigations: one to focus on Nefosky's denial, "and all other 
transactions of similar scope and nature." According to the letter, the 
second investigation should focus on who's responsible for keeping lists of 
gun owners in the state.

MacLeish said two internal investigations "have been initiated by myself, by 
the division."

Dowlut copied his letter to Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, who declined to comment for 
this story.

Vansickle's husband, who has legally purchased several weapons over the past 
several years, spoke on her behalf about the delay.

"Apparently, they thought she might shoot herself with it," said J.R. 
Vansickle, 83. "She has a clean record. There was no reason to turn her down. 
I lost both legs through diabetes. I'm in a wheelchair. We're an elderly 
couple. She wanted the gun for self-defense in our home."

The state police firearms unit was established as a result of the Brady Law, 
which took effect in 1994. According to state police, during 2006 and 2007, 
the unit processed 21,304 transactions, which have resulted in 711 denials.


http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081104/NEWS01/811040337