Gun owners unchecked

Gun owners unchecked

State Auditor Elaine M. Howle recently concluded that a backlog in California's program to determine whether potentially dangerous people own guns poses a risk to public safety.

In 2013, a state audit report recommended identifying owners of guns who are prohibited from bearing arms due to a “mental health-related event in their life,” according to a letter Howle recently addressed to Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders. But since then, the California Department of Justice has repeatedly delayed making progress on completing reports, Howle's letter reads.

The department cross-references databases to find people who purchased guns before they lost eligibility to do so because of mental illness or criminal background. According to The Los Angeles Times, the department recently had about 3,600 reports of gun owners who might not qualify to own a gun in a daily queue, while its goal was to keep that number under 600.