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Including Domestic Violence Restraining Orders in Brady Bill Background Checks: The Alaska Experience

NCJ Number
187092
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2000 Pages: 329-340
Author(s)
Lawrence C. Trostle; Allan R. Barnes; Cassie L. Atwell
Date Published
December 2000
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article examines Alaska’s experience with including domestic violence restraining orders in Brady Bill background checks.
Abstract
Alaska recently implemented major changes in its ability to capture when a domestic violence restraining order has been issued and in its ability to make this information available to the authorities for Brady Bill handgun application background checks. The article notes that, while the number of domestic violence cases has increased dramatically, the number of handgun applications has decreased sharply. The article reviews these events of recent years and points out the problems facing policymakers in trying to understand the impact of the changes on future incidents of domestic violence. Prior to the Brady Bill, requests for handgun purchases were never counted. As a result, it is impossible to determine the bill’s impact on domestic violence in Alaska. The article concludes that comparisons of the years since the Brady Bill took effect will be problematic because of the lack of mandatory reporting procedures and data entry errors. Until these are corrected, available data will at best be estimates, and further studies are warranted to test the impact of the Brady Bill. Tables, appendixes, note