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Few prosecutions for denied background checks

The Government Accounting Office just issued this report, concluding that in Fiscal Year 2017, there were over 112,000 "denials," of which ATF investigated about 1,200. It referred about 50 for prosecution, and the Department of Justice prosecuted a whole 12. The Point of Contact states didn't do much better. "Troopers in Oregon and Virginia commented that in their experience, there can be some degree of inaccuracy in the criminal records in their state. For example, they said that arrests and prosecution results may not be accurately reflected in the criminal history of the denied person. When the trooper checks the actual record, it is sometimes discovered that the person is not prohibited. A Virginia trooper said this is especially common for juvenile convictions."

I recall that John Lott looked into this issue and concluded that a large proportion of denials were in error, a large proportion of the remainder involved things no one would think worth prosecuting ... a denial due to an old non-violent conviction, that manner of thing.