Audio Transcript

Mr. Schiff: If you want to buy a firearm, the FBI does a background check.  And sometimes it pays off with a fugitive being identified, as happened in Michigan in late 2007...

Mr. Fischer: "The individual attempting to purchase the firearm was wanted for simple assault by a sheriff’s office in a different state.”

Mr. Schiff: That’s Steve Fischer of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division in West Virginia...

Mr. Fischer: "Our examiners call the sheriff’s office to verify that that warrant is still active and then we call the firearms dealer to say, ‘Do not allow that person to purchase that firearm.’  Then we also have our people call the local law enforcement.”

Mr. Schiff: A notice is also sent electronically to both places to confirm.  Fischer says all that helped get a dangerous man off the streets...

Mr. Fischer: "As a result of this communication the individual was apprehended.”

Mr. Schiff: These background checks are done with the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as NICS.  I’m Neal Schiff of the Bureau and that's the FBI's Closed Case of the Week.