GAO report: Ninety-one percent of those on terrorist watch list pass firearm background checks

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) released data from a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on Wednesday that shows that approximately 91 percent of known or suspected terrorists passed a background check to purchase a firearm or explosives between Feb. 2004 and Dec. 2015.

The GAO report concluded that since the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) started checking against terrorist watch list records in Feb. 2004, individuals on the terrorist watch list were involved in firearm background checks 2,477 times, with 2,265 successful. FBI data shows that individuals on the terrorist watch list were involved in firearm-related background checks 244 times in 2015, with only 21 denied.

Under current law, individuals on the terrorist watch list who do not fall into one of the nine prohibited purchaser categories can legally purchase weapons. Feinstein is seeking to add a 10th category of prohibited purchasers by allowing the attorney general to deny known or suspected terrorists from purchasing weapons if there is a reasonable belief that the weapon could be used in connection with terrorism.

The data release follows the Orlando nightclub shooting, where an individual on the terrorist watch list took the lives of 49 people with a legally-purchased firearm.