GUN WATCH : Bullet Loopholes

Felons automatically forfeit certain rights when they are convicted. They lose the right to run for office or to serve on a jury. But because of a dangerous loophole in federal law, felons convicted of violent crimes can regain a right that should never be reinstated: The right to own a gun.

The felon gun prohibition act (HR 4329), sponsored by Rep. Edward F. Feighan (D-Ohio), and introduced last week in the House of Representatives, will abolish this outrageous--and dangerous--exemption by putting an end to the appeals system that allows violent felons to apply to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) for permission to regain their gun rights.

Under federal law, convicted felons lose their gun rights. But ill-advised federal legislators, in 1986, bowed to pressure from the National Rifle Assn. by creating an exemption that enabled violent felons to apply to get those rights back (though not in California--here more enlightened state law prohibits convicted felons from owning or possessing guns).

The bureau reports that it investigated more than 7,000 applications from convicted criminals in the past five years and granted 2,300 waivers. Each year ATF rearms criminals, who sometimes go on to commit more violent crime. The administrative cost of processing these applications now tops $4 million a year.

Rising violence in this country is enough of a problem without the government contributing to it. Congress must close the loophole now. That’s not asking much, even in an election year.