BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: When anyone buys a gun in America, the record of the purchase is kept on file for months. But a new push by the Justice Department would slash that period to just one day. The move is bound to lead to another shoot-out in the battle over guns in America. And for the latest on the debate tonight, CNN's Kelli Arena is now in Washington.</s>KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To buy a gun from a licensed dealer, the federal Brady law requires a criminal background check, a computer instacheck. The information is currently stored for 180 days. The FBI has said it needs at least 90 days to do more thorough checks for fraud. Now, Attorney General John Ashcroft is proposing those records be destroyed just one business day after a sale.</s>JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The intent of the law is one, to protect the privacy of legitimate gun dealers and second, to have a capacity for auditing. We are confident the capacity for auditing in a real-time setting can be done.</s>ARENA: But Democrats and gun control groups accused Ashcroft of caving in to the National Rifle Association.</s>MATTHEW NOSANCHUK, VIOLENCE POLICY CENTER: You need to determine whether bad apple gun dealers are sending false names through the system, to clear background checks for people who are prohibited, whether people are getting their spouses to buy guns for them as straw purchasers.</s>ARENA: The NRA applauds the move. It argues keeping records amounts to compiling a national registry of gun owners that can be misused.</s>JOHN FRAZER, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: We think with the state of technology today, it is perfectly possible to audit the system in real time, without keeping records on law-abiding citizens, and they are making a good step in that direction.</s>ARENA (on camera): The FBI would not comment on what it thinks about the change, but would only say it will move to implement Ashcroft's new policy as quickly as possible. Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
Justice Department Pushes to Reduce Storage Time for Records of Gun Purchases