Federal and state law enforcement officials were trying to figure out Friday how sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad foiled a background check that should have kept him from buying the rifle believed used in the murderous spree.

The 41-year-old former Fort Lewis soldier was subject to a permanent restraining order brought against him by his second wife, which makes it illegal for him to own a gun.

Dating from March 2000, the order banned Muhammad from threatening or harming his ex-wife Mildred. It should have been entered into federal and state databases and raised a red flag if Muhammad's name were run through the computerized system as required by federal law before any gun purchase.

Instead, it appears that within the past several months, Muhammad was able to buy a $1,000 semi-automatic Bushmaster rifle police have linked to the shootings - probably at Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, a Tacoma gun store.

"I don't know if it's a system error or a person error," said Lt. Sean Hartsock, commander of the Washington State Patrol's computer records section. "We're still investigating, trying to figure out if it was anything at our end."

It's possible Muhammad tripped up the system because he has two legally valid names, Hartsock said. But both names - Muhammad and Williams - were listed on the restraining order.

Bull's Eye owner Brian Borgelt said agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have been poring over his records since Thursday, trying to determine whether Muhammad bought the rifle there, and if so, how the background check failed.

"Believe me, that's the question we're asking ourselves," said Borgelt, who acknowledged Muhammad likely bought the gun at his store.

"We sell a lot of guns," he said. "There's a very good chance."

Another Tacoma gun store - Welcher's Gun Shop - had been widely reported as the source of the weapon used in the string of Washington, D.C.-area shootings. But owner John Welcher said that's not the case.

The shop did sell Muhammad the same type of gun in December 1999, Welcher said, but five months later, in May 2000, Muhammad sold the rifle back to the shop.

That transaction became the trigger for the initial warrant for Muhammad's arrest on federal firearms violations, because it proved Muhammad illegally possessed a gun after the restraining order had been issued in March.

Because Welcher's sold the gun to Muhammad before the restraining order was issued, the shop didn't violate any federal regulations. Nor was there anything illegal about the shop buying the gun back, Welcher said. The gun later was sold to another local customer.

"It is in no way affiliated with what happened back East," Welcher said.

But it seems clear that if Muhammad did buy a second Bushmaster at Bull's Eye or elsewhere, he did so in violation of federal law and by somehow circumventing the background check.

Conceived as part of the Brady Bill in 1993, the National Instant Checks System runs a would-be buyer's name and birth date against state and federal databases of people ineligible to buy a gun. NICS, as the system is known, usually takes only a minute or two to approve or deny a sale.

"All he has to do is walk in with his name, date of birth and valid ID," said the State Patrol's Hartsock. "It's only a name and ID search."

However, potential buyers also are required to fill out an ATF gun purchase form and checklist which asks if they have been convicted of felonies or meet any of several other criteria that would disqualify them from gun ownership. Muhammad would have had to lie on the form, which specifically asks whether the buyer is the subject of a domestic violence protection order.

Sales are supposed to be denied to felons, fugitives, drug addicts, mental incompetents, illegal immigrants, persons dishonorably discharged from the military, persons who have renounced their citizenship and persons subject to domestic violence restraining orders or convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence.

A Pierce County Superior Court commissioner signed a permanent order barring Muhammad from contacting his estranged wife on March 17, 2000.

Tacoma police officer Doug Brame served Muhammad with the order three days later, according to court records.

Such no-contact orders are entered into the state's Washington Crime Information Center database.

Once served, the orders also are recorded on the National Crime Information Center, Hartsock said. The national database is a primary source of information for the national background check system for weapons purchases.

NICS also gleans State and Defense department databases, the Interstate Identification Index and other sources.

Throughout 2000 and 2001, Tacoma and Pierce County's joint law enforcement records agency was in chaos, racked with computer problems and monthslong backlogs of police reports yet to be entered into the database.

Police officials complained that the Law Enforcement Support Agency's problems were endangering officers, who had no way of obtaining reliable, up-to-date information about incidents involving a particular address or person.

The problems since have been addressed with an infusion of money and new employees.

Despite the mess, LESA entered protection orders into the state crime database on time, records manager Tina Huber said Friday.

"There was never a backlog of domestic violence orders. That was incident reports," Huber said.

"For wanted persons, for domestic violence orders, it went into the system immediately, within 24 hours," she said.

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-- Anonymous, October 26, 2002

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WA: Computer's flaws stymie police

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2002