$5 Fee Proposed For Brady Bill Check

State Law Enforcement Director Robert Sobba admits he does not believe the instant background check the state imposed three years ago under the federal Brady Bill is really worth the effort.

But he told legislative budget writers on Monday that if Idaho is going to do the work, it ought to keep the operation out of the red.

To do that, he is proposing financing the 18,000 or so checks being done each year before handguns can be sold with a $5 fee on each transaction. The current $100 fee on gun sellers is raising less than half the $90,000 needed to keep the instant check operation running each year. Taxpayers have been subsidizing the rest.

The checks over the last three years have turned up only about a 3 percent rejection rate.

“My personal feeling is we would be better off spending our money somewhere else,” Sobba said.