The CMP originated in 1903 with the establishment of the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice, which advised the Secretary of War. The general purpose of the program was to encourage individuals to develop marksmanship skills to prepare them in the event that they were called upon to serve during wartime. Congress directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to assume management of the CMP, including authorizing the detail of a Marine or Army officer as director of civilian marksmanship and the detail of Army members to provide weapons instruction to civilians and rifle clubs. The Secretary of the Army was required to provide for such things as (1) the operation and maintenance of rifle ranges, (2) the promotion of firearms practice and the conduct of matches and competitions, and (3) the sale of firearms to affiliated gun clubs that provide firearms training and to U.S. citizens over 18 years of age who are members of those clubs. In response to a request from the then House Armed Services Committee, we issued a 1990 report on the CMP’s mission, purpose, usefulness, and cost. We concluded that the Army’s CMP was of limited value because, among other things, the CMP’s objectives and goals were not linked to Army mobilization and training plans. We also reported that the Army’s proposed CMP budget for fiscal years 1990-94 was about $5 million a year. The Fiscal Year 1996 National Defense Authorization Act required the CMP to be transitioned from a DOD appropriated fund activity to a nonprofit corporation that was established by this act. The act required the Secretary of the Army to transfer to the Corporation all firearms and ammunition under the control of the Army’s CMP Director on February 9, 1996, and to transfer funds derived from sales programs and various other sources. In addition, the 1996 act authorized the Corporation, as the Army previously had been authorized, to sell firearms to U.S. citizens. Under the act, the Corporation was authorized to sell firearms to individuals who (1) have not been convicted of a felony, (2) are U.S. citizens over 18 years of age, and (3) are members of Corporation-affiliated gun clubs. Also, the Corporation was prohibited from selling firearms to individuals who had been convicted of firearms violations under 18 U.S.C. 922; these violations include knowingly shipping or transporting stolen firearms or ammunition in interstate or foreign commerce. The 1996 act also provided that the Corporation’s sales are subject to applicable federal, state, and local laws. These laws include, among others, provisions of the Gun Control Act of 1968 that prohibit certain categories of persons from purchasing firearms. To facilitate the transition of the CMP from the Army to the Corporation, the 1996 act authorized and directed the Secretary of the Army to take a number of actions. For example, the act authorized the Secretary to provide specific support to the program, such as the storage of firearms, without reimbursement by the Corporation. The act also authorized the Secretary to provide other logistical support to the CMP, such as support for competitions and other activities, with reimbursement from the Corporation for incremental direct costs incurred by the Army to provide such support. Also, the act required the Secretary of the Army to prescribe implementing regulations for carrying out this support. The transition of the CMP from the Army to the Corporation was completed on September 30, 1996, in accordance with the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety Act. The Secretary of the Army transferred (1) all property under the control of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship, the Civilian Marksmanship Support Detachment, and the National Match Fund, including office equipment, targets and frames, vehicles, supplies, and appliances; (2) control of the leased property that had been occupied by the Civilian Marksmanship Support Detachment in Port Clinton, Ohio; and (3) all funds available from sales programs and fees to the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and all funds in a nonappropriated fund account known as the National Match Fund. These transfers were completed by September 30, 1996. Also, the Secretary of the Army, as required, appointed on July 12, 1996, the Corporation’s initial Board of Directors. As required, the Corporation’s Board of Directors appointed in July 1996 a Director of Civilian Marksmanship to be responsible for the daily operations of the CMP. The CMP began operations under the Corporation on October 1, 1996. The Corporation has not routinely ensured that its sales of firearms to individuals complied with the requirements of the 1996 act. The Corporation could make sales under the act to purchasers that (1) had not been convicted of a felony or otherwise ineligible to purchase a firearm, (2) were U.S. citizens over 18 years of age, and (3) were members of gun clubs affiliated with the Corporation. The act also required the Corporation to establish procedures to obtain a criminal records check for purchasers with appropriate federal and state authorities. Corporation officials told us that they had policies and procedures in place to ensure that the requirements of the 1996 act for firearms sales to individuals were met. We reviewed these policies and procedures and found that in some cases the Corporation’s policies were not adequate to ensure that the purchasers met the requirements of the act. In other cases, the Corporation did not adhere to its own procedures that could have ensured that the purchasers met the requirements. As a result, the Corporation sold firearms to individuals without ensuring that purchasers were not convicted of a felony or otherwise ineligible to purchase a firearm, were U.S. citizens, and were members of Corporation-affiliated clubs. According to Corporation officials, the Corporation sold 22,584 firearms in the 2-year period between October 1, 1996, and September 30, 1998. Of these firearms, the Corporation sold 16,637 (74 percent) to individuals and 5,947 (26 percent) to some of its 1,033 affiliated clubs. Over 72 percent of all firearms sold were M1 Garands, a World War II era semiautomatic rifle, for which the Corporation as of September 1998 charged from $400 to $750 each, depending on the rifle’s condition. Figure 1 depicts the .30 caliber M1 Garand. Regarding firearms on loan, Corporation officials said that 905 M14s remained on loan to certain affiliated clubs as of September 30, 1998.These officials told us that the Army had lent the M14s to those clubs when it operated the program but that the Corporation is not lending any additional firearms because of liability issues. Table 1 depicts the number and types of firearms sold by the Corporation. We did not review the sales of firearms to Corporation-affiliated clubs. Many of the clubs had been established when the Army ran the CMP and some of the data needed to determine whether procedures had been followed either were not maintained by the Army or were indecipherable in the microfiche files the Army provided to the Corporation. The Corporation’s application policies were insufficient to ensure that it did not sell firearms to persons who were convicted of a felony or otherwise ineligible to purchase a firearm or who were not U.S. citizens. For example, the Corporation’s policy required a background investigation before a firearm purchase was approved. However, Corporation policy also allowed individual applicants to provide various documents in lieu of a background investigation. Of the 16,637 firearms sales to individuals during fiscal years 1997 and 1998, Corporation officials estimated that they requested background investigations for about 8,000 applicants. The Corporation obtained background investigations from the Defense Security Service (DSS). DSS investigations included a name search and fingerprint check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for felonies and other conditions that would render an individual ineligible to purchase a firearm. As is customary when DSS manages these investigations, DSS made no assessment regarding an individual’s eligibility to purchase a firearm but instead provided the raw results of the investigations to Corporation employees to enable them to make this determination. However, the Corporation had no written guidelines for its employees to use to identify items in the DSS investigation that would disqualify individuals from purchasing firearms. In lieu of a DSS investigation, Corporation policy allowed applicants to provide one of the following documents: a dated letter from the applicant’s security manager verifying that the applicant is a current U.S. servicemember, government employee, or contractor with a current U.S.-issued security clearance; a notarized or certified true copy of an applicant’s current military security clearance if the applicant is active duty military; a letter from the chief of police or sheriff attesting to the applicant’s good character if the applicant is a sworn law enforcement officer; or a notarized copy of a current concealed weapons permit. The first two of these documents are not sufficient to determine whether individuals were convicted of a felony or were otherwise ineligible to purchase a firearm. Possession of a current U.S.-issued security clearance does not mean that criminal records checks with appropriate federal and state law enforcement agencies have been conducted recently or that individuals were not convicted of a felony or otherwise ineligible to purchase a firearm. DOD personnel security officials told us that some persons with current security clearances may have had their last criminal records checks as many as 10, 15, or even 20 years ago. Also, these officials told us that organizations issuing security clearances have the discretion to consider mitigating factors to individuals’ past behavior and thus sometimes issue clearances to individuals who have, for example, felony convictions or other criminal behavior on their records. The Corporation’s policies also were insufficient to ensure that purchasers were U.S. citizens. The Corporation required applicants to certify that they were U.S. citizens and accepted as evidence of citizenship a copy of applicants’ birth certificates, voter registration cards, proof of naturalization, passports, or certificates of release/discharge from active duty (DD 214).