The Washington Times is continuing its shoddy reporting about the federal form for gun background checks by misleadingly claiming gun dealers will lose their licenses if buyers inadvertently make mistakes on the form.

In a September 18 article, the Times' Kelly Riddell reported on a minor change to the form in 2012, in which a question on race and ethnicity was separated into two boxes. Riddell wrote that the change “has become a headache for firearms dealers, as many people either check off one box or the other. Failure to complete them both results in [a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives] violation. When a firearm dealer gets audited by the ATF, one violation -- no matter how minor -- is enough reason to revoke a license.”

In fact, the ATF can only revoke the license of gun dealers who commit "willful" violations of federal regulations, which in this case, would entail a seller knowingly processing the flawed form. A buyer's simple failure to “check off one box or the other” is insufficient for a license revocation, contrary to Riddell's description.

Previously, Riddell wrote in a September 16 article that the 2012 revision to the background check form meant that the “Obama administration quietly has been forcing new gun buyers to declare their race and ethnicity, a policy change that critics say provides little law enforcement value while creating the risk of privacy intrusions and racial profiling.” Riddell's article quickly spread through conservative media, landing on Fox News.

But Media Matters debunked the suggestion that the Obama administration had recently begun seeking information on race and ethnicity. Copies of the form, known as ATF Form 4473, that are available online show that the 2012 revision merely separated a question about race and ethnicity into two boxes instead of one and that gun buyers have been asked to disclose their race and ethnicity since at least 2001.

Still, Riddell's article apparently inspired two Republicans in Congress to introduce legislation to prohibit the ATF from asking about race and ethnicity on Form 4473.

Riddell reported on this legislative development in her September 18 article, not mentioning the claim about racial profiling and instead promoting the claim that gun dealers could lose their licenses if buyers make inadvertent mistakes on form, ignoring the fact that under federal law, it is illegal for the ATF to revoke a Federal Firearms License solely for inadvertent paperwork violations.

In fact, only about half of the 13,100 firearms dealers inspected by the ATF in 2012 were fully in compliance with ATF regulations. The ATF, however, revoked the licenses of only 67 dealers (0.5 percent of all of those inspected). In other cases, the ATF works with dealers to ensure violations are corrected through a process that starts with a letter documenting violations that need to be fixed. According to the ATF, “revocation actions are seldom initiated until after [a licensed dealer] has been educated on the requirements of the laws and regulations and given an opportunity to voluntarily comply with them but has failed to do so.”

The ATF's best-practices guide also advises dealers on what to do if a dealer notices a mistake on a background check form after a sale is completed. The dealer is to make a photocopy of the original Form 4473. If the mistake occurred in the part of the form the dealer filled out, then the dealer corrects the photocopy. Errors in the part of the form the buyer fills out are corrected by the buyer. The dealer then staples the original and photocopy together and puts the paperwork into his records, and no further action is required.

The ATF is routinely stifled in its attempts to enforce federal gun laws due to lobbying by the National Rifle Association. Part of this interference involves pushing for laws and regulations that make it difficult for the ATF to revoke dealer licenses, even in the face of massive violations or apparent criminal activity.

Riddell has been a previous source of false information about gun policy. In a May 18 article for the Times, Riddell claimed that a gun dealer had a conflict with Bank of America after being targeted by the Department of Justice's Operation Choke Point -- a law enforcement action that went after unscrupulous banks. However, Media Matters demonstrated that the gun dealer had his issue with Bank of America in April 2012 and that government documents proved Operation Choke Point was not conceived of until November 2012. (Still, Riddell's erroneous reporting was cited by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) in a House Oversight Committee report on Choke Point.)

The Times has also faced ethics questions about its relationship with the NRA. The conservative newspaper's editorial board is headed by David Keene, a past president of the NRA who continues to advise the gun organization. According to editor John Solomon, Keene recuses himself from discussion of the NRA while in his Times role.

Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple recently highlighted an unusual arrangement in which a paid NRA advertisement in the form of a “special pullout section” in the August 27 edition of The Times featured content written by Times reporters. Among the contributions was an article by Riddell, “Chicago crime rate drops as concealed carry applications surge.”