FBI expands gun background checks to Indian tribal lands

It would be interesting to know whether the Obama administration actually had the power to make this change.  None of the media coverage on this change explains why neither the Clinton or Bush administrations had previously made this expansion and why it took six years until the Obama administration made this change.  From The Hill newspaper:

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is expanding background checks for firearm sales on sovereign Indian reservations as part of the Obama administration’s push to reduce gun violence around the country. 

Under new regulations, tribal law enforcement agencies will be allowed, though not required, to access the FBI’s criminal background check system before issuing gun licenses on reservations.  

The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, created by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, gives law enforcement agencies information about criminals who are prohibited from owning guns. But previously tribal police didn’t have access to this database. . . .