A “catastrophic hardware failure” within the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services led to the transfer of 54 firearms without background checks.

The data issue caused an interruption in the Maryland State Police Licensing Division’s ability to complete background investigations beginning on June 21. The system was restored Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. But the failure exposed a big vulnerability in the state’s system.

Firearms can be legally transferred to customers after a mandatory seven-day waiting period, even if the background investigation wasn’t completed. As a result, employees in the Maryland State Police Licensing Division must track down the 54 firearms transferred and the applications each customer submitted to complete the process.

“Even with employees working 24-hours-a-day to address this, the process is anticipated to take several days to complete,” Maryland State Police spokesman Gregory Shipley said in a statement to WAMU.

The Maryland DPSCS has not provided information WAMU has requested regarding the specific nature of the hardware failure or what other systems within the department were affected.

The Maryland State Police Licensing Division “encourages” firearms dealers not to transfer guns until checks have been completed, but they are legally able to release them. There were 893 applications for regulated firearms submitted to the state since the system failed last week. Of the 54 firearms that were released, “no prohibiting factors have been found” in the investigations of the individuals according to Shipley. “The individuals who received those firearms were the first ones whose background checks were conducted during the night.”

Factors that would disqualify someone from buying a gun include things like a previous felony conviction, a conviction for the misdemeanor crime of domestic violence or a current warrant for arrest.

If a registered firearm dealer transferred a gun to a customer before the system was up and running again, they were required to print the application for their records so a background check can be completed later, according to an earlier advisory.

Maryland’s gun laws are relatively strict. To purchase a handgun, customers are required to possess a handgun license. To receive the license, they must complete a firearm safety training course. Maryland requires that people who want to buy “regulated firearms,” which include handguns and what the state terms “assault weapons,” must apply to the state.

Would-be buyers must already be approved by the state licensing system before passing a final background check.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, recently suggested that gun dealers “ … may want to consider waiting on a definitive response from the NICS before opting to proceed with a sale on any delayed transaction,” amid reports of a surge in gun buying during the coronavirus pandemic.

Guns sales have been booming nationwide during the pandemic. The FBI says its system completed more than 29,000 background checks in March, for instance, nearly double March 2019. Background checks cannot be equated directly to gun sales, but they are often used as a proxy.

Guns & America is a public media reporting project on the role of guns in American life.