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Each year, dozens of people go to Pennsylvania gun shops expecting to leave with a firearm. But instead, they end up in handcuffs on their way to prison.

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Each year, dozens of people go to Pennsylvania gun shops expecting to leave with a firearm -- and instead end up in handcuffs on their way to prison.

The arrests -- which total more than 1,800 since 1998 -- are the result of the background checks being performed by the Pennsylvania Instant Check System. The state's background system identifies that someone lied on their gun purchase application and has an active warrants for their arrest.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Adam Reed said 95 people with active warrants were arrested in 2014 while trying to purchase a firearm in Pennsylvania. In the last three months of 2015, 36 people were arrested.

"Not only are we getting a wanted person off of the street but we're getting a wanted person off the street that was attempting to acquire a firearm," Reed said.

The total number of people arrested during failed gun background checks in 2015 was not available, according to Reed.

Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA, said the sheer number of people arrested trying to buy guns shows that common sense gun control -- like performing background checks -- work.

"It shows that people who aren't supposed to have guns do actually go to places where they have to get background checks," Goodman said.

The way it works is that a gun shop owner performs a background check using the Pennsylvania Instant Check System when someone want to buy a firearm. If the check finds that the person who wants to buy a gun has a warrant, an operator with the state police calls the gun shop employee.

Then, Reed said, local police or state police, depending on the jurisdiction, goes to the gun shop and arrests the individual.

That's exactly what happened in September at United Gun Supply in Plains Township. Joseph Bagnato, of Pittston, was red flagged when he attempted to purchase a firearm.

Court records indicated he had warrants out for his arrest. He had previously been arrested on drug charges. He was arrested at the gun shop and taken into custody.

Reed said the crimes that the person is wanted for varies greatly from misdemeanors to felonies -- both of which require warrants. Those that end up being arrested could have had warrants for violent crimes like murder or for less serious crimes like unpaid alimony.

"Whether they have ill intentions upon acquiring that firearm, it's tough to say," Reed said. "It's on a case-by-case basis."

On Monday, President Barack Obama proposed a package of proposals that aim to tighten gun laws and curb gun violence in the United States.

Currently, private sellers do not have to perform background checks to sell long guns in Pennsylvania -- known as the 'gun show loophole.' Obama plans to close the loophole by requiring anyone purchasing a long gun from a private dealer to go through a background check.

Goodman said requiring more background checks will mean keeping more people with criminal histories and outstanding warrants from obtaining guns.

"The gun lobby would have you believe that bad guys only go on the internet or the back market, but we know that background checks do stop people," Goodman said.

"Our point has been; why do we have legal avenues in Pennsylvania [where] you can buy a long gun -- a rifle, a shotgun, a semi-automatic rifle -- without a background check right now?"