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It was the NRA's - and plenty of Pa. Second Amendment advocates' - worst nightmare yesterday in Pennsylvania. All gun sales were halted.

(file)

It was the NRA's – and plenty of Pa. Second Amendment advocates' – worst nightmare yesterday: Due to a computer glitch, Pennsylvania halted the sales of all firearms for two hours.

The Tribune Review of Pittsburgh reports that the problem was with the state police's computerized Instant Check System for retailers to conduct mandated criminal background checks.

The system went offline, so no firearms could be sold during the outage, the newspaper reported.

Pennsylvania State Police press secretary Maria Finn tells the newspaper that the outage occurred "when a backup battery in the system exploded and had to be repaired."

The system was back online before 1 p.m.

Background according to TribLive: The malfunction also caused a statewide outage that affected all state police Internet-based systems, including background checks, and email and telephone systems at department headquarters in Harrisburg.

Last spring, state police completed a $1.2 million overhaul of Instant Check — the first since the system began 16 years ago. Since then, dealers and sheriffs have reported fewer delays and shutdowns with the system, which is maintained by state police.

The new Instant Check, which works via computer access, runs background checks on prospective gun owners to determine whether applicants are wanted under outstanding warrants, or whether they're prohibited from owning a weapon because of a felony or drug conviction, three DUI convictions within five years, or an adjudication of mental incompetence.

In 2013, the system handled 1.1 million transactions, a nearly 10 percent increase from 2012.