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ALT State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller has previously said that Edwards never disclosed anything that would have disqualified him from employment and that "human error" led to an "incomplete database query" during his hiring process. Asked this week if a firearms check was part of that incomplete query, Geller declined further comment, saying, "We've given our statement and we are not commenting further. We've provided our statement and that's all we're saying.

ALT said he has since been advised by the state police to manually include firearms checks in the search criteria when conducting employment background checks, which was not previously part of the protocol. Andis said his office typically only used the firearms check for concealed carry permits. The Washington County Sheriff's Office, as well as most other sheriff's offices and some other agencies, Andis said, uses a terminal of databases maintained by the Virginia State Police to conduct background, criminal history and other checks. He said the terminal allows for searches of a number of databases and features background checks specifically for criminal justice employment. That check, as he would later learn, did not include a firearms check.