It deserves mention that the state’s instant background check system for gun purchases worked as intended recently when four would-be illicit buyers were arrested Butler County.

State police and Butler Township police this week charged four men in separate cases of illegally trying to buy guns last year.

In each case, police said, the men went to sporting goods stores and gun shops and filled out the instant background check application required by state law to buy guns.

Police said the suspects — Michael R. Croyle, 30, of Dayton, Armstrong County; Albert Novak, 57, of Oakland Township; Jason L. Rottman, 37, of Knox, Clarion County; and Charles L. Zimmerman, 54, of Adams Township — failed the background checks and were denied purchase.

The Pennsylvania Instant Check System — PICS — identified the men as having provided false information on their applications, according to court documents.

In operation since 1998, PICS is a division of the Pennsylvania State Police. It compares gun buyers’ purchase applications against federal, state and county criminal records. The heart of PICS is its Instant Check Unit — the call center that conducts the background check requests for gun dealers and law enforcement agencies.

Speed is the appeal. PICS gives instant access to background records on an individual to determine if the person is eligible to get a firearm or license to carry a firearm. About 60 percent of all gun sales are approved within minutes.

For the remaining cases, a discrepancy on an application does not automatically stop the sale. Efforts to resolve discrepancies can take from a few minutes to as much as 15 days. Even then, an individual has the right to challenge a denial.

But unresolved discrepancies lead to longer investigations. Some of the investigations lead to allegations of criminal falsehood and deception like the four arrests this week.

All four suspects have been charged with a third-degree felony violation of the sales or transfer of firearms provision of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act. They also each face a third-degree misdemeanor count of unsworn falsification to authorities.

The system worked as intended. It weeded out the alleged lawbreakers and will bring them to justice; just as important, it did not impede any law-abiding individual from exercising his or her Second Amendment right to own a firearm.

We all should agree that’s a good thing.