The revelation that the convictions of about 145,000 people in North Carolina weren't included for years in a federal database used to determine whether someone can buy a gun irritates people on both sides of the gun debate.

In announcing a gun safety directive Monday, Gov. Roy Cooper noted that the State Bureau of Investigations had found 284,289 convictions that were never reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS.

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State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Wyatt Pettengill told WRAL News on Tuesday that the convictions involved about 145,000 people and that some dated to the start of the NICS system in the 1990s. He traced the problem to local law enforcement agencies not always reporting when someone was arrested and charged with a felony.

Although the backlog of unreported convictions has been cleared, Pettengill said it's impossible to know how many people were able to buy a gun over the years who shouldn't have been because of a criminal record.

The need for accurate background checks is one thing that both sides of the gun debate agree on, and both sides have expressed disappointment in the scope of the problem in North Carolina. But they're not surprised, noting North Carolina is not the only state dealing with it.

"I've been talking about this for a couple of years now and the last time I brought this up on television as a real problem I was screamed at and shouted down," former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch tweeted late Tuesday, including a link to WRAL's story. "We going to take it seriously yet?"

Current NRA officials didn't repond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Jessica Burroughs of MomsRising, a group that advocates against gun violence, praised Cooper and the SBI for getting the convictions into the NICS database and said other states should follow suit.

"Unfortunately, across the country, there has been an under-investment in the NICS system, with state and local law enforcement agencies failing to keep the information they submit up to date," Burroughs said. "This leads to loopholes where people who should not be allowed to purchase guns are able to access them."

After the recent mass shootings in Texas, Ohio and California, some lawmakers have called for expanded background checks and so-called "red flag" laws that would allow a judge to temporarily take firearms away from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

Gun rights advocates have panned those ideas on social media.

"We can't enforce the laws on the books and people want more laws," attorney Ricky Walsh tweeted.

But Burroughs said it's not an either-or proposition.

"I think that it's both and that we need to focus on adherence and implementation of current laws and work to improve laws," she said.