NICS 10-Year Anniversary
Milestone for FBI’s Gun-Buyer Background Check System
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Section of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division has completed 10 years of operation. NICS, created as the result of an amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968, ensures the timely transfer of firearms to eligible gun buyers and prevents the purchase of such weapons by those not qualified.
The Brady Act
Following the serious wounding of White House Press Secretary James S. Brady during the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in March 1981, Mr. Brady’s wife, Sarah, joined an effort to place stricter regulations on the transfer of firearms and to develop reasonable gun control laws. As a result, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 (Brady Act) became law. The Brady Act requires federal firearms licensees (FFLs) to request background checks on individuals attempting to purchase firearms, both long guns and handguns. The permanent provisions of the Brady Act, which went into effect on November 30, 1998, required the attorney general to establish NICS so that any FFL could request an immediate determination as to whether the receipt of a firearm by a prospective gun buyer would violate federal or state laws.
The Process
When an FFL requests a NICS check, personnel use the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the Interstate Identification Index (III), and the NICS Index databases to conduct a name search for any matching records. Each background check includes an automated search of more than 61 million criminal history records, including those on wanted persons and subjects of protective or restraining orders. To accomplish a joint mission of ensuring public safety through information sharing, NICS works in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice; the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; point-of-contact states (those coordinating their own state’s background checks); and other local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. During its first 10 years of operation, NICS has processed more than 90 million background checks.
Throughout the past 10 years, advances in technology have improved the availability of information to the examiners who process the background checks, enabling them to provide more accurate, timely, and reliable services to the FFLs and customers they serve. Also, two major endeavors—the growth of the NICS Index and the retrieval of final disposition information for hundreds of thousands of criminal history records—have increased the efficiency of the checks.
The NICS Index
The NICS Index maintains information on individuals determined to be federally prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms. A potential gun buyer’s descriptive information, when matched with a NICS Index record, will result in an immediate denial. NICS continues to educate state and federal agencies on the importance of submitting individuals for entry into the NICS Index that currently contains over five million records. Shooting incidents, such as the tragedy at Virginia Tech in April 2007, have further motivated agencies to submit information to the NICS Index.
The Challenge
One major challenge NICS personnel encountered when operations began and continue to face is the lack of final disposition information on many criminal history records. For example, NICS may have arrest information for someone who, if convicted of the charges, would be prohibited from purchasing a firearm. Through court documentation, NICS staff members must confirm the person’s status. Over the past 10 years, NICS examiners, through persistent and resolute research with courts and law enforcement agencies, have been instrumental in updating more than 650,000 criminal history records with final disposition information.
Conclusion
Today, the nearly 500 employees of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System remain diligent and dedicated to ensuring the timely transfer of firearms to eligible individuals while, at the same time, denying such action to felons, fugitives, and other people prohibited by state or federal
laws. Looking forward, a new NICS modernization initiative is on the horizon that will improve the infrastructure and refresh the technology that drives the system. It also will provide many other benefits, such as more efficient information sharing with law enforcement partners and enhanced customer service to federal firearms licensees. For more information about NICS, access http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/nics.htm.
NICS Time Line
- 1981 James S. Brady severely injured in assassination attempt on President Reagan.
- 1993 President Clinton signs the Brady Act into law.
- 1998 The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) becomes
operational.
- 2001 U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft mandates increase in NICS Immediate
Determination Rate. Transfer process begins (personnel begin to process
calls resulting in delayed transactions and immediately review them).
- 2002 NICS E-Check via the Internet implemented as an alternative means to
conduct background check requests.
- 2003 NICS begins conducting background checks for those purchasing explosives.
- 2004 Record retention for “proceed” transactions decreases to 24 hours.
- 2005 James S. Brady visits the NICS Section at the FBI’s Criminal Justice
Information Services Division facility in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
- 2008 NICS reaches 10-year milestone.
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June 2009 | FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
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