NCJ Number
207102
Journal
Sheriff Volume: 56 Issue: 5 Dated: September-October 2004 Pages: 53-57
Date Published
September 2004
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes some of the major developments that have impacted the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) since its inception.
Abstract
The Brady Act required the U.S. Attorney General to establish a national system that Federal firearms licensees would access by telephone or other electronic means to obtain immediate information on whether the transfer of a firearm to a particular person would violate Federal of State law. Working in cooperation with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the FBI designed and created the NICS, which became operational on November 30, 1998. The NICS was designed to process descriptive information on potential gun transferees through three national databases that provide information that may disqualify the transfer under Federal or State law. Key data that have been missing from the NICS pertain to mental health information. The submission of mental health information to the NICS Index is currently the subject of proposed Federal legislation entitled the NICS Improvement Act of 2003. If passed, the legislation could expand the submission of mental health records to the NICS by providing States with incentive grants. Further, in June 2001, the U.S. Attorney General directed the FBI to improve the NICS immediate determination rate to at least 90 percent. In August 2002, the FBI implemented another innovation intended to make the process easier for the firearms licensees, the NICS E-Check, which allows information processing through the Internet. The NICS continues to expand the information it supplies on persons attempting to gain firearms who may pose some type of risk based on their backgrounds and previous behavior. At the same time it has focused on improving the access and speed with which information is supplied.