The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (
NICS) was established in 1998 as a result of the Brady Act of 1993. Initially, local police departments were required to run criminal background checks on gun buyers, but that portion of the Brady Act was struck down as unconstitutional cos cops aren't slaves.
Once a potential firearms purchased completes a form 4473, the FFL dealer contacts a NICS call center to request a background check. The call taker searches four databases, the Interstate Identification Index, National Crime Information Center, NICS Index, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement databases. The Interstate Identification Index will be replaced with the Next Generation Identification Increment 4.
The III contains individual criminal history records, The NCIC contains records of persons who are the subject of protection orders or active criminal arrest warrants, NICS Index contains information on persons prohibited by federal or state law from possessing a firearm, and ICE databases contain information on non-US citizens.
If the call taker finds no matching records, a proceed is given to the FFL to complete the transfer. 66 percent of transactions are given a proceed by the NICS call center. No information is provided to the call taker regarding the type of firearm transferred and records of this background check are purged within 24 hours.
If the call taker finds matching a record, the FFL is transferred to an FBI examiner to determine the potential buyer's firearms eligibility status. If a complete and matching record is found, a deny is issued. If the record is incomplete, the FFL is given a delay. The FBI has three business days to complete its investigation and contact the FFL to issue a proceed or deny. If the FBI doesn't complete the investigation within three days, the FFL can (but isn't required to) transfer the firearm. The FBI has 88 days to complete its investigation before the records of the background check are purged from the system. If it's found that the transferee is a prohibited person and the FFL transferred the firearm, the FBI forwards a firearm retrieval referral to the ATF. There were 2,511 such referrals in 2014.
Quick Facts:
There are 12,881,223 active records in the NICS Index. Half of those records are for illegal aliens, half of the remaining are for persons adjudicated mentally ill.
Sara Brady once bought a gun and transferred it to her son without a background check
As of December 31, 2014, 1,166,676 persons were denied the purchase of a firearm through NICS. 90,895 were denied in 2014, 4 of those were for renouncing their U.S. citizenship. Dumbasses.
Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action, a gun control group, has armed security.
91% of NICS transactions are immediately determined as proceed or deny
Since some denials are erroneous, there is an appeals process and a Voluntary Appeal File can be created and entered into NICS. With the VAF, persons who were routinely denied or delayed can have an immediate determination. There are 31,100 persons who have a VAF.
In 2014, of the 90,895 denials, 31,125 were appealed. The deny transaction was overturned for 4,411 of those appeals.
Micheal Bloomberg, who finances gun control groups Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, also has armed security.
The 200 millionth background check resulted in a denial. It was on Friday, November 28, 2014 at 12:53 p.m.
In
2010, nearly 80,000 people received a denial on the NICS background check, 62 were arrested, charges were dismissed on 18.
In 2014 1,887,169 firearms transactions were delayed.