John Sigler is one of the first past presidents of the National Rifle Association (2007-2009) and is ORA as a Life Member. Please welcome John as he shares his thoughts and experience at the national, state, and local level in our firearm communities.
At one time or another almost all of us have heard horror stories about how incompetent and unfair the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is. At one time or another every Second Amendment activist has heard complaints about NICS.
Are those stories true? And if they are true, are they the norm or are they the exception to the rule?
Well, those of us who attended the NRA Foundation’s 26th Annual National Firearms Law Seminar in Atlanta at the end of April of this year were privileged to hear Trudy Lou Ford, the Acting Deputy Assistant Director for the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) present to the gathering of Second Amendment lawyers the actual NICS data for the year 2024 and a description of how the system works. And, from the data presented it appears that the system is actually working relatively well – much better than most of us believed.
Here are some interesting facts from 2024 that may be of interest to you:
- In 2024 there were a total of 9,757,644 NICS checks conducted by the FBI’s NICS Section.
- Of that number, 9,238,735 resulted in “proceed” determinations.
- Only 110,505 resulted in a “denied” determination.
- Of those “proceed” determinations, 91.95% were “immediate.”
- 29% of the total NICS check transactions were conducted through the “E-Check System.”
- Ultimately, the NICS System resulted in only 1.16 denials for every 100 background checks conducted through NICS.
We have all heard about the NICS System being “down” – unavailable. Well, in reality the NICS System logged an availability rate of 99.87% in 2024.
According to Ms. Ford, approximately 9% of all NICS inquiries required additional research before a determination could be made as to the person’s eligibility to purchase a firearm. In most of these cases require NICS to contact outside agencies to obtain the needed information including federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies, courts, probation and parole offices and prosecuting attorneys.
Ms. Ford told us that examples of the missing information needed to complete a determination included such things as:
- Final dispositions on open cases
- Levels of conviction – were they misdemeanors or felonies.
- Felony indictments
- In cases of alleged domestic violence cases , the relationships to victims
- Terms and conditions of probation or parole
- Validation of warrants and protection orders – are they still active?
On June 25, 2022, Senate Bill 2938, known as the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” (BSCA) became law. BSCA provided several things:
- Gave FFL’s access to information on guns reported stolen to the NCIC Gun File.
- Gave FFL’s access to NICS for current or prospective employees ( with consent).
- Added dating crimes to the list of misdemeanor offenses of domestic violence; and
- Expanded NICS background checks for gun sale transactions to buyers under 21 years of age.
So, what is a so-called “expanded background check” required for a buyer under 21, you ask? According to Ms. Ford, NICS will now check with “state criminal history repositories and juvenile justice systems, state custodians of mental health adjudications, and local law enforcement agencies.”
Do not be surprised if a NICS check for a buyer under 21 years of age comes back as “Delayed” for up to 10 days. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning this process was published for public comment on December 12, 2024, and closed on February 10, 2025.
I have always been a skeptic when it comes to NICS and most other government programs that affect our God-given right to keep and bear arms. However, I must admit that the data presented by Ms. Ford shows a system that works far more often that it doesn’t, and a system that seems to perform in the manner for which it was designed and does not appear to be the subject of abuse by anti-gun forces. It is up to us to remain vigilant and to ensure that the integrity of the NICS System remains above reproach.
