Gun safetyHow the Fix NICS act could strengthen the gun background check system
After a weekend of protests and vigils following the massacre at a Florida high school that left 17 dead, President Donald Trump signaled support on Monday for bipartisan legislation aimed at improving records reporting to the federal gun background check system. Launched in 1998, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is used by federally licensed firearms dealers to check whether a person who is trying to buy a gun is legally permitted to do so. The gun background check system is only as strong as the records it contains. States voluntarily supply records to the databases that make up the NICS system, and they do a spotty job of it. Some records never make it into the databases, and others are incomplete or unclear.
After a weekend of protests and vigils following the massacre at a Florida high school that left 17 dead, President Donald Trump signaled support on Monday for bipartisan legislation aimed at improving records reporting to the federal gun background check system.
Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in a statement that the president had spoken to Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a Republican, who introduced legislation intended to shore up the gun background check system last fall. “While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered,” Sanders said, “the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system.”
If you are looking for information on how federal background checks work, check out our explainer. For more on how the so-called Fix NICS Act might keep guns out of the hands of convicted criminals, keep reading.
What is NICS, anyway?
Launched in 1998, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System is used by federally licensed firearms dealers to check whether a person who is trying to buy a gun is legally permitted to do so.
When a licensed dealer calls NICS, checkers search three different databases for criminal records that might disqualify a buyer. One database, called the NICS Indices, returns an answer within minutes, and contains records that automatically disqualify a person from gun ownership.
The other two databases, the Interstate Identification Index or III and National Crime Information Center, or NCIC, contain additional criminal records. The records in those databases are used for a variety of purposes in addition to gun background checks, from traffic stops to probation reports.
Private sellers are not mandated to conduct background checks on potential buyers under federal law, but some states have added that requirement.
