National Instant Criminal Background Check System

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The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a background check system in the United States created by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Law) of 1993 to prevent firearm sales to people prohibited under the Act. The system was launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1998. Under the system, firearm dealers, manufacturers or importers who hold a Federal Firearms License (FFL) are required to undertake a NICS background check on prospective buyers before transferring a firearm. The NICS is not intended to be a gun registry,^[1] but is a list of persons prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm. By law, upon successfully passing the background check, the buyer’s details are to be discarded and a record on NICS of the firearm purchase is not to be made, though the seller as a FFL holder is required to keep a record of the transaction.

Access to NICS is limited to FFL holders. A prospective buyer is required to complete ATF Form 4473 after which a FFL seller initiates a NICS background check by phone or computer. Most checks are determined within minutes, and if a determination is not obtained within three business days then the transfer may legally be completed.

While background checks under federal law are not required for intrastate firearm transfers between private parties, federal law states that only FFL-holders may transport a firearm across state lines for the purpose of sale. Sales between two private parties may be conducted without a background check, so long as both the buyer and seller are both residents of the state that the transfer is being conducted. Some states require background checks for firearm transfers not covered by the federal system. These states either require gun sales to be processed through a FFL holder, or they may require the buyer obtain a license or permit from the state.

Over 39.6 million NICS background checks were performed in 2020.^[2] NICS experienced an unprecedented surge in the number of gun background checks in March and June 2020, tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd.^[3]