Brady Act Background Checks:
The First Seven Months
[Opinion Poll: Are Brady background checks effective?]

Dateline: 01/02/2000

On March 30, 1981, 25-year old John W. Hinckley, Jr. tried to impress actress Jodi Foster by assassinating President Ronald Reagan with a .22 caliber pistol.

He accomplished neither, but did manage to wound President Reagan, a District of Columbia police officer, a Secret Service agent, and White House Press Secretary, James S. Brady.

While he survived the attack, Mr. Brady remains partially disabled.

Largely driven by reaction to the assassination attempt and Mr. Brady's injuries, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1994 was enacted requiring federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) to request background checks on all persons attempting to purchase a firearm.

Part of the Brady Act required the Justice Department to establish the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) which can be accessed by any licensed firearms dealer by "telephone or any other electronic means" for immediate access to any criminal information on prospective gun purchasers. Data is fed into the NICS by the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, state, local, and other Federal law enforcement agencies.

Persons who would be prohibited from purchasing a firearm as a result of data obtained from the NICS background check include:

• Convicted felons and people under indictment for a felony
• Fugitives from justice
• Unlawful drug users or drug addicts
• Individuals who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution or determined to be mentally incompetent
• Illegal aliens and legal aliens admitted under a non-immigrant visa
• Individuals who have been dishonorably discharged from the military
• Persons who have renounced their American citizenship
• Persons subject to certain domestic violence restraining orders
• Persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence

An NICS check is required for purchase of a long gun (rifle or shotgun), handgun, or both.

There are approximately 49,000 type one (gun dealer) and type two (pawn broker) federally licensed firearms dealers tied into the NICS Operations Center.

The NICS is available 17 hours a day, seven days a week, except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This following is a brief summary of FBI-published results from the first seven months following implementation of the permanent provisions of the Brady Act and NICS on November 30, 1998. Complete statistics with tables, graphs and analysis as prepared by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division can be downloaded in .pdf format from the FBI at:
http://www.fbi.gov/programs/nics/complete.pdf

Total NICS Checks (11/30/98 - 6/30/99)

A total of 4,726,078 background checks were submitted to the NICS during the period. Of these, 2,295,013 were handled by the FBI, 2,431,065 were handled by state "Points of Contact" (POCs). POCs consist of state and local law enforcement agencies contributing data to the NICS and assisting in conducting background checks.

Five things can happen after a potential gun buyer's information is submitted to the NICS.

Next page Possible Outcomes of an NICS Check >Page 1, 2

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