State Progress in Record Reporting for Firearm-Related Background Checks: Fingerprint Processing Advances Improve Background Checks

• NCJ Number: 250275
• Author(s): Owen Greenspan; Richard Schauffler
• Date Published: September 2016
• Length: 14 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2009-NS-BX-K050
• Agencies: BJS-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored); Legislation/Policy Analysis; Instructional Material

Annotation

This resource is the latest in a series of Bureau of Justice Statistics grant-funded reports on firearm-related background checks, and provides an overview of the evolution of the use, capture, storage, and transmission of fingerprints.

Abstract

The report details the importance of fingerprint-supported criminal history records for background check purposes, including: challenges States face in reporting; strategies that have been implemented to overcome those challenges; and progress States are making in improving the timeliness and accuracy of firearm-related background checks.