NCJ Number
183154
Date Published
June 2000
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Testimony by Laurie E. Ekstrand -- Director, Administration of Justice Issue, GAO General Government Division -- before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary pertains to two recently completed GAO reviews of the establishment and operation of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
Abstract
NICS was established in November 1998 as mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. This testimony focuses on four aspects of NICS: system availability and responsiveness; type of information available under NICS compared to that available to State and local law enforcement agencies prior to NICS; advantages and disadvantages of NICS background checks being conducted by designated State agencies rather than the FBI; and the extent to which transactions under NICS have resulted in firearms being sold to persons ineligible to possess a firearm. Regarding the latter issue, the testimony reports that during the first 10 months of NICS implementation, 2,519 individuals who were sold guns were later determined by the FBI to be prohibited persons. These were "default proceed" transactions that involved the default sale of guns to individuals for whom the FBI did not complete background checks within the three business days allowed by statute under the Brady Act. Should a background check not be completed within three business days, gun dealers can legally transfer the firearm without an affirmative response from the FBI as to the purchaser's eligibility. Recommendations are offered for minimizing the number of default proceed transactions that involve the transfer of firearms to prohibited persons.