NCJ Number
240762
Date Published
2012
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This report provides information regarding the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) operations.
Abstract
Results show that from the inception of the NICS on November 30, 1998, to December 31, 2011, a total of 140,882,399 transactions have been processed; 67,155,452 transactions were processed by the NICS Section and 73,726,947 transactions were processed by State users. Of the 16,454,951 background checks processed through the NICS in 2011, a total of 6,875,625 transactions were processed by the NICS Section and 9,579,326 were processed by State users. From November 30, 1998, to December 31, 2011, the NICS Section has denied a total of 899,099 transactions. Denials issued by the NICS Section in 2011 totaled 78,211. The NICS Section processed 110,686 explosives transactions. Denials issued by the NICS Section in 2011 totaled 2,558. The NICS Section processed 1,071,459 firearms and explosives transactions via the Internet-based NICS E-Check. The NICS Section achieved a 91.52 percent Immediate Determination Rate, surpassing the U.S. Attorney General-mandated goal of 90 percent or better. The NICS Section staff obtained approximately 45,700 final dispositions which were posted to criminal history records and disseminated over 34,260 dispositions to state agencies to assist in updating State records. The Voluntary Appeal File (VAF) permits the NICS Section to maintain information about persons to document their eligibility to receive firearms; as of December 31, 2011, the VAF maintained approximately 19,932 entries with an active Unique Personal Identification Number (UPIN). From VAF program inception through December 31, 2011, over 39,000 background checks have been processed using a UPIN. The NICS availability averaged 99.87 percent. There were 3,166 firearm retrieval referrals forwarded to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Charts and figures