FAQ Listing

The NICS Improvement Act seeks to improve the information available to the NICS, so that the system can more accurately identify prohibited persons, by: 

-- Enhancing the Brady Act requirement that federal departments and agencies provide relevant information to the NICS; and
-- Providing incentives to states to submit complete information to the Attorney General on persons prohibited from receiving or possessing firearms through:
-- Authorizing new grant programs for state executive and judicial branch agencies to improve information sharing with NICS; and
-- Providing for Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program penalties for states that do not comply with the Act's record completeness goals.

Ten million dollars has been appropriated for fiscal year 2009. Additionally, the Byrne grant penalties are deferred until 2011, are discretionary from 2011 to 2017, and become mandatory in 2018.

No. Only records of court or other lawful authority findings or orders that the meet the above ATF definition, not medical records or other details underlying the findings or orders, are entered in the NICS Index. The records entered in the NICS Index include only a name and other biographic identifiers to identify a person in this category.

When information about such adjudications and commitments is provided to the NICS, the FBI can deny firearms transactions to persons with disqualifying mental health histories, both in the state where the record was created and in other states to which the individual may have subsequently moved.

The information in the NICS is subject to the Privacy Act and the privacy of the information is protected in a number of ways. The only responses provided by the NICS to a request for a NICS check is "Proceed," "Denied" or "Unresolved." In cases of a "Denied" response, neither the general prohibiting category nor information about the specific event that places an individual in that prohibited category is provided to the FFL. The individual, however, is able to request information about the reason for the denial and can appeal the denial and seek to correct incomplete or inaccurate information in the system upon which the denial is based. 

In addition, as noted above, the information identifying mental health adjudications or commitments contributed by federal and state agencies is maintained in the NICS Index. The regulations governing the NICS limits the use of the NICS Index to: (1) checks under the Brady Act by FFLs of proposed firearms transferees; (2) checks by federal, state, or local criminal justice agencies in connection with the issuance of a firearms-related or explosives-related license or permit; and (3) requests by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in connection with civil or criminal law enforcement relating to the federal Gun Control Act (18 U.S.C. Chapter 44) or National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. Chapter 53). Checks of the NICS Index for general law enforcement purposes are not permitted under the regulations. See 28 CFR. 25.6(j).

Finally, the NICS Improvement Act requires the Attorney General to work with state and local law enforcement and the mental health community to establish regulations and protocols specifically for protecting the privacy of information in the NICS relating to mental health. The Justice Department plans to engage in the required consultations on these regulations and protocols in the near future.

Grant opportunities available through the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs are listed on the OJP website at https://ojp.gov/funding/index.htm. In addition, all federal grant opportunities – including those sponsored by the Department of Justice - are listed with Grants.gov at https://www.grants.gov/.

JUSTSTATS is an email notifying subscribers of new crime and justice statistical materials as they become available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), FBI, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). To subscribe to JUSTSTATS, enter your name and email address into the "Stay Connected" box on our site.

BJS publications are available to view online for free and are not available in hardcopy. However, black and white photocopies of many BJS publications are available to order from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) website. Visit the OJP Publications section of the NCJRS site for an alphabetical listing of BJS publications and products that can be ordered. Simply select the  icon associated with the item you are interested in receiving. The item will then be placed in your NCJRS shopping cart and you can either continue shopping or submit your order. NCJRS serves as the clearinghouse for BJS and other Office of Justice Programs bureaus and offices.

The mission of BJS is to collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. These data are critical to federal, state, and local policymakers in combating crime and ensuring that justice is both efficient and evenhanded.

The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics is now an online resource available on the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online site. This site contains the following features:

• a navigation map and search engine
• spreadsheet versions of the tables
• an archive of material from past Sourcebooks
• updated tables as new data arrive and are available

The most recent print edition available in print is the 2003 edition. To learn more about the Sourcebook, visit Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics site.

In many instances, spreadsheets or other files have been grouped and compressed to speed downloads. These archival files are presented in .zip format, which must be expanded to view and use. Commercial and free expanders are available for most platforms. Go to Info-ZIP for free, portable, high-quality versions of the Zip and UnZip compressor-archive utilities.