Florida's FY 2010 NICS Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP)

The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, Pub. L. 110-180 ("NICS Improvement Act"), was signed into law by the President on January 8, 2008. The NICS Improvement Act amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 ("the Brady Act") (Pub. L. 103-159), under which the Attorney General established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The Brady Act requires Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to contact the NICS before transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person for information on whether the proposed transferee is prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under state or federal law. The NICS Improvement Act authorizes grants to be made in a manner consistent with the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP).

Under this award, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will use funds to complete tasks associated with the following projects:

1) Support the NICS Task Force and the Mental Competency Database (MECOM) workgroup's efforts to analyze data from the state repository and other sources to identify weaknesses or deficiencies in the current criminal history process and MECOM database, determine the reasons for unavailability of records, and address potential system enhancements;

2) Enhance the processing of court data by addressing potential legal issues with maintaining non-fingerprint based active informations and indictments in support of NICS, designing new processes to update the data, and resubmitting historical disposition data;

3) Research missing arrest records in the repository hold file and update the Computerized Criminal History (CCH) and Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) files;

4) Develop a warrant exchange interface and implement the interface in three pilot sites;

5) Support the redesign of the state's Firearm Purchase Program system to improve operations and enhance the state's ability to function as a Point-of-Contact (POC) state;

6) Conduct an assessment of the state's CCH repository and its partner systems to identify needed upgrades and enhancements specific to the NICS program and POC requirements; and

7) Support programming changes to the MECOM database to accept relief from mental health disability information.

CA/NCF