Louisiana NICS Report Improvement Program

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 Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement (LCLE) intends to transfer funds to the Louisiana Supreme Court (Case Management Information System Division) to improve the data quality of criminal history records and the reporting of mental health records to NICS by implementing an electronic data exchange for the automated, nightly transmission of mental health records from the Department of Health and Hospitals which will eliminate manual data entry errors, and reduce the time it takes to make these records available to the NICS database and state and federal systems used by NICS; as well as implementing (5) modern case management systems in Louisiana City and parish courts to automate manual disposition reporting tasks performed by the minute clerks for the transmission of misdemeanor conviction information to NICS. In addition, LCLE is seeking funds to render the services of a NICS program manager and a section manager to assist in coordinating and administering the activities of Louisiana’s NICS Program.

CA/NCF