Oklahoma's 2016 NICS Act Record 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 Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is requesting funds to improve the timeliness and completeness of records to state and federal fingerprint-based criminal record repositories and other systems accessed by NICS. The proposed project has three parts: 1) replacing Oklahoma’s technically ancient Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) to ensure the continuation of up-to-date criminal history records from Oklahoma into the Interstate Identification Index (III); 2) researching and updating dispositions for incomplete III records; and 3) electronically submitting into the NICS Index individuals with federal prohibitions to gun possession identified while processing applications for Oklahoma handgun licenses. (CA/NCF)