FY 2019 New York State 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 the 2019 NARIP priority areas, the NYS, Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), will administer one project.

NICS Task Force: Activities includes assessing the completeness and availability of NICS records; identifying reasons for incomplete and/or unavailable NICS records; and continuing to refine and implement NY’s NICS Record Improvement Plan.

1) Enhance NICS Reporting System: The Department of Health / Health Research, Inc. (DOH/HRI) will maintain and update its three modes of NICS record reporting: manual, bulk file upload and automated, record reporting processes, and provide ongoing support of its existing NICS system maintenance, processing and audit/compliance activities. Through work completed under previous NARIP funding, DOH has collected, and enabled the reporting of approximately 400,000 records of involuntary admissions to hospital psychiatric and behavioral health units, to the Federal NICS database. DOH continually monitors/audits the timeliness and completeness/correctness of records reported by hospitals and works with facilities to mitigate errors immediately upon discovery of an issue. Through the NARIP funding, DOH will continue to work closely with the NYS Office of Mental Health to maintain and enhance the NICS reporting system to improve the completeness and accuracy of NICS reports submitted by Article 28 and Article 31 hospitals.

(CA/NCF)