For the second time in less than a year, the National Instant Check System (NICS) experienced massive internal problems, causing a complete shutdown for several days. On Thursday afternoon, May 11, just three days prior to the Mothers' Day March on D.C., all firearms sales through Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders came to an abrupt halt because the FBI (responsible for the design and operation of NICS) had software glitches in one part of its database. NICS was operating again this week, but who knows how much money FFL holders lost because they could not perform a simple transaction, or how many law-abiding Americans couldn't obtain firearms to protect their families, or hunters couldn't pursue their pastime? Last July, we reported that FFL holders across the country, as well as their law-abiding customers, experienced considerable problems for several days due to attempts by FBI to "upgrade" NICS (see FAX Alert Vol. 6, No. 27). Last year's upgrade was intended to leave NICS inoperable for less than an hour, but the system was up and down over the course of several days, causing considerable problems. Problems such as these leave one wondering why the FBI could not develop an effective, reliable and secure system using the $600 million and five years Congress allocated to create NICS? In response to this recent failure of NICS, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has promised Senate hearings to look into what needs to be done to ensure that NICS operates as intended.
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