NATIONAL INSTANT CHECK SYSTEM UPDATE

NICS Command Center

      The Department of Justice has proposed a regulation that it will turn over the identities of lawful firearm transferees to the BATF so that the BATF can "audit" such persons and the Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL) from whom they purchased their guns. FBI proposes to keep these records for three months. This is clearly illegal under the Brady Act, which requires that National Instant Check System (NICS) records be destroyed and forbids (1) "any record or portion thereof" generated by NICS "be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by" the United States, and (2) using NICS "to establish any system for the registration of firearms, firearm owners, or firearm transactions." The Firearms Owners' Protection Act of 1986 also made it illegal for BATF to have these records.

      We urge those concerned with this proposed illegal registry to submit comments opposing the regulation by the comment period deadline of June 1, 1999, to:

Emmet A.Rathbun
Unit Chief, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Module C-3
1000 Custer Hollow Road
Clarksburg, WV, 26306-0147

Sen. Craig Thomas

      Also, NRA-ILA appreciates everyone who has been sending information about problems they have experienced with NICS. There have been a variety of persistent problems, and pro-Second Amendment federal lawmakers are being made aware of this, and are responding. Our thanks go to U.S. Senator Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.), who recently requested that the General Accounting Office conduct an audit to examine whether NICS is efficiently designed and effectively managed.

      Finally, we are concerned with a specific problem regarding NICS, and need information to investigate it further. If you have been denied the purchase of a firearm through NICS, even though you know you are not prohibited by law from taking possession of a firearm, and you have appealed the decision, but have either not yet been approved, or experienced delays before you were approved, NRA-ILA wants to know about your case. Please carefully document your experience, and mail the information to: NICS Problems, NRA-ILA, 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA, 22030-7400. We ask that you only send this information via U.S. Mail, and be sure to include all available contact information, especially telephone numbers, so that we can contact you if necessary.

=+=+=+=+
This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA.

This and other information on the Second Amendment and the NRA is available at: http://WWW.NRA.Org