National Instant Criminal Background Check System

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a U.S. system for determining if prospective firearms or explosives buyers' name and birth year match those of a person who is not eligible to buy. It was mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Law) of 1993 and launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1998.

After a prospective buyer completes the appropriate form, the holder of a Federal Firearms License (FFL) initiates the background check by phone or computer. Most checks are determined within minutes, but the FBI has up to three business days to make a determination. After that, the transfer may legally proceed anyway.

Background checks are not required under federal law for intrastate firearm transfers between private parties. There have been movements to require more background checks for firearm purchases, but no such laws have been passed at the federal level. Some states, however, do require background checks for firearm transfers. These states either require gun sales to be processed through an FFL holder, or they require that the buyer obtain a license or permit from the state.

Running background checks was discussed as early as the 1930s. The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) mandated that individual and corporate firearms dealers have a Federal Firearms License (FFL). It also created a system for keeping prohibited persons from buying guns that relied upon buyers answering a series of "yes/no" questions such as, "Are you a fugitive from justice?". However, sellers, including FFL dealers, were not required to verify the answers.

Coordinated efforts to create a national background check system did not materialize until after the March 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. White House press secretary, James Brady, was seriously wounded in the attack, and afterward his wife, Sarah Brady, spearheaded the push to pass the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act) of 1993. When signed into law in November of that year, the Brady Act included a GCA amendment that created the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

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