WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), signed into law June 25, 2022, requires the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to conduct an enhanced background check before any sale or transfer of a firearm to a person under the age of 21.
Since implementing BSCA’s enhanced background checks in October 2022, the FBI NICS section has conducted enhanced background checks on more than 200,000 transactions.
Those checks have kept more than 1,900 firearms out of the hands of dangerous and prohibited persons. Over a quarter of those denials, 527 as of the first week of January, were based solely on information received through the additional BSCA-enabled outreach.
Without the enhanced outreach required by BSCA, these 527 U21 transactions would likely have proceeded because the disqualifying information was otherwise unavailable to NICS, according to FBI officials.
In addition to the traditional records databases reviewed during a standard background check, these under-21 checks involve expanded outreach by the FBI’s NICS section to state and local officials who may have access to additional disqualifying information.
The 500th BSCA-specific under-21 denial, recorded on Dec. 18, 2023, involved a prospective purchaser whose transaction was denied after a state police officer provided records, otherwise not available to NICS, that showed the prospective purchaser to be an unlawful user of, or addicted to, a controlled substance.
Other exemplary U21 denials include: * A sheriff ’s office responded to the NICS section with an incident report implicating the under-21 purchaser in a rape offense. The NICS section obtained court documentation establishing that the purchaser was convicted of felony rape.
The transaction was denied based on the federal prohibitor for persons convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year.
* A sheriff ’s office responded to the NICS section with an incident report indicating that the under-21 purchaser had been arrested for attempted murder and other offenses.
The NICS section obtained court documentation showing that the under-21 purchaser was released on bond with court- ordered firearm restrictions pending the resolution of those charges. The transaction was denied based on a state prohibitor for active court-ordered firearm restrictions.
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