Attention:

On June 25, 2022, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) was signed into law. BSCA mandated federal regulations be proposed for federal firearms licensees (FFLs) to perform voluntary background checks on current and prospective employees. The employee background check Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) has been posted to the Federal Register for a 30-day public comment period, under Regulation Identifier Number 1110-AA35. Please take this opportunity to review and provide any valuable feedback you may have. For your convenience, a link to the Federal Register NPRM is provided below. Once the comment period has elapsed, the final regulatory rule must be completed and published before this use of NICS will be authorized. The NICS Section does not currently have an estimate regarding when the final rule will be published. In anticipation of the future implementation of this new use of NICS, the FBI wants to allow ample time for you to prepare for this enhancement. As outlined in the NPRM, this new use of NICS will be conducted using a new purpose identification number (Purpose ID) of 57, and written consent of the current or prospective employee will be required before an FFL may use NICS for that purpose. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will be releasing a form that FFLs may use to accomplish those requirements. Please consult with your software provider, if applicable, to begin discussions on any changes necessary to conduct this type of check. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/12/12/2024-28711/bipartisan-safer-communities-act-of-2022-criteria-for-national-instant-criminal-background-check

Attention:

FFLs please be advised the face of NICS E-Check is changing in the near future. The system will still have the same processes however, the look is going to change. In the current version you see all your processes on the left-hand side. The new system does still have them on the left-hand side, but you must select the + button to reveal them. The new design will allow for FFLs to better use the E-Check on various types of equipment. The new system will allow for the adjustment of screen size without causing issues in overlapping of the datafields. For the first 45 days after deployment, you can select to revert to the current version, but only for this time frame. After 45 days only the new version will be available. To see the current version, you would select the 9 dotted cube (dial pad) on the bottom left-hand side and select NICS ECheck (legacy) with a number and the new version will be NICS ECheck with the number. The NICS E-Check help manual will also be updated and can be used as a reference guide. It is available under the Access the FBI NICS E-Check help page above.

ATTENTION

As a result of the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) of 2022, signed into law on June 25, 2022, the NICS Section has been working towards the implementation of an enhanced background check process for persons between the ages of 18-20. The enhancement provides the opportunity for additional outreach and research to be conducted regarding the existence of any juvenile adjudication information and/or mental health prohibition. As a result, transactions on persons between the ages of 18-20 will initially be delayed and the address of the individual will be collected so that the appropriate local and state entities may be contacted. The enhanced process will begin on November 14, 2022, for all transactions on persons under the age of 21 as previously described. Checks on persons under the age of 21 could be extended for a period up to ten business days. Therefore, it is possible for an FFL to be contacted with an updated Brady Transfer Date. As a temporary measure and until the NICS can be updated to provide this information electronically, NICS staff will be calling FFLs to advise of any change in the transfer date. In preparation for calls from NICS, you will be asked to verify your license number and code word. You may wish to have this information readily available for you and your staff.

All descriptive information, including address, will follow normal purge requirements (i.e., deleted from NICS within 24 hours of the FFL receiving a proceed status.) Please note, if no potentially prohibiting information is located, the transaction will be proceeded as soon as possible.

ATTENTION

Beginning Monday, September 26, 2022, the FBI will be implementing two new features to the NICS transaction process. First, FFLs will be asked to provide the address of the buyer in certain cases. The FBI is required under the NICS Denial Notification Act to notify local law enforcement within 24 hours of a deny decision based on the FFL location and the applicant’s residence, if different. Second, FFLs will see a message from the NICS on attempted purchases for persons under the age of 21 who are buying outside of their home state. This message is meant to assist FFLs in identifying purchase scenarios where attention to varying state laws may be warranted.

ATTENTION

If you are using newest Mozilla Firefox version you may see a reversal of certain dates. For example, a person’s date of Birth maybe displayed as 23/12/1975 instead of 12/23/1975. However, users can change the date setting by opening the menu in the upper right corner (3 horizontal lines) and select options. Scroll down to Language and Appearance, Language, and press the “Choose” button. You will need to add English and remove English/UK.

ATTENTION

Reminder: After entering your customer's descriptive information into the search screen on E-Check be certain to verify on the verification page that the customer's information is correct. Some browsers have an autofill feature that may auto populate incorrect information into one or more of the fields.

NOTICE

E-Check Customer Service Phone: 833-297-HELP (4357) (available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. ET, excluding holidays). Please note that this number should only be utilized by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) as it pertains to E-Check issues and questions. E-Check Online Customer Service is also available 7 days a week 8a.m. – 1:30a.m. ET by selecting “Ask the FBI NICS for Assistance” above or https://forms.fbi.gov/assistance-with-nics-processing-issues.