U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

June 2, 1999

Dear Mr. (Last Name) :

Reference is made to your e-mail dated March 26, 1999, addressed to the Department of Justice concerning the National Instant Criminal Background Check System

(NICS).

Specifically, you expressed concern about the NICS maintenance of firearm sales information. The Brady Law forbids the establishment of a firearms registry. The FBI has proposed to retain records of approved transactions in an audit log for a limited period of time solely for the purpose of ensuring the security and privacy of information in the NICS. By auditing the system, the FBI can identify instances in which the NICS is used for unauthorized purposes and protect against invasions of privacy that would result from such misuse.

Audits can also determine whether false names were submitted to the NICS by gun dealers [Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs)] to evade the name check system. Although the Brady Law mandates the destruction of all records associated with approved firearm transactions (other than the identifying number and the date the number was assigned), it also requires the Attorney General to provide for the security and privacy of the information in the system. The statute does not specify a period of time in which records of approval must be destroyed. The NICS Final Rule, 28 CFR Part 25, published October 30, 1998, indicates that allowed transfers will be destroyed after not more than six months after the transfer is allowed. On March 3, 1999, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register recommending the retention of records by the FBI be changed from six months to 90 days.

The NICS, therefore, will maintain an automated log of all incoming and outgoing transactions for system security and audit purposes. The log will contain the following information: type of transaction, inquiry or response, line number, time, date in inquiry, message header, message key, originating agency identifier (ORI), and inquiry/response data including the name and other identifying information about the prospective transferee, and the NICS transaction number (NTN). The only firearms information a dealer must provide is whether the firearm(s) transferred is a handgun, long gun, or both. Information such as the firearms serial number, type, make, model, etc., is not provided by the FFL to NICS. Currently, after six

Mr. (Last Name)

months, if the transfer was approved, the information pertaining to the transaction will be purged, excluding the NTN and date of transaction. Transactions relating to denials will be retained for 10 years, after which time they will be transferred to a federal records center for storage.

The law has never been interpreted by the FBI to mean that all relevant information is purged from the system immediately after the processing is complete. The system that was designed and developed reflects this interpretation of the law. Modification of the NICS to utilize immediate purging of information would require a major system redesign.

You may wish to note for future reference that the NICS e-mail address is <www.a_nics@leo.gov>.

Thank you for your comments and interest in the NICS.