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Several prominent medical associations have voiced opposition to a proposed gun control rule to increase the number of mental health records shared with the national background check system, saying it would only contribute to the stigma against mental illness. . . , a key proposition to add mental health records to a national background check database has been vociferously opposed by medical groups. Many voice concern that adding people deemed "mentally unfit" to the national database would increase the stigma of mental illness and dissuade many from seeking help. . . . . . . Unlike the Manchin-Toomey Bill to...

Firearms have been flying off shelves across the country amid calls from some lawmakers to increase gun control, and manufacturers are benefiting from the surge in demand. But retailers and makers of firearms aren’t simply relying on returning gun owners looking to make another purchase. They’re also getting a boost from first-time buyers, thanks to an increasing number of people interested in firearms. (snip) In its annual Firearms Retailer Survey Report, the National Shooting Sports Foundation said there is an upward trend in the number of first-time buyers purchasing firearms, while more women are frequenting gun shops and ranges. “There’s...

(GunNews.com) — Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has initiated a rulemaking process “to remove unnecessary legal barriers” under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule that may prevent states from reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is the database that houses information on individuals prohibited by law from possessing firearms. This is one of the 23 executive actions the President announced in January. “Through the public comment process, we will use the data and information provided by states, health providers, patient advocates and others to determine how...

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told reporters on a conference call moments ago that his compromise bill with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on gun background checks “doesn’t change in any way” his “conservative record or views.” The former Club for Growth president acknowledged he was out of his usual legislative area on the issue, but “it became clear to me a bill of some sort was very likely to reach the floor” that would be “badly flawed,” so he reached out to his friend and neighboring state senator Manchin to sit down and talk. “You’re probably used to hearing me talk...

So, are "Background Checks" really "Gun Owner Registrations" When you buy a firearm from a dealer, you submit to a background check, officially known as the The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. Mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and launched by the FBI on November 30, 1998, NICS is used by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to immediately determine whether a prospective buyer is eligible to buy firearms or explosives.(1) Like many of you, I was under the impression that NICS checks were not kept as permanent records. Federal law specifically prohibits using NICS...

The federal background check system for gun buyers is porous, ineffective, and hampered by a lack of cooperation from the states. And that’s what the system’s supporters have to say. For critics, it’s much more than that. They warn that even if the system can be perfected — and there’s growing consensus in Washington, D.C., that the time has come to authorize certain basic and largely non-controversial improvements — it will do nothing to reduce gun violence. President Barack Obama called on Congress to implement universal background checks as part of the gun-control proposals he unveiled in the wake of...

During the National Rifle Association’s meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and the White House gun violence task force, the vice president said that the administration did not have the time to prosecute existing gun laws. Jim Baker, the NRA representative present at the meeting, recalled the vice president’s words to The Daily Caller: “And to your point, Mr. Baker, regarding the lack of prosecutions on lying on Form 4473s, we simply don’t have the time or manpower to prosecute everybody who lies on a form, that checks a wrong box, that answers a question inaccurately.” Submitting false information on...

GRAY, Maine, Nov 27, 2012 (Bangor Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- So many gun dealers called the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, on Black Friday that the system went down twice and was slowed for those who did get through, Maine gun dealers said Monday. Even with the glitches, a record number of guns were sold on Black Friday all across the country, Stephen G. Fischer Jr., director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, said Monday. "We had an awful time getting through all day, and sometimes we couldn't get...

The June 2012 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 846,437 is an increase of 24.5 percent over the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 679,840 in June 2011. For comparison, the unadjusted June 2012 NICS figure of 1,290,210 reflects an 11.4 percent increase from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,157,714 in June 2011. This marks the 25th straight month that NSSF-adjusted NICS figures have increased when compared to the same period the previous year. The adjusted NICS data were derived by subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky, Iowa and Michigan...

An analysis of trends in handgun manufacturing for domestic sales since implementation ofthe Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. By Charles J Blankenship Pennsylvania --(Ammoland.com)- Introduction November 1998 was arguably the high Water mark for federal gun control in the US. It was then the FBI implemented the National Instant Criminal Background Cheek System [NlCS], a key provision ofthe Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993. [Brady Bi11]. The NICS is designed to prevent certain prospective purchasers with criminal backgrounds from obtaining firearms. The Brady Bill may have prevented some handgun violence because of the NICS checks but it did not...

The October 2011 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 945,088 is an increase of 10.6 percent over the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 854,563 in October 2010. For comparison, the unadjusted October 2011 NICS figure of 1,331,836 reflects a 2.1 percent decrease from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,359,894 in October 2010. This marks the seventeenth straight month that NSSF-adjusted NICS figures have increased when compared to the same period the previous year. The adjusted NICS data were derived by NSSF by subtracting out all NICS purpose code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky,...

Despite Economy, Ohio, U.S. Gun Sales Defy Gravity The economy of Ohio is centered to a high degree on the manufacturing of a myriad of consumer products, perhaps to a higher degree than dozens of other states. As a result, one would think the current downturn in the national economy would be intensified in The Buckeye State. Ohioans may not be dining out as much or buying new refrigerators and pickup tracks, but recently released figures from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) indicate they are continuing to purchase firearms at a record pace. During the first seven...

EXCLUSIVE: In the latest chapter of the gunrunning scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious, federal officials won't say how two suspects obtained more than 360 weapons despite criminal records that should have prevented them from buying even one gun. Under current federal law, people with felony convictions are not permitted to buy weapons, and those with felony arrests are typically flagged while the FBI conducts a thorough background check. However, according to court records reviewed by Fox News, two of the 20 defendants indicted in the Fast and Furious investigation have felony convictions and criminal backgrounds that experts say,...

1- "Guns Save Lives" Censorship Opposed -- in Court The lamestream media told you: The city of Phoenix has censored 50 ads for the educational program of a local gun-safety training association, TrainMeAZ.com. We oppose censorship in all its forms. The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that: Although the "news" media steadfastly censors news about firearms, self-defense cases, new firearm products, the shooting sports and basically anything that confirms that guns are good, save lives, stop crime, and help keep America free -- the media is intolerant of censorship by government, and in this case it's a good thing. On May...

Two important pro-gun bills need your immediate attention. As we reported last week, House File 1467 passed in the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee by a 10 to 7 vote. HB 1467, which is sponsored by state Representative Tony Cornish (R-24B), is now before the House Judiciary Committee and will be voted on during its hearing at 8:15 a.m. this Wednesday, May 4. The Senate companion bill sponsored by state Senator Gretchen Hoffman (R-10), Senate File 1357 Senate File 1357, is expected to be considered by the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee as early...

As you know, you can’t buy a gun without a dealer punching your particulars into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The good folks at the FBI run the system. If the federal government shuts down, it’s entirely possible that the NICS system will go dark. No NICS, no gun sales. Can you say backlog? We’ve contacted the feds and gun dealers to see whether or not we’re scare mongering. They’ve know NUTH-THINK! Meanwhile, ABC News reports that most federal law enforcement agencies—including the FBI and ATF—have been classified as “essential services”—which would not be suspended during a...

Everyone wants to keep guns away from criminals, but gun control advocates, such as Media Matters, don’t want to acknowledge that there are costs to disarming law-abiding citizens. Lately Media Matters has particularly been incensed that anyone would point out that the vast majority of denials from Brady Act background checks involve so-called “false positives” — law-abiding citizens incorrectly being identified as banned individuals. Media Matters claims that all those stopped by the background checks from buying guns are prohibited individuals, that no mistakes are made by the government. And Media Matters is willing to engage in any amount of...

Title 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4) criminalizes gun possession by (among others) anyone “who has been committed to a mental institution.” This includes relatively brief commitments, and from 1992 until 2007 this covered anyone who had ever been so committed, with no opportunity for relief. Title 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) did authorize the Secretary of Treasury to provide discretionary relief from this prohibition, but since 1992 an appropriations bar enacted by Congress prohibited the government from using funds to decide § 925(c) petitions (which would chiefly involve attempts to get relief from the ban on gun possession by felons, but would...

H/T Mike at SipseyStreetIrregulars Terrorists and Guns: The Nature of the Threat and Proposed Reforms Wednesday, May 5, 2010 10:00 AM Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 342 Add To My Calendar (vCal) Witnesses Panel 1 The Honorable Frank R. Lautenberg U.S. Senate The Honorable Peter T. King U.S. House of Representatives The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor City of New York The Honorable Raymond W. Kelly Police Commissioner City of New York Panel 2 Daniel D. Roberts Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation U.S. Department of Justice Eileen R. Larence Director, Homeland Security and Justice...

For all you steadfast NRA supporters who pooh-poohed us when we told you that veterans were going to get shafted by this act... read this and start making excuses.

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   New York: Governor Introduces New Gun Proposal   Friday, May 29, 2009   Please Continue Checking Your Email and www.NRAILA.org for UpdatesEarlier this week, Governor David Paterson (D) introduced a proposal that would set up a process by which pistol license holders would be “recertified” every five years by having a NICS check performed.  Under the plan, the issuing authority would simply run the check at the time of renewal or, in the case of those with lifetime licenses, every five years.  Still under analysis is another provision that would require...

Imagine if 15 or 20 years ago, someone had said the FBI would have to create a system by which federal firearms licensees could obtain a criminal background check on a customer within hours or days. We might have declared it an impossible task. Yet here we stand, celebrating the 10th anniversary of a system that does just that—but within seconds. Because of NICS, "instant" checks are not only possible, they have become routine. But they are not something we should take for granted. NICS is an exceptional tool and has produced exceptional results. Over the past 10 years, NICS...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Renewed Attack on Privacy of Gun Buyers   Friday, May 02, 2008   This week, anti-gun U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) registration legislation that would invade the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.Cosponsored by like-minded Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), S. 2935 would, among other things, require the FBI to retain records of cleared firearm transactions for at least 180 days.  Current law requires...

NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)

"...with ATF harrassing the [deleted] out of numerous mom & pop gunshops in SC, ID & elsewhere, this is THE American issue of alltimes. I pray to God ya all hammer relentlessly." -Nuge McCARTHY BILL COULD COME UP AT ANY TIME IN THE U.S. SENATE Now that Congress returns to work this week, your liberties are in jeopardy once again! You will remember that before the Independence Day break, the House of Representatives passed a McCarthy gun control bill (HR 2640) without any hearings, without any committee action... they put it on the Suspension Calendar and simply got a non-recorded...

(CNSNews.com) - The normally solid "gun lobby" has split on a bill intended to improve the system for conducting instant background checks on would-be gun-buyers. The bill would require federal agencies to provide records of all individuals who are prohibited by law from owning guns to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS); and it would provide financial incentives for the states to automate and transmit their records to NICS as well. (States would be penalized for noncompliance.) The goal is to provide NICS with updated criminal and mental health records -- to prevent a situation like the Virginia...

BELLEVUE, Wash., June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A proposal that would reportedly update and strengthen the National Instant Check System (NICS) may not go far enough to protect the rights of American gun owners while apparently making it easier to prevent mentally ill persons from legally buying guns at retail outlets, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today. One tenet of the contemplated "compromise" legislation, noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, would reportedly allow persons whose names are in the NICS database for minor infractions that should not be disqualifiers to petition the states to...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Background Checks/ NICS NICS Legislative Efforts   The National Rifle Association has always supported including the records of individuals adjudicated mentally defective into the National Instant Background Check System. We believe that the NICS should serve the intent of Congress, which is to prohibit the sale of firearms to criminals and other prohibited persons, such as adjudicated mental defectives. However, we must not forget that the NICS also serves the purpose of clearing firearm purchases by law-abiding Americans. Too often, the system has been abused and has not delivered on the promise...

I apologize for the vanity, but I just needed some answers. A friend of mine at work last week went to a local gun store and tried to purchase a $1500 shotgun. It’s some type of Benelli that he has been wanting for some time. The clerk ran the NICS check, and it came up denied. My friend has no disqualifying record, and there was no reason for the FBI to deny him. I (and I think the clerk also) told him that it is probably just a case of mistaken identity. He sent NICS an E-mail to see what...

Filed at 3:11 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- FBI Director Robert Mueller is forming a study group to review the law that let suspected terrorists buy guns in the United States after they cleared background checks. Mueller unveiled his plan to form the Justice Department working group, which will include the FBI, in a letter sent Wednesday to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. The group will also review the government report issued earlier this month that said more than 40 terror suspects were able to buy firearms in the United States last year because background checks showed they had no felony...

I went to a local sporting goods store last Wednesday to purchase a SIG P229. I did not get and immediate PROCEED from NICS. I can think of two possible reasons - I know there is someone in Texas with my exact name with some violent criminal history, and I have a misdemeanor conviction for illegal carrying 3 1/2 years ago (not a dis-qualifier). Either may have set off the alarms for a deeper check. The last dealer purchase I made was before the Brady Law. This dealer told me that if he hasn't heard from NICS in 7 -...

Associated Press WASHINGTON - The government will destroy records on gun buyers after one day because of a provision Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt inserted into the spending bill that became law last week. The length of time for keeping records will be shortened from 90 days to one day after a gun buyer passes a background check. First proposed two years ago by Attorney General John Ashcroft two years ago, the change is a victory for gun rights advocates who argue that keeping the records is an invasion of privacy. Gun control advocates say that destroying records immediately will handicap...

A Times Editorial The NRA poster boyAttorney General John Ashcroft wants information that would keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, fugitives and illegal aliens purged after a day. © St. Petersburg TimesJuly 30, 2002 Attorney General John Ashcroft's views are so extreme on gun control laws that he finds himself in the position of shielding gun-toting felons and illegal aliens. One would think such a stand would embarrass Ashcroft, who is supposedly in the midst of fighting terrorism inside our borders. Yet Ashcroft's zeal never wavers as he protects his favorite special interest, the gun lobby. His...

JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press WriterWednesday, July 24, 2002 ©2002 Associated Press URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/07/24/national0443EDT0494.DTL (07-24) 01:43 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- Destroying government records of firearm purchases after one day instead of three months could put guns in the hands of criminals who shouldn't have them, congressional investigators say. Attorney General John Ashcroft last year suggested shortening the time period that the government keeps records on people who try to purchase firearms from 90 days to no more than one business day. But doing that would mean that the FBI, which conducts the checks, won't be able to go back to...

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) brims with confidence when he talks about the gun-control proposal he introduced in the House on March 20. At a press conference to unveil the measure, he predicted that the Gun Show Background Check Act of 2002 (HR4034) will not be an issue in the November elections because it already will have passed. His confidence in this major expansion of gun control stems from the willingness of many Americans to accept infringements on constitutional proscriptions after Sept. 11. "Now we've got the terrorist issue," Conyers says in response to a question from Insight. "There are...