1986 Firearm Owners' Protection Act(FOPA)
FOPA also forbade any U.S. Government agency from keeping a registry directly linking non-National Firearms Act (1934, i.e., machine guns and sawed-off shot guns) firearms to their owners. The specific language of this law is Federal Law 18 U.S.C. 926 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/926
FOPA-1986
Nevertheless, the ATF Firearms Tracing System (FTS) contains hundreds of millions of firearm tracing and registration records, and consists of several databases:
1. Multiple Sale Reports - Over 460,000 (2003) Multiple Sales reports (ATF F 3310.4 - a registration record with specific firearms and owner name and address - increasing by about 140,000 per year). Reported as 4.2 million records in 2010.
2. Suspect Guns - All guns suspected of being used for criminal purposes but not recovered by law enforcement. This database includes (ATF's own examples[citation needed]), individuals purchasing large quantities of firearms, and dealers with improper record keeping. May include guns observed by law enforcement in an estate, or at a gun show, or elsewhere. Reported as 34,807 in 2010.
3. Traced Guns - Over 4 million detail records from all traces since inception.[12] This is a registration record which includes the personal information of the first retail purchaser, along with the identity of the selling dealer.
4. Out of Business Records - Data is manually collected from paper Out-of-Business records (or input from computer records) and entered into the trace system by ATF. These are registration records which include name and address, make, model, serial and caliber of the firearm(s), as well as data from the 4473 form - in digital or image format. In March, 2010, ATF reported receiving several hundred million records since 1968.
5. Theft Guns - Firearms reported as stolen to ATF. Contained 330,000 records in 2010. Contains only thefts from licensed dealers and interstate carriers (optional).[12] Does not have an interface to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) theft data base, where the majority of stolen, lost and missing firearms are reported.
1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act - Mandated the creation of the NICS.
1998 - FBI launches the NICS. The FFL dealer contacts the NICS by telephone or Internet. When the background check is initiated 3 databases are accessed: (1) the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), (2) the Interstate Identification Index (III), and (3) the NICS Index. According to the FBI, checks are usually determined within minutes of initiation. If there is no match in any of the checked databases, the dealer is cleared to proceed with the transfer. Otherwise, the FBI's NCIS Section must contact the appropriate judicial and/or law enforcement agencies for more information. Per the Brady Act, the FBI has 3 business days to make its decision to approve or deny the transfer. If the FFL has not received the decision within that time it may legally proceed anyway.
The FBI originally wanted the NICS inquiry requests by FFL dealers (essentially AFT Form 4473) for prospective firearm buyers be allowed to be kept on record for 18 months. The GOA backed them down to 6 months retention. This is an apparent violation of Federal Law 18 U.S.C. 926.
1/08/2016 - Obama Wants to Hire Hundreds More FBI, ATF Staff>
The Obama administration wants to hire hundreds more federal law enforcement personnel to expedite mandatory background checks on gun buyers, as part of several new executive actions aiming at reducing gun violence.
The FBI will hire more than 230 extra analysts and other staff for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System – the 17-year-old database created to prevent gun sales to those prohibited from obtaining firearms – to help provide round-the-clock processing of background checks and faster notice to local authorities about potential unlawful gun purchases. According to information on the FBI’s website, NICS currently is “customarily available 17 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays (except Christmas).”
The White House said the new hiring “will begin immediately and increase the existing workforce by 50 percent,” according to a fact sheet on the executive actions. “This will reduce the strain on the NICS system and improve its ability to identify dangerous people who are prohibited from buying a gun before the transfer of a firearm is completed.”
Carol Cratty, an FBI spokeswoman, said by email that the FBI will hire the additional NICS personnel over the next 2 years. NICS staff work at the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Branch, based in Clarksburg, WV.
Cratty said the workload of NICS has increased steadily since the creation of the database in 1998 “with December 2015 being the highest month on record for background checks.” In addition to more staff, the agency is overhauling the system’s technology to modernize it to handle expedited processing. The FBI also is working with “federal, state, local and tribal partners to gather more complete criminal and mental health records,” Cratty said.
The White House also wants to hire 200 new investigators and agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (also part of Justice) to help enforce gun laws, including the measures Obama announced. One of the major “new actions” requires background checks and a license for gun sellers, regardless of location. The move is designed to clarify the current language on the books to close the so-called loophole associated with sales at guns shows and online.
United States Court of Appeals,District of Columbia Circuit.
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. et al., Appellants, v. Janet RENO, Attorney General of the United States, Appellee.
No. 99-5270.
Decided: July 11, 2000
Before: SENTELLE, TATEL and GARLAND, Circuit Judges. Stephen P. Halbrook argued the cause for appellants. With him on the briefs was Richard E. Gardiner. Michael S. Raab, Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, argued the cause for appellee. On the brief were David W. Ogden, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Mark B. Stern, and Susan L. Pacholski, Attorneys, and Wilma A. Lewis, U.S. Attorney. The National Rifle Association challenges a Justice Department regulation providing for temporary retention of data generated during background checks of prospective firearms purchasers, as required by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. According to the NRA, the Brady Act requires immediate destruction of personal information relating to lawful firearm transactions. The Attorney General interprets the statute differently, arguing that temporary retention of data for at most six months is necessary to audit the background check system to ensure both its accuracy and privacy. Finding nothing in the Brady Act that unambiguously prohibits temporary retention of information about lawful transactions, and finding that the Attorney General has reasonably interpreted the Act to permit retention of such information for audit purposes, we affirm the district court's dismissal of the complaint.
The case was heard by a panel of 3 Judges, namely, Judges, Tatel, Garland, and Sentelle. Two of the 3 Judges, Tatel and (Merrick) Garland, ruled in favor of the Attorney General, against NRA, thereby affirming the decision of the lower Court, against NRA. Judge Tatel wrote the opinion for the majority. Judge Garland, Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court during 1Q2016 agreed with both the decision and the reasoning of Judge Tatel, thereby making Judge Tatel’s opinion essentially Judge Garland’s as well. Judge Sentelle wrote a scathing dissenting opinion. Read more: http://www.ammoland.com/2016/04/the-reno-case-illustrates-judge-garlands-danger-to-the-second-amendment/#ixzz49i62IZHT