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National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Operations 2010

NCJ Number
240761
Date Published
2011
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This report from the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), highlights the NICS operations in 2010.
Abstract
Findings show that from the inception of the NICS on November 30, 1998, to December 31, 2010, a total of 124,427,448 transactions were processed through the NICS, and a total of 820,888 transactions were denied. Denials issued by the NICS Section in 2010 totaled 72,659. The NICS Section processed 74,384 explosives transactions; while a total of 1,588 resulted in deny decisions. The NICS Section processed 544,808 firearms and explosives transactions via the Internet-based NICS E-Check, a 23.16 percent increase over the number of NICS E-Check transactions processed in 2009. The number of records maintained in the NICS Index, as of December 31, 2010, totaled 6,442,538, which is an increase of 754,976 records over 2009. The NICS Section achieved a 91.29 percent Immediate Determination Rate, surpassing the U.S. Attorney General-mandated goal of 90 percent or better. Approximately 37,000 final dispositions were obtained which were posted to criminal history records and disseminated over 23,200 dispositions to State agencies to assist in updating State records. Also obtained were approximately 736,388 record-completing dispositions. The Voluntary Appeal File (VAF) permits the NICS Section to maintain information about persons to document their eligibility to receive firearms; the VAF maintained approximately 16,301 entries with an active Unique Personal Identification Number (UPIN). From VAF program inception through December 31, 2010, approximately 29,450 background checks have been processed using a UPIN. The NICS availability averaged 99.75 percent. Finally, there were 2,955 firearm retrieval referrals forwarded to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives by the NICS Section.