Summary: The FBI approved most gun purchases (72 percent) within 30 seconds after buyer information had been entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NCIS)--a computer system designed to provide presale background screening for all types of firearms bought from federal firearms licensees. The remaining 28 percent of the background checks had delayed responses. From a sample of delayed responses handled by an ad hoc selection of examiners, the FBI concluded that most of these responses (80 percent) were resolved within two hours or less and that the rest (20 percent) required several hours or days to resolve. This report (1) provides statistics on background checks, denials, and appeals; (2) describes enforcement actions taken against persons who allegedly falsify their status on firearm-purchase applications; (3) discusses the NCIS' computer system architecture, capacity management system availability, transaction response time, retention of records, monitoring activities, system security authorization, exemptions from the Privacy Act of 1974, and the prospect of making NCIS a fingerprint-base system rather than a name-based system; and (4) discusses pawnshop issues.
