September 25, 2019
NSSF Praises States for Record Submission of Disqualifying Mental Health Records to Background Check System
WASHINGTON — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®) today is praising a milestone achievement of a 241 percent increase of state submissions of adjudicated mental health records to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System database since the firearms industry launched the FixNICS® campaign in 2013. Just 1.7 million such records existed in the FBI’s database when NSSF began the campaign in 2013 to fix the background check system. Today, there are more than 5.6 million records[1].
“This remarkable achievement demonstrates the firearms industry’s commitment to real solutions for safer communities,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs and General Counsel. “The firearms industry conceived of the point-of-purchase instant background check system that exists today. We have spent years working successfully to fix the system so that it works as intended. We have improved the quality and accuracy of background checks by changing the law in 16 states and at the federal level. It is critical that our background checks are updated, accurate and reliable. Firearms retailers rely upon this system to be accurate to ensure firearms do not fall into the wrong hands. This milestone is what bipartisan common ground looks like. It is a development that we can all agree is good for the safety of our communities.”
A background check is only as good as the records in the database. That is why the firearms industry supports improving[2] the current NICS system by increasing the number of prohibiting records states submit to the FBI databases, helping to prevent illegal transfers
