Publication Date: October 2010
What does it say?
The NICS Improvement Amendments Act requires states to report reasonable estimates of the number of records in state databases relevant to denying a purchase of a firearm under federal law.
Appendix C of this report provides a table of those estimates by prohibited category, state, agency holding the records, and percent of records in the state repository. The timeframe covered is from January 1, 1989 to December 31, 2008. These numbers should be couched as preliminary as the state-level data has not yet been validated. To see a chart summarizing the report's findings on state and territorial records of disqualifying mental illness, click here.
The following states did NOT supply estimates of their records: Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, California, District of Columbia, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Vermont, and the Virgin Islands.
How can I use it?
The state-level data in this report should be properly qualified as a work in progress but can be used to educate elected officials and the media about the need to get all relevant records into the NICS system, and in particular into the NICS Index database. Even with gaps in records available to the NICS system, the Brady law has stopped over 1.9 million attempts to purchase by dangerous people. Getting all the records into the system and extending Brady background checks to all sales holds enormous promise in enhancing public safety.
Citation
Schauffler, Richard, et al, NICS Improvement Amendments Act: State Records Estimates Development and Validation Project, Year One, National Center for State Courts and SEARCH, the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, October 2010
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