The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, used by Federal Firearms Licensees to determine if prospective buyers are eligible to buy firearms, will remain up and running despite the ”government shutdown,” the National Shooting Sports Foundation announced yesterday.
“The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Section has informed NSSF that NICS would remain fully operational and maintain normal business hours in the event of a government shutdown on Tuesday,” the industry trade association reported.
This is consistent with an advisory posted last Friday by the National Rifle Association.
“Law enforcement activities are designated as essential services and do not shut down even if the Congress and President fail to agree on funding legislation,” NRA explained. “The NICS system will continue to operate.”
Still, those in the know about gun issues are not without concerns that there is a potential for negative repercussions.
“NRA-ILA will keep watch on NICS operations if there is a shutdown to alert our members if there is any impact, such as a slowdown in response times,” NRA concluded on its announcement.
Fueling the fire of disinformation are the “Authorized Journalists” / “real reporters” / “legitimate news media” at CNN, which told its viewers and website visitors “If you want a gun permit … that won't happen anytime soon.”
Gun Rights Examiner has approached industry sources with nationwide FFL contacts. They will be keeping an eye on gun sales over a broad range of dealers and advising if any pattern of slowdowns or service outages emerges. This column has also reached out to industry experts to ask what impacts they foresee, if any, for National Firearms Act-affected transfers, and will report on that if and when relevant information is provided.
UPDATE: The Wright & Schulte LLC legal firm website is reporting "Processing of transfer applications (Form 1, 3, 4, etc.) is stopped for all NFA Gun Trusts, Corporations, and Individuals [and] Form 4, Form 1 and transfer application status inquiries will not be answered."
Also see Dave Workman's report.
UPDATE (10/2): I asked attorney Joshua Prince of Prince Law Offices/Firearms Industry Consulting Group if NFA transfers would be impacted. His reply:
Yes, a dealer I represent called the NFA Branch today and was told that the NFA Branch is a skeleton crew and is not processing any applications or answering status request inquiries. They can't stop anyone from submitting new applications but it is unlikely that they will be acted on until a Budget is reached.
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