NICS Denial Investigations

In 2015, Oregon passed the Oregon Firearms Safety Act, which required background checks on all firearm sales or transfers, including those that take place at a gun show and between private citizens. The Oregon State Police conduct background checks through the Firearms Instant Check System (FICS).¹Oregon State Police, Criminal Justice Information Services, “Firearms Instant Check Systems (FICS),”  accessed September 17, 2019, http://bit.ly/2oMLAtI. Because Oregon is a point of contact state for the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), Oregon State Police are also responsible for conducting national background checks for all purchase requests received.²Oregon State Police, Criminal Justice Information Services, “2016 FICS Program Overview,” 2, accessed September 23, 2019, http://bit.ly/33L4u2G.

The FICS unit operates 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. It includes 26 call center staff, one information systems specialist, two support supervisors, and a principal executive manager.³Oregon State Police, “Firearms Instant Check Systems.”  FICS is partially funded by the $10 fee all gun purchase applicants must pay for a background check.⁴Ibid.

FICS allows Oregon State Police to determine if a purchaser is qualified to purchase a firearm within 30 minutes.⁵Ibid. Approximately 96 percent of background checks are approved within minutes.⁶Ibid. If the background check cannot be completed quickly, the purchaser will be placed in a pend /delay status until the state police can obtain additional information to complete the request.⁷Ibid.

Between July 2018 and August 2019, FICS processed 350,230 transactions.⁸Ibid. When a transaction is denied, notifications are sent to local law enforcement as well as the Oregon State Police. The Oregon State Police have five detectives who are responsible for investigating FICS denials in the five busiest FICS denial districts.⁹Oregon State Police, interview by Melissa Paquette, September 26, 2019. When a detective is notified of a FICS denial, the detective first examines whether a state crime occurred in the attempted purchase of the firearm.¹⁰Ibid. If the attempted purchase was unlawful, the detective will interview the subject. If the subject does not provide a lawful explanation regarding the attempted purchase, the detective will arrest the subject.¹¹Ibid.

Between July 2018 and August 2019, Oregon State Police investigated 2,823 FICS denials.¹²Oregon State Police, “Firearms Instant Check Systems (FICS) (Dashboard).” Of those, 63 applicants were arrested and taken into custody, 111 were arrested and given a citation, 597 were referred to the district attorney’s office, and 879 were referred to their local jurisdiction.¹³Ibid. The majority of FICS denials, 81 percent, were the result of the applicant’s status as a felon or otherwise-prohibited possessor of a firearm.¹⁴Ibid.