NICS reports problem-free weekend after a week of issues
During a background check, the buyer’s name is checked in three databases: Interstate Identification Index, National Crime Information Center, and NICS Index.
After a week of issues, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System reported Sept. 15Â that the system has been operational all weekend.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation NICS Section reported the last outage Friday afternoon, which lasted about two and a half hours, but also reported eight others earlier in the week.
The system started experiencing problems Sept. 6, when the FBI implemented the Next Generation Identification system — a $1.2 billion biometric system that recognizes facial features, scans irises, and reads palm and fingerprints to identify criminals — to replace the single sourced Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
While NGI and NICS are two separate systems, NICS does utilize a database within NGI called the Interstate Identification Index, but after the upgrade, NICS was occasionally unable to access III. If III does not respond to a NICS query, a background check cannot be completed.
When issues did occur, technicians had to shutdown NICS to reconnect the database. The outages effected both NICS Contracted Call Centers and NICS E-Check.
Besides a few hiccups last week, the FBI boasts a 99 percent success rate for processing checks.
Read More On:
Latest Reviews
-
The Baby Glock Centimeter: A Review of the New G29 Gen 5 10mm Carry Pistol
Whether straying into the backcountry or just a fan of the 10mm Auto, Glock has long had one of the smallest carry guns offered in that caliber and we have been kicking around its latest variant for a couple of months.
Read More -
AMT Backup .380 Review: Fun With a Retro Pocket Pistol
I’m rather fascinated with pocket guns, so when I came across this AMT Backup 380 in Guns.com's Certified Used stockpile, I had to give it a try. It's an interesting and affordable retro pistol.
Read More -
Winchester Model 100 in .243 Win Stands the Test of Time
Every now and then I happen upon a neat little rifle I’ve never heard of, like this Winchester Model 100. Let's see if this mid-century deer hunter chambered in .243 Winchester still has what it takes.
Read More -
Palm Full of Parabellum: A Review of the 9mm Bond Arms Stubby
Texas-based Bond Arms, the country's go-to maker of double-barreled derringer-style handguns in usable calibers, recently introduced an ultra-compact new 9mm-- the aptly named Stubby.
Read More
