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Review of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Enforcement of Brady Act Violations Identified Through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System

Report Number I-2004-006
July 2004

APPENDIX VI: FBI COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT REPORT

    U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation
    Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
July 2, 2004


Mr. Paul A. Price
Assistant Inspector General
  for Evaluation and Inspections
Office of the Inspector General
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

Dear Mr. Price:

Reference is made to your memorandum dated June 15, 2004, addressed to Carl J. Truscott, Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Mary Beth Buchanan, Director, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and Robert S. Mueller [sic], Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In response to Recommendation 12, on page 47, of the Review of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF), and Explosives' Enforcement of Brady Act Violations Identified through the FBI-National Instant Criminal Background Check System [NICS] document A-2004-001, the FBI-NICS Section would like to make known that Program Change Request (PCR) number 2602 initiated on April 13, 2004, will allow for the marking of all transactions that require a firearm retrieval (referred to by ATF as delayed denials). The change to the FBI-NICS will allow the separation and daily transfer of two separate files to the ATF. One file will contain the standard denials. The second file will contain what FBI-NICS refers to as firearm retrievals or ATF calls delayed denials.

Firearm retrievals are transactions where the FBI-NICS Section has determined the subject purchasing the firearm to be prohibited after the third business day, but where the firearm transferred at some point between the third business day and when the determination was reached. These transactions are verified by the FBI-NICS Section's Firearm Retrieval Team who then notifies the Brady Operations Branch of the ATF.

This PCR has been prioritized with the other PCRs needed by the FBI-NICS Section. Its implementation would be September 2005, barring any congressionally mandated system changes between now and then. In the interim, the Firearm Retrieval Team can continue to provide the ATF Brady Operations with the list and/or information regarding these transactions.


Sincerely yours,

[original signed]

Steven C. McCraw
Assistant Director
Inspection Division