Life Just Got Easier For Gun Store Owners Thanks To Background Check Rule Change

Federally-licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) learned Tuesday they will be able to use the National Instant Check System (NICS)to run background checks on employees starting in late November.

The FBI published a new rule set to take effect Nov. 27 that will permit FFLs to conduct background checks on current and prospective employees for free using NICS. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearms industry’s trade group, praised the new rule, which established the Firearms Handler Check (FHC).

“This rule is borne out of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and is a priority of NSSF to make these same services available to firearm retailers so they have access to voluntarily use it to verify the status of individuals in their employment who would have access to firearms that are being sold,” NSSF managing director of public affairs Mark Oliva told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This fits in with NSSF’s commitment to ensure that firearms remain beyond the reach of those who cannot be trusted to possess them.”

“This rule took too long to finalize because, frankly, it was not a priority of the Biden administration. The Biden Department of Justice ignored the repeated requests of NSSF to make this tool available to firearm retailers for political reasons,” Oliva continued. “The priority of the Biden DOJ was to raise as many barriers to force firearm retailers out of business. Because of those unfortunate political realities, the rule was never finalized. NSSF is grateful to the Trump DOJ for making this a priority.”

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF. Turner’s Outdoorsman senior vice president Bill Ortiz told the DCNF that many FFLs were already relying on private-sector background checks.

“Turner’s utilizes pre-employment background checks in the two states where we operate: California and Arizona,” Ortiz said. “In California, where most of our stores are located, existing law requires firearms dealers to also use a California Department of Justice-administered program to ensure that employees are not prohibited from handling, possessing, or owning firearms and ammunition.”

“Turner’s will utilize the new FHC process in our Arizona stores,” Ortiz said. “We will also determine whether there is value in using the FHC process in California beyond the existing California program.”

One background-check company, BackgroundChecks.com, charges $29.99 per check for a basic search, with its most extensive search costing $76.99, with additional add-ons like drug testing, a search through every federal district court, statewide criminal reports and employer verification being available for additional charges.

“This Final Rule will make it easier for firearm retailers because it will give them a voluntary tool to ensure that those individuals in their employment are not prohibited from possessing a firearm,” Oliva told the DCNF. “Firearm retailers are the front line of ensuring that only those who should possess a firearm are able to take possession of one. That same assuredness is now readily available to ensure that individuals behind the gun counter meet the same prerequisites without additional burden for the firearm retailer to contract private services to verify the same status.”