The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was altered for those in the 18-20 age group, and the results are dramatic.
Though the intent was not termed as a waiting period for law-abiding young adults, that’s exactly what resulted.
NICS is mandated to extensively contact state and local governments within the young applicant’s jurisdiction as part of the background check process. This covers communication with juvenile criminal justice records, state mental health officials and local law enforcement in the jurisdiction of the prospective gun purchaser.
This is hardly an “instant” background check. These sweeping contacts are time-consuming and an impediment on Second Amendment rights for those who follow the law and are protected by the Constitution.
Before BSCA became law, the FBI was granted three business days to determine whether an individual was qualified to purchase a weapon. But with the new statute, the NICS extended the time to 10 business days — or two full weeks — if “cause exists to further investigate a possibly disqualifying juvenile record.”
What constitutes that “cause” is murky at best.
Gun rights organizations such as the NRA cautioned in 2022 that BSCA created a waiting period for young adults. Proponents of more gun control countered that the law “does not create any mandatory waiting periods.”
The FBI reported that more than 200,000 young adults have been processed through the new system since BSCA took effect. The agency said the average wait time is “about four days.”
Far from denying the effects of the new law, the FBI published an article on its website last week boasting that there is now an extended period added to gun purchases by young adults.
But there is progress in fighting this federal sleight of hand. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals listened to arguments in McRorey v. Garland, the case against the enhanced background check system.
The plaintiffs initially sought a preliminary injunction in a Texas Federal District Court. Unable to secure that action they took the case to the appeals court in New Orleans.
Attorneys argued before the panel that law-abiding 18-20-year-olds are included in “the people” as stated in the Second Amendment. Thus, they should be treated no differently than any other adult attempting to secure a firearm.
They further noted that the law is not supported by the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision. There is no historical precedent, the plaintiffs asserted, to the government delaying adults from buying a weapon.
Attorney Stephen Stamboulieh represented the plaintiffs. He fielded a question from the panel concerning young adults being able to purchase firearms on the secondary market by noting that sites such as GunBroker still mandate that the weapons be procured through a federal firearms licensee (FFL).
This would mean a mandatory background check.
An appeals court victory by the plaintiffs would almost certainly result in the government attempting to get the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. Were the plaintiffs to lose, they would likely request an en banc hearing to get an injunction.
Either way, the fight for constitutional rights for young adults continues.
This law is yet another example of why it is critically important to stand firm on Second Amendment rights in the face of more government overreach. The anti-gunners will not rest until every possible impediment is thrown up in the path to owning firearms, and they are far from above giving false impressions of their proposals.
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