LAS VEGAS—With the Biden administration touting a revival of the 1990s-era “assault weapons” ban and encouraging states to tighten gun-control regulations, the firearms industry and gun-owners’ rights advocates—with notable exceptions—say Congress and state lawmakers should instead focus on keeping weapons out of criminals’ hands and on boosting mental health programs.
For more than a decade, rather than imposing new laws that could ensnarl 75 million law-abiding American gun-owners in confusing red tape, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has spearheaded a “Fix NICS” campaign to address flaws in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)—the primary databank used to varying degrees in all 50 states and territories to conduct background checks for firearms purposes.
The NSSF, which represents more than 10,000 businesses and individuals engaged in the $70.5 billion United States’ firearms industry, maintains that NICS background checks often produce data not relevant to determining if someone is prohibited from purchasing firearms, while not providing information related to a prospective gun-buyer’s documented mental health background.
Beginning in 2012, the NSSF led a bipartisan array of groups—including many that are traditionally polar antagonists in the gun-owners’ rights vs. gun-control debate—in supporting a federal bill requiring documented mental health information be included in background checks for prospective firearms buyers.
