NICS Number Tracking

Topic Overview

Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders are required by law to perform a background check on individuals who want to purchase a firearm but who do not hold the proper permit. The background check is performed through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) program and can be done over the phone or online. Once a background check has been performed, the FFL receives a NICS transaction number used for referencing the check as well as validation of the check.

System Five e-Bound Book makes it easy for you to capture the NICS (or FFL) number for firearm transactions within your bound book, allowing you to:

Record either the NICS number or the FFL number (if the disposition is to an FFL holder);
Add in the NICS number at the time the bound book entry that needs review is displayed;
Transfer multiple firearms on the same invoice that will share the same NICS number; and
Display the NICS number for firearm transactions on your bound book report.

Setup

Navigate to Setup Tools > Setup Wizard > Miscellaneous > Bound Book (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Setup Wizard Window

Tip: For quicker access to Bound Book units, type the word Bound in the search box of the Setup Wizard and click [Go] (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Quick Title Search in The Setup Wizard

Enable the [Require NICS# or FFL# on Sales] option. This will prevent the commitment of transactions into the bound book unless either the NICS# or the FFL# has been entered.

Figure 3. Enabling Settings for NICS# or FFL# Requirement

Recording NICS Numbers in The Bound Book

Go to Bound Book Entries Needing Review to see the transactions that need review. Transactions needing review are highlighted in yellow, and the specific requirements are listed in the Reviewed column (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Viewing Bound Book Entries Needing Review

Enter either the NICS# or the FFL# in the corresponding field (Figure 5) (as well as any other additional details regarding the acquisition and/or disposition accounts or the unit), and hit <ENTER>.

Figure 5. NICS# and FFL# Fields

When System Five detects information in either of these fields, the highlight is removed from the transaction row, and a grey button in the Reviewed column (Figure 6) will signal that the entry is ready for commitment to the bound book.

Figure 6. Entry Ready for Commitment

A confirmation message will pop up (Figure 7), asking you whether you want to commit the entry to the bound book. To commit the entry, click [Yes]; to continue the review and/or defer the commitment, click [No].

Figure 7. Pop-up Message for Confirming Commitment of Entries

Once the entry has been committed, a transaction number and date will be assigned to it in the Reviewed column (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Transaction Number and Date Assigned to Bound Book Entry

Tracking NICS Numbers in The Bound Book

You can track NICS numbers on either the Audit Trail Report or the FADR report.

Tracking NICS Numbers on The Audit Trail Report

Navigate to Bound Book Report and click the [Report] tab.
Click [Build] to generate the report.
Scroll down to view the NICS numbers displayed at the bottom of each transaction (Figure 9).

Figure 9. Tracking NICS Numbers on Bound Book Report

Tracking NICS Numbers on The FADR Report

Navigate to Bound Book Report and click the [FADR] tab.
Click [Build] to generate the record.
Scroll down to view the NICS numbers displayed for each of the transactions in the Disp. Addr/License/4473 column (Figure 10).

Note: If you did not enter comments at the time of the review, you can still insert comments by clicking the [Comments] button on the report ribbon. It is recommended that you provide a reason for modifying the original entry in the form of a comment for easy report management. If you enter a comment, click [Build] to re-generate the report.

Figure 10. Tracking NICS Numbers on The FADR

Tip: For either the Audit Trail report or the FADR report, you can choose to filter the entries by including or excluding NICS and/or FFL numbers (Figure 11).

Figure 11. Enabling Filter Options for NICS and FFL Numbers