Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act)
On November 30, 1998,
the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act) was signed into law.
Under the Act, Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) must contact the National
Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) prior to the transfer of a
firearm to an unlicensed individual in order to receive information on whether
the individual is disqualified by federal or state law from possessing a
firearm.
FFLs will contact the
NICS via either a point of contact (POC) established within their respective
state or through the NICS Operation Center at the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), depending upon whether the state is a POC for the NICS.
Nevada
FFLs use the Point of Contact Firearms Program in the Department of Public
Safety's Records Bureau as their Point of Contact rather than going to the
FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System directly. The advantage
to this is that the Point of Contact Firearms Program has access to Nevada
criminal history records unavailable to agencies outside of the state, as well
as the national records.
The Point of Contact Firearms
Program staff will proceed the sale or delay it pending further investigation.
The Point of Contact Firearms Program background check service may only be used
in conjunction with a firearm transaction.
Currently, the Point
of Contact Firearms Program handles more than 100,000 requests per year. Also,
the Point of Contact Firearms Program staff helps federal and local authorities
track illegal firearms activity within Nevada.
The background checks are
conducted to ascertain if the person attempting to obtain a firearm falls
within any of the prohibited categories as outlined in Section 922(g) or (n) of
Title 18, United States Code or any Nevada specific instances.
These prohibited
categories are:
922(g)1
– Person who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by
imprisonment for a term exceeding one year
922(g)2
– Person who is a fugitive from justice
922(g)3
– Person who is an unlawful users of or addicted to any controlled substance
(as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802))
922(g)4
– Person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or have been committed
to a mental institution
922(g)5
– Person who, being an alien, is illegally or unlawfully in the United States
922(g)6
– Person who has been discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces under dishonorable
conditions
922(g)7
– Person who, having been citizens of the United States, has renounced their
U.S. citizenship
922(g)8
– Person who is subject to a court order that restrains them from harassing,
stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such intimate partner,
or from engaging in other conduct that would place the partner or child in
reasonable fear of bodily injury
922(g)9
– Person who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic
violence
922(n)
– Person who is under indictment or information for any crime punishable by
imprisonment for a term exceeding one year
Specific Disqualifications
to the State Of Nevada
Felony/Gross Misdemeanor probation
– Weapons: You shall not possess,
have access to, or have under your control, any type of weapon.
Per
N.R.S. 202.360, the State Of Nevada does not recognize the “restoration of
firearms rights” from another state, a person wishing to regain firearm rights
for the State Of Nevada needs to be in possession of pardon from the state of
conviction that does not restrict his or her firearm rights, as shown below.
N.R.S.
202.360
1. A
person shall not own or have in his or her possession or under his or her
custody or control any firearm if the person:
(a) Has been convicted of a felony in this or any other state, or in any
political subdivision thereof, or of a felony in violation of the laws of the
United States of America, unless the person has received a pardon and the
pardon does not restrict his or her right to bear arms;