The Social Security Administration’s Implementation of Reporting Information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
- Audit report number
- A-01-16-50218
- Management challenge
- Strengthen Planning, Transparency, and Accountability
- Full report
- /~assets/audits/full/a-01-16-50218.pdf
- Summary report
- /~assets/audits/summary/summary-50218.pdf
We issued this report to answer questions from Congress regarding the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) proposed reporting of individuals to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and how this relates to SSA’s Representative Payment Program.
The President signed the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (NIAA) into law on January 8, 2008. The NIAA amended the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act) under which the Attorney General established the NICS. The Brady Act requires that Federal Firearms Licensees contact the NICS before they transfer a firearm to an unlicensed person. The purpose is to determine whether State or Federal law prohibits the unlicensed person from possessing a firearm.
On January 16, 2013, the President issued a memorandum directing the Department of Justice to provide agencies guidance regarding the identification and sharing of relevant Federal records and their submission to the NICS.
On May 2, 2016, Congress wrote to the Office of the Inspector General with specific questions about the information SSA proposed to provide NICS.
