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Law Enforcement Now Receiving NICS Denial Notifications

Written by jon rydberg

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November 01, 2022

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White text atop red background next to image of FBI NICS seal over red and blue police lights

As of October 1, and in accordance with the NICS Denial Notification Act of 2021, FBI is to report all National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) denied transactions – better known as NICS denials – to state, local, or tribal law enforcement within 24 hours.

NICS denial notification will be sent to the appropriate law enforcement agency based on the city, state, county, and zip code combination of the selling FFL location, or the attempted buyer/transferee’s home address, when different from the FFL location. Delivered via unsolicited message, the notification will include the following information:

  • Date and time of denial
  • Reason for denial
  • Location of FFL/transferee address
  • Identity of person denied

Should the NICS denial be overturned and changed to a ‘proceed,’ FBI will provide an updated notification to the notified agencies.

Not inherently illegal, depending on reason for denial, the FBI NICS Section nor the law requires law enforcement to take any action after receiving denial notifications.

Currently, the NICS Indices, a database of people prohibited from receiving firearms by federal or state law, contains over 28 million people.

More FBI NICS News

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The official text is at 91 FR 24357, Federal Register Volume 91, Issue 87 (May 6, 2026), pages 24357–24362. The docket is also open for comment at regulations.gov (Docket ATF-2026-0009) through midnight Eastern on June 5, 2026. This rule is part of ATF’s broader New Era of Reform package announced earlier this spring — see Orchid’s previous coverage of the Trump DOJ / ATF rule reforms for FFLs.

Unlike many publications on the Federal Register, this change was posted as a Direct Final Rule, making it immediately effective August 4, 2026 without a separate notice-for-comment cycle — unless significant adverse comments are received by June 5.

 

What Didn’t Change?

Permitting FFLs to verify a transferee’s license via ATF eZ Check does not eliminate the regulatory mandate to actually verify the transferee’s license prior to a firearm transfer. The change is in the method of verification — not whether verification is required.

 

Orchid Customers Already Benefit

Orchid eBound, POS, and eCommerce have integrated directly with ATF FFL eZ Check for years. Every FFL transfer routed through your account is already being validated against ATF’s live data — no separate window, no PDF chasing, no manual license-number lookup. This is the same architecture that helped Orchid stay compliant through the ATF Ruling 2021R-05 changes and powers Orchid’s ATF Transaction Advisory Program for retail dealers.

For higher-volume transferors — manufacturers, distributors, and ERP-driven FFLs — our eFFL API delivers FFL and Letter of Authorization (LOA) data directly into the systems where your team actually works. The eFFL API is in production at customers running BSP NetSuite, Epicor, Infor, and other major ERPs, and is widely used inside eCommerce checkout flows to geo-select valid FFL ship-to destinations. See, for example, Prudent American’s launch with Orchid eBound, eSerial, eFFL API and the BSP NetSuite Firearms Edition (part of the JJE Capital Holdings family, alongside Palmetto State Armory).

 

Questions?

Contact your Orchid customer service or compliance services representative, or visit the Orchid eBound page or Orchid eState / eFFL API page to learn more.

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