1.6 million disqualifying records added to NICS in 2016

By Christen Smith

(Source: NICS)
More than 1.6 million disqualifying records were added into the federal background check system index in 2016, according to a report released last month.
Kimberly J. Del Greco, section chief of the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, said multiple agencies provided 1,650,428 criminal records to the government, giving federal agents the information necessary to deny more than 120,000 firearm transfers.
“As the NICS Section moves forward with the future development of NICS, we are committed to consistently providing its users and the citizens of the United States with a highly effective and efficient level of quality service in the furtherance of public safety and national security,” Del Greco said in the 2016 NICS Operational report.
Nearly 41 percent of the denials last year comprised applicants convicted a crime punishable by more than one year in prison — or two years for a misdemeanor. Another 20 percent of applicants were denied as “fugitives from justice.”
About 9 percent of denial in 2016 were related to substance abuse — slightly higher than the 8 percent denial rate recorded in NICS’s 19-year history.
Some 5,638 denials were issued based on mental health records, according the report, or about 4.6 percent of the total applications denied

Source: Guns.com