Reading Room Document

Brady Act Implementation Issues

The Attorney General may impose an expiration date on the validity of a check, conducted pursuant to the Brady Act by the national instant criminal background check system, that authorizes the transfer of a firearm. Information from the national instant criminal background check system may be disclosed to law enforcement agencies to further their criminal investigations, but disclosures may not be made for the purpose of establishing firearms registries and non-consensual disclosures may not be made for employment and licensing purposes. The Privacy Act places no restrictions on the Attorney General's express authority under the Brady Act to request information from federal agencies identifying individuals who fall within the categories of persons prohibited from possessing firearms. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/20091/download.

February 13, 1996