GOA FOIA Shows NICS Being Used to Monitor Gun Owners in California

In April of 2021, AmmoLand Information found by way of a leak a secret authorities program that displays firearms purchases utilizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Nationwide Prompt Felony Background Test System (NICS). As soon as the article was revealed, Gun Homeowners of America (GOA) filed a number of Freedom of Data Act (FOIA) requests to find out the extent of this system. Now, in accordance with a Zero Hedge article, it has been found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been utilizing the system to observe People from California to see if they’re violating state legislation with their gun purchases.

Data obtained throughout an FBI background test when shopping for a gun is meant to be deleted after 24 hours, however when a NICS monitoring request is accredited, the FBI doesn’t delete the knowledge and passes it onto the ATF. The individuals the ATF is monitoring aren’t prohibited from proudly owning firearms. In lots of instances, they aren’t even suspected of committing crimes. The ATF monitored individuals for his or her associations and the sensation that the goal may commit a criminal offense sooner or later. The NICS monitoring program was open to all ATF brokers and departments that wished to observe somebody. The topics of the surveillance had been by no means notified by both the ATF or FBI.

The ATF’s NICS Enterprise and Liaison Unit would ship batches of monitoring requests to an FBI’s NICS Alert Providers (NAS) crew member. That crew member would enter the targets of the ATF investigations into the system for monitoring. The ATF would then get an alert from the FBI each time the topic of the surveillance purchases and transfers a firearm. The FBI calls the system “Sentinel.” Some activists evaluate this system to the ‘Pre-crime” system within the film “Minority Report.”

The ATF would offer the FBI with the goal’s title, date of beginning, gender, race, social safety quantity, FBI quantity, state report quantity, state of residence, and hometown. The requesting particular agent might select a monitoring time-frame of 30, 60, 90, or 180 days. The ATF should say what potential crime the individual is predicted to be concerned in or linked to. The particular agent should record why they imagine the individual ought to be monitored.

One of many causes given for monitoring a person’s gun buy is that an ATF agent out of Chicago thought he may take the firearm again to California, the place it’s prohibited for being an “assault weapon.” The Bureau is answerable for implementing federal legislation, however this unnamed ATF agent appears to be utilizing his energy to assist the Golden State implement its gun legal guidelines, which exceed the ability of the ATF.

The rationale for monitoring is listed as: “MFG/SELL/TRANS/ETC ASSAULT WPN (30600(A) PC), STATE OFFENSE CODE 52509, FELONY 2; ILL POSS ANY ASSAULT WEAPON (30605(A) PC), STATE OFFENSE CODE 52510. FELONY.”

BREAKING

ATF & FBI are spying on Californians’ out-of-state gun purchases to implement CA’s unconstitutional “assault weapons” ban.

FOIA docs obtained by GOA expose how far the federal government will go to violate your rights. We’ll preserve combating to abolish this tyrannical system. pic.twitter.com/4WTh2k9VyE

— Gun Homeowners of America (@GunOwners) April 2, 2025

Different instances the ATF monitored individuals who “may” purchase a gun to riot. One occasion highlighted the ATF monitoring a person that the Bureau feared is likely to be shopping for weapons to make use of throughout the riots of the summer time of 2020. The goal bought a shotgun, which the ATF used as the rationale for the monitoring of all his future firearm purchases. Utilizing a lawful buy to justify monitoring somebody’s constitutionally protected exercise is disturbing to many within the gun neighborhood.

The ATF additionally displays individuals who spend extra on weapons than the Bureau thinks they need to. The Bureau would monitor somebody who spends past their means on firearms. But, individuals usually spend past their means on different issues, resembling automobiles. The ATF doesn’t present the share of an individual’s revenue it considers to be extreme, however the truth is that many People stay past their means and that is likely one of the causes many wrestle with debt. It is likely to be extra logical to imagine that somebody shouldn’t be good with cash earlier than leaping to the conclusion that they’re concerned in one thing illicit.

One other gentleman was monitored as a result of he “had a behavior” of shopping for weapons to tinker with them. When he was completed tinkering, he would promote them. This can be a completely authorized interest, however the ATF believed that such exercise required extra scrutiny. What the person did to warrant monitoring is one thing that a number of the gun world may very well be focused for. Many gun homeowners purchase weapons to shoot on the vary and experiment with. As soon as they get their really feel of the firearm they promote it and buy a brand new one. Removed from being the exception, that is frequent within the Second Modification neighborhood. It is likely to be time for Kash Patel to step in and finish the observe of NICS monitoring due to conditions like these.

Abuses of the system is rampant, but when the ATF helps states implement gun legal guidelines, it could be one other overreach by an company with an extended historical past of overstepping its energy. The NICS monitoring program is simply supposed for use for official ATF use. By doing the bidding of anti-gun states, the ATF is demonstrating that it will probably’t be trusted to make use of this system responsibly. It offers gun rights activists another reason to push Congress to defund, defang, and ultimately disband the ATF.

About John Crump

Mr. Crump is an NRA teacher and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed individuals from all walks of life, and on the Structure. John lives in Northern Virginia together with his spouse and sons, observe him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.