According to a report from the nonprofit newsroom, the Trace, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is apparently planning to add more than 400 million new records to the NICS background check system database. The new records will reportedly be coming from the Law Enforcement National Data Exchange or N-DEx. The data center collects records from different criminal justice agencies throughout the country. The records include incidents, case reports, booking, probation information, parole records, incarceration data, and other criminal records. The center itself is located at the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division in West Virginia.

All of the information found in the database will likely prove to be vital in disqualifying criminals from purchasing firearms, such as in the case of the countless mass shooting incidents that have happened over the years. This sentiment is also shared by Frank Campbell, a Department of Justice lawyer who helped build the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in the early 90s. According to Campbell, the FBI should have already given its background check examiners access to this information in the first place, given that it just doesn’t make sense for them to have policies that bar these examiners from getting access.

In the case of the Charleston mass shooting incident, examiners were not able to get access to the N-DEx database during their investigation. Examiners were apparently only able to see that an arrest was made, but they didn’t really get any specifics on the incident from their own databases. Due to the strict policies implemented in the background check system, the investigation itself took too long to complete. Federal law only allows a maximum of three days for an investigation to be completed. If a licensed firearms seller does not get a response from the examiners, he or she is allowed to proceed with the sale at his or her own discretion.

Due to this apparent loophole, Dylann Roof was able to purchase a Glock handgun, which he then used to gun down nine church-goers in Charleston. Had the examiners seen the arrest records, which were on the N-DEx database, it would have immediately disqualified roof from getting the firearm.
The 400 million records found on the N-DEx database doesn’t necessarily translate to the number of people involved in criminal activities as there are currently less than 327 million people in the United States. With so many records to integrate into the existing NICS database, Stephen Morris, head of the FBI’s background check division, predicts that it may take up to two years to complete the process.