The Justice Department has issued a final rule authorizing federally licensed firearm businesses to use NICS for voluntary background checks on certain current and prospective employees. The Federal Register public-inspection listing schedules publication for October 27, 2026. The rule becomes effective 30 days after publication, not when the announcement appears. It creates an employment-screening option rather than a new federal requirement to check every worker.
The rule implements an employee-check provision in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022. NSSF announced the development on October 26 after advocating for the change. Participating businesses gain access to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System when assessing eligible employees, rather than using a prospective firearm transfer as the reason for a query. Ordinary firearm-transfer checks remain a separate process.
Which employees qualify
The final-rule text limits checks to eligible employees, not everyone on a licensee's payroll. Firearm handlers include people whose job duties give them, or may give them, access to firearms or ammunition, even if their duties do not involve actually handling or transferring those items. Licensed manufacturers can also check eligible workers whose duties provide access to materials or tools used to manufacture firearms or ammunition.
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That boundary excludes workers without the required connection to firearms, ammunition or manufacturing materials and tools. It also excludes designated responsible persons, whom ATF already subjects to background clearance, including NICS checks. DOJ retained the eligibility restriction despite NSSF's request for broader access. A business therefore cannot use this authorization as a general-purpose background screening service for unrelated positions simply because it holds a federal firearms license.
Participation requires choices on both sides: the licensee must elect to submit the check, and the employee must first provide informed, written consent. DOJ emphasizes that the federal rule makes participation voluntary. It does not displace state, local or Tribal requirements that may independently govern employee screening. For employers, collecting consent is a prerequisite to submitting a check, not paperwork to complete after receiving the result.
Different results from a purchase check
Firearm handler checks return “Pass,” “Pending” or “Did Not Pass,” rather than the “Proceed,” “Delayed” and “Denied” responses used for firearm transfers. “Pending” means additional research is needed; “Did Not Pass” means matching information demonstrates a disqualification under the rule's criteria. The FBI supplies a transaction number, but the employer does not receive the underlying records. Access to the screening result does not give a shop access to an employee's criminal-history file.
An employee receiving “Did Not Pass” can seek the reason and challenge the result through processes comparable to those available after a denied firearm transfer. DOJ also distinguishes a firearm-access determination from a blanket ban on employment: the response does not prohibit hiring the person for a position without handling or access to firearms or ammunition. The rule itself does not direct an employer to take a particular employment action.
There is no prospective firearm-transfer date attached to a pending employee check. DOJ explains that these checks do not involve a transfer and are not subject to a statutory processing deadline. Employers cannot assume a pending result will resolve on the timetable familiar from a firearm sale. Separately, a licensee generally may check each eligible employee only once every 12 months, unless it has reasonable cause to believe a potentially prohibiting event has occurred.
Routing, fees and unfinished paperwork
The FBI will not charge for firearm handler checks, but participating state points of contact may charge fees. Those agencies are not required to process the new checks. For chains centralizing submissions, DOJ says routing depends on where the employee works and whether that state's point of contact participates. A headquarters location alone does not determine where every employee check goes; the FBI handles checks where the relevant state agency does not participate.
This rule does not require a particular form or impose its own record-retention period. DOJ recommends retaining paperwork for at least 90 days as a best practice. Separate ATF proposals would use Form 4473 for handler checks and establish a 90-day retention requirement, but those proposals should not be mistaken for obligations created by this final rule. DOJ anticipates interim ATF guidance as well as completion of that separate form and regulatory work. The next dated step is the scheduled October 27 publication; the effective-date clock runs from publication.
About the Author
Nick Sawinyh - Nick Sawinyh is a father, husband, hobby farmer, and gun enthusiast from Kentucky. He founded GunsNation and writes most of what appears on this blog.
