National Rifle Association of America, Inc. v. Reno

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 (the Brady Act) authorized the United States Justice Department to create a national system for running background checks on prospective gun buyers. The result, known as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), included searches for various kinds of criminal records and was operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Brady Act required the destruction of personal data relating to lawful gun transactions, but it did not require that destruction to be immediate. The Justice Department of Attorney General Janet Reno (defendant) adopted a regulation under which the FBI was required to retain NICS data for a period of six months for quality-control purposes. The National Rifle Association of America, Inc. (the NRA) (plaintiff) challenged this regulation, arguing that the Brady Act (1) required immediate destruction of the personal data; (2) prohibited the government from requiring that NICS records be recorded at or transferred to a government facility; and (3) prohibited the government from using the NICS to establish a system for the registration of firearms, firearm owners, or firearm transactions. The federal district court found in favor of Reno. The NRA appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.