## Facts

- The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act required the Attorney General to establish the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to determine whether a prospective firearms purchaser is federally prohibited.
- Before completing a firearm sale, federally licensed dealers transmit purchaser identifying information to the FBI’s NICS operations center or a state point of contact for database checks.
- The Brady Act directed that if a transfer is allowed, the system “shall destroy all records of the system with respect to the person or the transfer,” and it barred using NICS to establish a firearms/owners/transactions registration system.
- The Attorney General issued a regulation permitting the FBI to retain identifying data from approved NICS checks for up to six months for audit and quality-control purposes, then delete personally identifying information while retaining limited non-identifying data.
- The National Rifle Association sued, claiming the regulation exceeded statutory authority and effectively created an unlawful registration system.
- The district court dismissed the complaint, and the NRA appealed to the D.C. Circuit.

## Issues

1. Whether the Brady Act unambiguously requires immediate destruction of records related to approved firearm transfers, forbidding temporary retention for audits.
2. Whether temporary retention of approved-transaction information for up to six months constitutes an impermissible “system for the registration of firearms, firearm owners, or firearm transactions or dispositions.”

## Decision

- The D.C. Circuit affirmed dismissal of the NRA’s complaint.
- The court held the Brady Act does not clearly require instantaneous destruction of approved-transfer records or clearly forbid short-term retention for audit purposes.
- Applying Chevron, the court concluded the Attorney General’s interpretation permitting limited retention for audit and quality control was reasonable.
- The court held the regulation did not establish a prohibited registration system because the retention was time-limited and tied to auditing system accuracy and privacy protections, not tracking gun ownership.

## Legal Principles

- When a statute does not clearly resolve a specific implementation detail, courts may defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation under Chevron.
- A statutory command to “destroy” records can permit delayed destruction if the statute does not specify timing and the agency’s retention period is justified and limited.
- A temporary, purpose-limited retention regime aimed at auditing and quality control is not necessarily a “registration system” prohibited by statute, particularly where records are not maintained indefinitely or used to track ownership.

## Conclusion

The court upheld DOJ’s NICS retention regulation, ruling that the Brady Act did not unambiguously mandate immediate destruction of approved-transaction records and that, under Chevron, the Attorney General reasonably allowed up to six months of retention for audit and quality-control purposes without creating a prohibited registration system.


Nat’l Rifle Ass’n of Am., Inc. v. Reno, 216 F.3d 122 (D.C. Cir. 2000)