FOIA Shows the Extent of ATF Monitoring Americans Through FBI’s NICS System

In April of 2021, AmmoLand News learned from a source inside the FBI that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to monitor Americans’ gun purchases.

These Americans were not prohibited people and were not guilty of any crime. Many of the subjects were not even suspected of a crime. The ATF monitored people for their associations and the feeling that the target might commit a crime in the future. The NICS monitoring program was open to all ATF agents and departments that wanted to monitor someone. The subjects of the surveillance were never notified by either the ATF or FBI.

After the story went public, the FBI admitted that the program did exist but spun it as a key tool for law enforcement to prevent straw purchases. Most privacy advocates pushed back and believed that it was an overreaching government hellbent on violating the gun buyers’ privacy. One unknown thing was the exact number of people the FBI was monitoring for the ATF.

The controversial program caught the eye of Gun Owners of America (GOA), who wanted to know precisely how many American citizens were being watched by the program. GOA launched a multi-year fight to get the information by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to force the ATF to turn over documents that might answer the public’s questions. GOA threatened to take the fight to court to get the documents. The ATF would finally relent but accidentally released the unredacted documents to the gun rights groups. This slip-up led to another battle when the ATF tried to gag the gun rights organization’s lawyers by claiming that the documents were not in the public interest.

GOA also issued a FOIA request to the FBI about the NICS monitoring program. The FBI has now provided the first release of the FOIA response. GOA has released the FOIA response to AmmoLand News for review (below). The FBI deleted the first 447 pages of the response, showing that there is more information than they are willing to share. The rest of the response indicates that the program was in widespread use. Multiple field offices nationwide used the monitoring program to keep tabs on their subjects of interest.

The ATF’s NICS Business and Liaison Unit would send batches of monitoring requests to an FBI’s NICS Alert Services (NAS) team member. That team member would enter the targets of the ATF investigations into the system for monitoring. The ATF would then get an alert from the FBI every time the subject of the surveillance purchases and transfers a firearm. The FBI calls the system “Sentinel.”

The ATF would provide the FBI with the target’s name, date of birth, gender, race, social security number, FBI number, state record number, state of residence, and place of birth. The requesting special agent could choose a monitoring time frame of 30, 60, 90, or 180 days. The ATF must say what potential crime the person is expected to be involved in or connected to. The special agent must list why they believe the person should be monitored.

There is no information as to whether the program has caught any criminals or only violated the privacy of American gun buyers. One email referenced another monitoring program called “CJIS Watch.” The email was heavily redacted. The extent of the “CJIS Watch” program is unknown, and what exactly it monitors was not disclosed. The Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) is the division of the FBI.

The FOIA response answers the question of whether the program is in widespread use. It also leads to even more questions that will be answered in future FOIA requests.

About John Crump

Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.