DOJ Final Rule Lets All Gun Licensees Run FBI Checks on Staff From Nov. 27

The Justice Department published a final rule on October 27 that lets federal firearms licensees, or FFLs, run FBI background checks on their own workers. Filed as Docket No. FBI-159 with RIN 1110-AA35, 91 FR 67460 amends 28 CFR Part 25 and takes effect November 27, 2026. Attorney General Todd Blanche dated it October 22.

The checks run through NICS, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Until now the department’s regulations barred licensees from using it for anything but a firearm transfer. Congress ordered the change in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, and the department calls the new checks firearm handler background checks, or FHCs.

Licensees do not have to run them. A licensee must first notify the worker and get written consent, and the FBI charges no fee. State point-of-contact agencies, the state or local law enforcement bodies that stand between a licensee and the federal databases, may charge one.

Who Counts as an Eligible Employee

Licensees can check only “eligible employees,” which the rule defines in three groups. The first is a firearm handler, meaning anyone whose duties include the opportunity to access firearms or ammunition, such as entry to a room where they are stored.

Next comes a manufacturer’s worker whose duties give access to unfinished forgings, castings or other raw articles, or to the tools used to make firearms or ammunition. Last is an independent contractor or agent who works at the licensee’s premises and can reach firearms, ammunition or their manufacturing components.

Contractors are new in the final rule and were not in the December 2024 proposal. Responsible persons, the owners and managers who direct a licensee’s business, are excluded because ATF already runs NICS checks on them every few years.

NICS returns a transaction number and one of three answers, “Pass,” “Pending” or “Did Not Pass.” The licensee sees no record details. A “Did Not Pass” does not bar the employer from keeping the person in a job that involves no firearms or ammunition.

A licensee may run one check per eligible employee every 12 months. The exception is reasonable cause to believe the person has become subject to a potentially prohibiting event, such as a new charge, a conviction or a protection order.

A worker who gets “Did Not Pass” can ask the responding agency for the reason in writing, and the agency must answer within five business days. The appeal follows the same path as a denied firearm sale.

This rule sets no record retention period of its own, though it asks licensees to keep FHC paperwork for at least 90 days. ATF dropped its planned Form 5300.47 and proposed in May 2026 to use Form 4473, the firearm transaction record, for these checks. Until that is final, ATF will issue guidance on using the existing form.

Misuse is a prohibited activity. The rule lists purposefully furnishing incorrect information to get a “Pass” and using the system for unauthorized purposes. The 2024 proposal described the sanctions as monetary, access-related or both.

Why DOJ Kept the Limit NSSF Opposed

NSSF, the firearm industry trade association, announced on October 26 that the rule would publish the next day. NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane called it “a tremendous victory for the firearm industry.” NSSF says it fought to have the provision included in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

In its comments on the proposal, which drew 25 in all, NSSF supported the rule but argued that limiting checks to eligible employees went beyond what Congress allowed. The department disagreed and kept the limit, adding only the contractor category.

Volume was DOJ’s reason. It estimates the rule applies to about 80,000 licensees, and more than 50,000 of them already submit transfer checks to the FBI. If 65,000 to 70,000 licensees each submitted 10 FHCs a month, the NICS Section would process 7.8 to 8.4 million FHCs in a year, on top of its Brady check volume of about 10 million or fewer annually.

NSSF put direct firearms industry employment at about 155,000. DOJ’s estimate for workers at licensed big box stores alone was 793,000.

The rule takes effect November 27, 2026.