The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was established under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993. The Brady Act requires Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL) to contact NICS before transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person. NICS provides FFLs with information on whether the person is prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under state or federal law.

Federal law prohibits the receipt or possession of firearms by an individual who has been adjudicated as having a mental disability or committed to a mental institution as those terms are defined in 14 NYCRR Part 543. 

These terms include an involuntary commitment to a mental institution and commitment for other reasons, such as drug use. The terms do not include a person who was received by a psychiatric hospital for observation only or a person who was voluntarily admitted but not involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital.