FBI NICS Checks on Rise For the fourth straight year, the number of background checks reported by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) increased in 2005. FBI statistics show 8,952,945 NICS checks were reported in 2005, 3 percent higher than 2004. The increase is welcome news for the firearms industry. "The increase we are witnessing in NICS background checks corresponds with increases we are also seeing in excise tax reports," said Frank Briganti, industry research and analysis director for NSSF. Briganti said 2006 is trending even higher. Year-to-date figures (January through August 2006) show 5,848,382 background checks performed -- an increase of 12.1 percent from the same period in 2005. Since the program's inception in 1998, 67.9 million background checks have been reported by NICS.