Beginning July 1, Nevada federal firearms licensees will have to perform checks on applicants through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, before issuing a license in order to comply with the Brady Law.

The change comes after three years of back-and-forth wrangling between a number of state and federal agencies.

Prior to the change, a Nevada concealed-carry weapon permit qualified as an alternative to NICS checks through the FBI.

The law required licensed dealers to initiate a NICS background check through either the FBI or the state before transferring a firearm to an unlicensed individual.

The Brady Law provided that permits issued within the last five years qualified as an alternative to a NICS check provided other requirements were also satisfied.

In 1998, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives, the ATF, sent an open letter to Nevada federal firearms licensees telling them the state's concealed-carry permit qualified as an alternative to the NICS check.

This decision was based on the fact that to get or renew a concealed-carry permit in the first place, the state performed an NICS check.

However, in March 2004 the ATF reviewed all states which qualified as alternatives to the NICS to determine if the state permits still qualified.

A year later Nevada state officials were informed they no longer met the qualifications because the concealed-carry permits did not satisfy the statutory and regulatory requirements.

The U.S. Department of Justice subsequently sent an open letter to all Nevada federal firearms licensees Oct. 17, 2005, informing them the concealed-carry permits were no longer an alternative.

The Nevada Department of Public Safety and county sheriffs responded by entering into a memorandum of understanding with the ATF that addressed the concealed carry permit's shortcomings in qualifying as an alternative to a NICS check.

The ATF accepted the memorandum as an acceptable measure for the interim before the shortcomings of Nevada's permit could be addressed in the 2007 session of the state legislature.

So, Jan. 5, 2006, Nevada licensees once again received a letter from the Department of Justice, this time telling them the concealed-carry permit was once again a valid alternative to the NICS check.

Alas, it was not to last for long. As it turned out, the Nevada Legislature failed to enact the laws necessary to qualify the state permits as an acceptable alternative.

As a result, an NICS background check will now be required prior to issuing a firearm to an unlicensed person, even if that person already possesses a concealed-carry permit.

On the bright side, since Nevada is a state of contact state, licensees can contact the state Department of Public Safety to initiate the check instead of the FBI.