Goodlettsville, Tenn. — Tennessee’s Instant Check System (TICS), a critical tool for conducting background checks on firearm purchases, has been offline for several days, causing widespread disruption for gun stores across the state.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), which oversees the system, confirmed that the outage began following a “planned system change” implemented by the system’s vendor, an issue outside the agency’s direct control. Despite ongoing efforts, the vendor has yet to fully restore service.
On the login page for Tennessee FlexCheck—the platform used statewide to conduct background checks—users have encountered an error message stating: “We are currently unable to run background checks. We are working quickly to resolve it. Please check your emails for more information and updates.”
Phillip Arrington, owner of Goodlettsville Gun Shop and a firearms retailer with three decades of experience, described the outage as the latest in a troubling series. He noted that the store has faced five or six significant outages this year alone, each lasting more than 24 hours, in addition to several shorter interruptions.
“This outage has lasted about three days now,” Arrington said. “It’s getting to a point where we can’t tell customers, ‘Yeah, we’ll get your background check! It’s an instant check!’ It’s no longer an instant check because there is no pattern to when it’s going to be reliable.”
The downtime has effectively brought firearm sales to a halt throughout Tennessee. Stores are unable to complete background checks, accept firearms on consignment, or process pawned items. Arrington reported financial losses due to the disruption and noted growing frustration among customers.
“We’ve lost quite a bit, but nothing compared to what some of the bigger stores have lost,” he said. “There’s no sense in advertising because we can’t sell anything.”
The TBI highlighted that in 2024, the Instant Check System had maintained 99.46% uptime, only closing on major holidays such as the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. However, the agency has not released specific outage data for the current year.
Compounding the impact, the outage has also affected access to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a vital resource for law enforcement agencies. The NCIC database is used to input information about missing persons, fugitives, and criminal activities. The TBI confirmed that some agencies have lost access to the NCIC due to the ongoing technical issues.
At this time, the TBI and its vendor partners have not provided a timeline for restoring full functionality to the Instant Check System.
