The National Instant Check System (NICS) is a national database containing records of persons who are disqualified from receiving firearms. It was mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and was activated in 1998. NICS personnel check a wide variety of federal and state databases to determine whether the person seeking to buy a firearm falls into one of nine categories of persons prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms. These nine categories are persons who: