U.S. Postal Service Will Process Electronic Fingerprints for Firearm Challenges

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will soon begin to offer electronic fingerprint services for individuals presenting challenges and appeals for FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) denials.

The USPS entered into an Interagency Agreement in October 2022 with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division to begin development on electronic fingerprint capture on behalf of the FBI for the Identity History Summary Checks (IdHSC), Firearm Challenge and Voluntary Appeal File (VAF) processes. An individual submitting a firearm challenge or applying for the VAF will have the option to have their fingerprints captured at their local post office for a $50 fee (set by the USPS). USPS is scheduled for deployment of the functionality on April 23, 2024.

The FBI provides arrest and conviction records to authorized individuals upon request pursuant to Departmental Order 556-73. The Electronic Departmental Order (eDO), an initiative of the FBI’s CJIS Division, provides authorized individuals an electronic option to submit requests to challenge their IdHSC, challenge their firearm-related denial and to apply for the VAF.

Once an individual is registered on the eDO public website, www.edo.cjis.gov, they will have the option to select USPS fingerprinting which will re-direct them to the USPS registration page. After completing the online process, the individual will receive an e-mail confirmation that contains their first name, last name and order number which corresponds with their eDO challenge or VAF submission. The individual will present this information along with their government issued photo identification to the USPS staff who is capturing the electronic fingerprints. The electronic fingerprint submission will contain plain impressions and will be attached to the individual’s firearm challenge or VAF submission in the eDO system.

There are currently 746 USPS offices with this functionality with 54 more to be added by the end of April and up to 4000 total over the next two years.