background checks

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Tom Kent

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I have purchased firearms for over fifty years, mostly since the background check requirement became effective. During the various high use, everyone's buying firearms, times I have never had a significant wait time until recently. About six weeks ago I went into a local gun store to look around and there was my grail gun. A model 27-2 with a three and a half inch bbl. Needless to say I bought it on sight. Always before this my background is complete before I finish the paper work. Not this time. I waited in the store for an hour and then left and told the owner to call me when I could pick up my pride and joy. He called about two hours after I left and told me I could come back and pick up my gun. That was a total of about three hours for my background to clear.
Today I was in another shop and purchased a Colt AR-15. Again I had a three hour wait for my background to clear. It cleared with no problem but why so long? Have they found out my GGfather was in the Confederate Army? Is anyone else having these long waits?
 
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Does Florida use NICS, or does it have a separate background check system like PA (PICS)?

I have ALWAYS been sent to an operator when calling in, or go into "pending" for the online check. I have no criminal record. A speeding ticket doing 70 in a 55 back in 1989 doesn't count. My name is somewhat common in my part or Penn's Woods, but all the same named guys I know are all decent fellows.

I think my brother and I got on Gov. Ed Rendell's "frequent flyer" list when we were purchasing a lot of guns BITD. Maybe they though we were gun runners, IDK. But it wasn't like we were buying a dozens Jennings .25ACP pistols at the time. Mostly S&W wheelguns.

So hard to say. I would guess sheer volume would overload the system

With all the gun ban and control talk coming out of DC, I suppose that even more guns will be bought, ergo more background checks being done.

I'll let you know this weekend when I go to pick up the PPK I got off GB.
 
lihpster said:
Usually by the time the paperwork is done. Sometimes you get "put in the queue". Last couple of times I've been put in the queue it took 2 weeks.
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Damn, that sucks. The longest I had was 5-1/2 hours. I won't complain any more after hearing that.

I did learn a trick though. If a gun comes in on a Friday, I stop on the way home from work and fill out all the paperwork.

When I stop in Saturday, the PICS check has cleared, so I can just pay my FFL for the transfer and go on my merry way,
 
About 15 minutes for me to clear last week when I picked up a new Springfield SA 35 (yea…!). Mine was on a Wednesday morning. I would imagine a weekend purchase would take longer with a higher volume of purchase's along with less background staff working being a weekend.
 
I used to be in and out in 10 minutes, Since covid every transfer I've done has been a call back, usually within 30 minutes but once, on a Saturday, I had to leave it overnight when the proceed call didn't come until after the store closed. Pain in the rear.
 
Ivan the Butcher said:
Ohio uses the NICS system, BUT if you have a Current Concealed Cary Permit, You just walk out once your paperwork is filled in.
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Only kind of…

It's at the FFL's discretion.

Vance's for example, and Vance's always has to be the example in central Ohio for obvious reasons… will NEVER let you take anything that could ever be construed as a shortcut.

Vance's used to be infamous for shredding your 4473 and having you start over fresh if you wrote "St." when they demanded that you wrote "Street."
 
Ivan the Butcher said:
Ohio uses the NICS system, BUT if you have a Current Concealed Cary Permit, You just walk out once your paperwork is filled in.

That's one reason I will keep renewing my CCW after we go Constitutional Carry in 14 days.

Ivan
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Ivan, that is the same reason i renewed my LTC even after texas went to constitutional carry.

worth every penny. kenny
 
Virginia uses NICS and Virginia State Police… (you have to fill out 2 forms) there can be a few hours delay if it's a weekend and there are gun shows going on within the state.

A few years back, a fellow attempted to buy a gun, filled out the paperwork and since there was a delay, he went to lunch. When he came back the State Police was there and they grabbed him. Didn't even have a chance to get denied!
 
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Back when was actively buying guns, the people doing the checking recognized my name. It is pretty distinctive and not common. Hardley ever waited more than a couple minutes. The only time waited longer was when changed my written eye color to blue instead of hazel. Couple extra minutes the first time.
 
The last three weeks or so I had about 2 hour wait for one gun then 1 hour for the second gun I bought a week later. I've never been on the fast train when I've bought anything the past 2 1/2 years; always pending. I blame it on the spike in sales. About 3-4 months ago I bought an old .22 single shot rifle and had to come back the next day. Just luck of the draw.
 
Oh the suffering!!!! I get called when my latest purchase shows up, hand over my driver's license and carry permit. Then I take the gun and 4473 over to the table, write down all the information for me, complete the firearm questions, return to the counter, write license number down, and I'm done.

I pick up my new to me gun, pull a bore snake through it, go onto the range and fire 50 rounds. When I come out, the guys tell me I can have a job at the counter -- No Thank You. No NICS check in Georgia if you have a carry permit.

A package of 'cold pills' took 35 minutes at Wal-Mart for paper work for over the counter pills.
 
Here in NJ they are done by the State Police now. You pay, fill out the forms, the dealer informs you when it goes through. My last one-for a 22-was 3-4 days.
 
Florida uses the FDLE "system" rolled out in 1991. Used to be about instantaneous but has slowed with massive use. I got delayed 2 hours last year buying my CZ P07 (put in my middle initial that's not on my DL) and once before at the Orlando show for a couple hours buying several AR lowers. Joe
 
quikdraw67 said:
I have ALWAYS been sent to an operator when calling in, or go into "pending" for the online check. I have no criminal record. A speeding ticket doing 70 in a 55 back in 1989 doesn't count. My name is somewhat common in my part or Penn's Woods, but all the same named guys I know are all decent fellows.

I think my brother and I got on Gov. Ed Rendell's "frequent flyer" list when we were purchasing a lot of guns BITD. Maybe they though we were gun runners, IDK. But it wasn't like we were buying a dozens Jennings .25ACP pistols at the time. Mostly S&W wheelguns.
Click to expand...
QD
My LGS relates how three regular customers always go thru the PA PICS right away. Most others within an hour and some more than that.

A couple of weeks ago I was there when they had a denial. Customer had left because of a long wait and they called him to tell him no dice. Said it was his first gun purchase. Maybe he didn't read the fine print on the form.
 
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Here in NY they use NICS. Did 2 this weekend and it was instant. But the operators talk fast and are hard to understand sometimes.
 
My last 2 purchases were NICS and done online, not by phone. They both went thru in seconds.
 
It used to be that my CPL meant with handguns I'd walk out after paying and filling out the paperwork. Rifles didn't need the CPL. Private sales required no background check or paperwork.

But those days are over.

Even private sales, with few exceptions, require going through an FFL. And thanks to some shenanigans I don't quite understand, the instant check isn't. It takes about 3 days for the county sheriff to conduct a check. If it goes over 10 business days without approval, you can pick it up anyway. And on top of this, it's a mandatory 10 day wait for a "semi-auto assault weapon." Yeah, you heard that right. I had to wait 10 days for the 10-22 I bought a few months ago - a "semi-auto assault weapon."

It really bugs me to have to jump through these hoops. My CPL means I already went through a background check. And it's not like I'm buying a specific gun to go commit some crime. I already have "a few" others in my safe.
 
The only significant delay I recall was when I was buying my former service pistol. Did a lot of browsing and then the clerk called me up to the counter. I should mention the store was named ____________ Police Equipment.

"We heard back, they found that thing in Miami."

Other customers started backing away from me so I replied: "That was a humbug, it was supposed to be wiped off the record."

Apparently noticing how the other customers had reacted, he admitted I'd come back clean, all I had to do was pay for it.
 
Here in Illinois we have a 72 hour wait, so usually you are cleared by the time you can pick firearm up. Still I would say that 9 out of 10 times my LGS's get an ok on my application before I finish filling out the paper work. I had one instance that I waited about 5 days for the approval. That was during covid and could have been a busy week for one reason or another. I know when I talk to my fellow hunting and shooting partners in other states they always give me a hard time, jokingly, about the wait but its just something you get used to.
 
Here in Arizona, they can use your valid concealed carry permit to bypass the check, as you have already been vetted.

Unfortunately, the Department of Public Safety is months behind in processing renewals of the permits. My permit expired in March; I sent in the renewal papers and money before that happened. It is now June and I have not yet received my new permit. I'm SOL to use my expired permit while buying or traveling. :confused:

John
 
Our CHP is our check. Show CHP and NCDL, fill out a 4473, pay, walk out. Usually about 10 minutes unless the store is busy.
 
I've been through the same . My FFL let me in on something and it works . Those of us on the East coast get on line first . As the day progresses the other time zones start putting their requests into the system . Towards the end of our day the whole country is trying to get their requests through to NICS . Now I get there when my FFL opens when I get a transfer and sometimes I'm in and out in 30 minutes and that's with filling out the form and talking to my FFL . I get a Xmas card from him so I have to talk for a little while . So next time , get there as early as you can and report back , it works .
 
NICS=tax


I went through a much more exhaustive background check in order to receive a carry permit. If background checks were simply for safety reasons, a flash of that carry permit should be good enough without paying for yet another background check.
 
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