NICS Instant Check

H

Hunter Customs

New member
Yea right!!!

I called one in Saturday and the instant check was just a few minutes short of taking a full hour.

It started out with some female taking the information then informing me the check needs further review.

Further review means whomever took the information is not qualified to approve or disapprove the person being checked, so I'm transferred, instead of getting a individual that has the authority to make a decision on the check I'm put on hold with some stupid music playing.

Thirty minutes later, no verbal contact with any human I hang up.
I call back the female ask for my FFL number, I inform her I have an NTN number and need a further review, transferred again, get to listen to the same stupid music again for twenty-four minutes before a male voice answers the phone takes the info and approves the check.

Now I wonder if the good ole Government would like to be billed for the hour of bench time I lost playing their stupid game.

Does anyone recall when we were sold this bill of goods called a NICS check that was supposed to take no more then five minutes tops?

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
Does anyone recall when we were sold this bill of goods called a NICS check that was supposed to take no more then five minutes tops?
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Actually, I don't remember a time limit being specified.

Stuff happens, and wait times can get ridiculous. In the weeks following Sandy Hook, times measured in hours were common. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for the system to be down for days following its activation in 1998 (gold star for anyone who knows the guy in charge of it back then).

However, the NICS system was a compromise we had little choice but to accept at the time. For now, we're stuck with it.
 
Hunter Customs ....It started out with some female taking the information then informing me the check needs further review.
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"Some female"? You should have asked for "some male" if you object to a female NICS CSR.



Further review means whomever took the information is not qualified to approve or disapprove the person being checked,
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Uh...........been a dealer very long? Your cal was answered by a customer service rep at a call center, since multiple records were returned you were transferred to a FBI Legal Documents Examiner for "furthur review".






Thirty minutes later, no verbal contact with any human I hang up.
I call back the female ask for my FFL number, I inform her I have an NTN number and need a further review, transferred again, get to listen to the same stupid music again for twenty-four minutes before a male voice answers the phone takes the info and approves the check.
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Most of us figured out pretty quick that NICS was down, it took you nearly an hour.:D



Now I wonder if the good ole Government would like to be billed for the hour of bench time I lost playing their stupid game.
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Ever think about doing your NICS check online? :rolleyes:


Does anyone recall when we were sold this bill of goods called a NICS check that was supposed to take no more then five minutes tops?
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Seriously? You would rather have a FIVE DAY WAITING PERIOD again?:mad:

No thanks. I'm happy with the FBI NICS just as it is. I'll even put up with the occassional glitch. They are always polite, open 7am-midnight, seven days a week, every day of the year but Christmas Day........and FREE!

Name any other Federal agency with that availability.
 
You aren't calling the FBI NICS, but a Colorado POC.
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I just re-read the OP and realized what he was talking about. My mistake. I was referring to the times I have waited as a buyer, the longest and the shortest. I don't know who they call when the dealer does the check, but I do know that here in Colorado they also have to run a check through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in addition to the NICS check.
 
Darren007.... I do know that here in Colorado they also have to run a check through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in addition to the NICS check.
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CBI is the state point of contact (POC) for Colorado. Dealers in Colorado do not contact the FBI NICS directly.
 
CBI is the state point of contact (POC) for Colorado. Dealers in Colorado do not contact the FBI NICS directly.
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Ahhh ok. Yeah, see the way it was explained to me was that in Colorado we actually had to do two background checks, one through NICS and one through the CBI. That never sounded right to me, but I never had problem passing the check so I just let it go.
 
"Some female"? You should have asked for "some male" if you object to a female NICS CSR.
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I in no way have a problem with the gender of the person taking my information, if that's the context you took my post as then you took it out of context and missed the point I was making.






Uh...........been a dealer very long? Your cal was answered by a customer service rep at a call center, since multiple records were returned you were transferred to a FBI Legal Documents Examiner for "furthur review".
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Yes sir I have, long before the NICS system was in place, which in my opinion was a much better system.
If the info I gave them needs further review and the original contact can't do that and it's going to take more then 10 minutes, then in my opinion it would certainly be nice if they would take my phone number and call me back when they get the time, instead of putting me on hold for almost an hour.







Most of us figured out pretty quick that NICS was down, it took you nearly an hour.
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If NICS was down then the original contact should have informed me of that and told me to try later.
Instead she takes my info and transfers me for further review.
My past experience, further review was taking care of in less then 10 minutes, so yes I guess I was stupid for waiting for a further review.





Ever think about doing your NICS check online?
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No computer connections in the shop, so that's not going to happen.





Seriously? You would rather have a FIVE DAY WAITING PERIOD again?
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We never had a five day waiting period before NICS so I don't know what you are referring to.

No thanks. I'm happy with the FBI NICS just as it is. I'll even put up with the occassional glitch. They are always polite, open 7am-midnight, seven days a week, every day of the year but Christmas Day........and FREE!
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I'm always polite when I speak with the contacts that take my information, I was even polite with the last contact that approved me on Saturday, even after being on hold for almost an hour.
I did not know those people work Seven days a week for FREE, I thought they were like other government employees and
drew a salary paid for by the good old American tax payer

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
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However, the NICS system was a compromise we had little choice but to accept at the time. For now, we're stuck with it.
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Thats the problem with legislative "compromise". Every time they have one, we gain nothing, but lose something that is never to return.
 
Hunter Customs
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Seriously? You would rather have a FIVE DAY WAITING PERIOD again?
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We never had a five day waiting period before NICS so I don't know what you are referring to.
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Ummm, yeah we did.:rolleyes:
Where were you between February 1994 and November 1998?
The Brady Law that required background checks and a five day waiting period on handguns was in effect for those four and a half years until NICS became available in November 1998.
 
If the info I gave them needs further review and the original contact can't do that and it's going to take more then 10 minutes, then in my opinion it would certainly be nice if they would take my phone number and call me back when they get the time, instead of putting me on hold for almost an hour.
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The problem is, the initial operator is in a different office than the examiner. She can't know whether your hold time will be a matter of seconds (which is the average) or two hours. She just knows she has to transfer you.

I did not know those people work Seven days a week for FREE, I thought they were like other government employees and drew a salary paid for by the good old American tax payer
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He didn't say the employees work for free; he said the service was free. Which it is.

Saturday was a rare anomaly. You should have seen the wait times in January.
 
My FFL here in VaBch does it on the computer... types in my data while I'm looking over the gun... when I'm satisfied and will accept it, he hits enter. Before I get the gun back in the box, he says I'm good. Then I hand him $20 and walk out the door. Total transaction time, including walking across the parking lot never exceeds 10 minutes. This has been standard for several years now.

I'm really hoping Mcauliffe doesn't win for Gov here in Virginia... he's squarely in Bloombergs pocket, and everybody is pretty certain that when his push on the "Big4" fails, he's going to try something else to make it painful to be a gun owner. I can foresee him pushing a system like in Colorado has where we have to get approval through some state agency as well, which will turn into a defacto waiting period.

The "Big4" anti-gun quadfecta I mentioned are:
1: Semi-auto "assault rifle" legislation
2: Magazine capacity limits
3: Mandatory background checks
4: Mandatory waiting periods and purchase limits.
 
Ummm, yeah we did.
Where were you between February 1994 and November 1998?
The Brady Law that required background checks and a five day waiting period on handguns was in effect for those four and a half years until NICS became available in November 1998.
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I don't doubt that your State may have had a waiting period, but if memory serves me correctly there was 18 States and DC that was exempt from the waiting period when Clinton signed the law.

I was fortunate to live in one of the States that was exempt, so all I needed to purchase a handgun was a permit to purchase from the county Sheriff. The permit to purchase was done by an instant check at the Sheriffs Department.
The check took about 10 minutes and that includes the time it took to fill out the paperwork, which was basically the same questions you answered on a 4473 back then.

At that time long guns require no permit or check (which by the way was what I was checking Saturday that took so much time) all you had to do was fill out a 4473 with the correct answers at your dealer, pay for the gun and leave.

(QUOTE)Seriously? You would rather have a FIVE DAY WAITING PERIOD again?(/QUOTE)

To answer this question, seeing that we were not subject to a waiting period on handgun purchases and no kind of check on long gun purchases, my answer would be, yes I would gladly go back to our system before NICS.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
Hunter Customs
Quote:
Ummm, yeah we did.
Where were you between February 1994 and November 1998?
The Brady Law that required background checks and a five day waiting period on handguns was in effect for those four and a half years until NICS became available in November 1998.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt that your State may have had a waiting period, but if memory serves me correctly there was 18 States and DC that was exempt from the waiting period when Clinton signed the law.
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No sir, it was Federal law......applied to every state.


Seriously? You would rather have a FIVE DAY WAITING PERIOD again?
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To answer this question, seeing that we were not subject to a waiting period on handgun purchases and no kind of check on long gun purchases, my answer would be, yes I would gladly go back to our system before NICS.
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Again, you are completly wrong. Federal law REQUIRED a five day waiting period on handgun transfers. Whether you followed that Federal law from 1994-98 is between you and ATF. I would imagine the statute of limitations has expired.

I'm truly amazed that ANYONE, dealer or not would want a return to the five day waiting period. You would love California, they still do it.:rolleyes:
 
When I moved to Iowa you had to have a permit to acquire or a CC permit. The permit to acquire took 3 days and was good for a year. It has changed to a will issue state but at the time a CC permit was totally up to the background check and the sheriff. The sheriff could deny for any reason. But both permits exempt you from the NCIS check.

Might some sates have been exempt because the checks were done ahead of time like in Iowa?
 
**Under the Act, states are exempt from the five-day waiting period if their laws require law enforcement officials to conduct records checks to verify that prospective handgun purchasers are eligible to possess handguns. [18 U.S.C. §922(s)(1)(C)(ii)] When President Clinton signed the Act into law in 1993, 18 states and D.C. were automatically "Brady-exempt."
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Here you go dogtown.:rolleyes:

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
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