Shotguns, NICS and a Bug

I thought that I would relate this bit of gun buying adventure, thinking that some folks might find it interesting and maybe helpful.

I have been told that the experience of being delayed by NICS during a purchase is on the increase, what with some realities in our world being what they are.

It started back some years ago out of the blue— I would guess near 6 years ago even. I had never experienced a NICS delay before and it took me by surprise.

Naturally, I wondered why and set about attempting to discover the answer. Ya see, I’m one of the ‘good guys’, in that I have no record of any kind. Heck—I haven’t had a speeding ticket since around about 1976 and that was in New Jersey! Everyone knows about New Jersey, so I don’t see how that can be counted against me. The FBI ought to have their collective hands full apprehending those drivers who don’t understand the meaning of the word ‘MERGE’, without being all concerned about a speeding ticket in 1976 by a young man driving a 1969 Volkswagon Bug— even if that Bug had a bus motor powering it.

In case you are wondering. Yes, I did treat that New Jersey State Trooper with the utmost respect; as I am a staunch believer in law and order and the need for authority. I do recognize the fear inspired by a Bug with a bus engine roaring down the Turnpike at 70 miles per hour and so concede the point of his need to ticket me.

Keeping these things in mind, I called the NICS division of the FBI and after three attempts of speaking to three different public servants, was at last given a small bit of insight into the reasons for the delay.

It seems that a flag is thrown– in most cases when there is a similarity in a data point with another individual of some question with a probable record consisting of offenses more heinous than a young man racing down the Turnpike in a 1969 Volkswagon Bug with a bus engine for a drive train. Any additional information more specific than that, I was told, can not be made available to me or anyone else for that matter. Such matter having to do with a ‘privacy act’ of some stripe.

I learned to deal with the delays over the next several years because, after all, any FFL I had dealt with would always release the gun after the 3 days allowed by the law and although an inconvenience, not to bad.

I did attempt to revisit the issue with the FBI folks at some point, but what with the increase in the implementation and use of automated telephony systems and the resulting difficulty in speaking to a live human, I got no further. It occurred to me that a simple notation on the record stating something like “this guy is NOT that guy” would clears things up and free up the public human and financial resources spent on the guy with the speeding record from 1976—to be better spent on child molesters and middle eastern terrorists. Apparently, these things aren’t considerations and each purchase requires a background search in the same manner without exception.

This brings us up to recent events and near to closing out this accounting.

It seems that Cabelas has a policy in place where they will not release a gun on a delay status at all unless and until NICS sends a notice to release. Nobody else does this, but it is allowed by the law. The FFL can wait up to 30 days before releasing the gun if they have not been contacted by NICS with either a release or a denial. If NICS has not contacted them within 30 days either way, the whole process starts again; according to the law, the NICS processing transaction # is void after 30 days and another background check needs to be initiated.

Ok—I filed for a UPIN number, which when included in the paperwork filled out at the point of sale, is meant to help prevent delays. I subsequently discovered that the FBI (at the time of this writing) is working on UPIN applications from August of 2015. I don’t suppose they will ever catch up, given the increase in sales and the larger percentage of ‘flags’ being thrown.

Learning this, I began another telephone assault to see if anything else could be done— considering my being one of the good guys with the only record being a speeding ticket from 1976 on the Jersey Turnpike in a 1969 Bug with a bus engine at 70 miles per hour.

After hours of voice mail vortex and a couple battery charges of my iPhone, I finally got a human to talk with.

This very helpful woman spent some time explaining to me the issues of privacy and how these public servants’ hands are tied in regards to any information given. She pointed me to a specific internet URL where I could fill out an online application. This application along with an official fingerprint card is to be sent to a specific address and upon reception of said application and fingerprint card, a copy of the record would be mailed to me within 7 days— whereupon I could call a specific number and challenge whatever is on the report. Such challenge would involve my giving the public servant permission to annotate the record once proving that I am the individual in question based on specific information on the record that only I could know. Presumably.

It remains unclear whether these actions will help at all.

I am waiting for the mail lady.

By the way. The sheriff at the county seat was happy to fingerprint me and even print an extra copy.

Nice folks down there.

~ by John McGranaghan on December 29, 2018.