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I believe here in VA if you'd have any charges at all in the last 5 years it raises a flag.
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This is true...but its much longer than 5 years. I had a very interesting experience just this past month:
Keep in mind that I have bought several guns here in VA since 2001. Most with only a "short" delay of a few hours...24 hours at the most.
But very recently, I purchased a rifle at a pawn shop in Virginia Beach...and the process took almost five days. After many calls to the pawn shop to check on the status of the state police approval, the gunshop clerk provided me with the phone number to the state police office that does the gun sales background checks.
When I called the number, I spoke to a very nice lady who told me that my purchase was delayed because the transaction was marked "pending investigation". The clerk said that she could not specifically comment on the particular item in my record which was delaying my transaction...unless I brought it up myself. After much wracking of the brain, I remembered an incident from long ago.
Apparently a search of my record conducted by a newly hired clerk turned up a municipal court case from the 1980's that took place in the town where I grew up in New Jersey. I had been arrested for "transporting an improperly secured firearm" - I had been pulled over by the local PD for a minor traffic violation...and when asked if I had any weapons in the car, I informed the LEO that I had an unloaded rifle in the trunk. I was immediately arrested because the rifle was not secured in a gun case in the locked trunk of my car. The municipal court judge tossed out my case and I only had to pay court costs of $25.
This incident was never much of an issue before and it never carried enough wieght to interfere with obtaining a security clearance for the military.
So after a short conversation, and a couple of very diplomaticly selected words regarding New Jersey's method of maintaining police records, the kind lady made the decision with the approval of her supervisor that my transaction would not be delayed further. I was at the pawn shop within the hour to taking possesion of my new rifle.
The point is this...there is no time limit here in Virginia for a record search to impact a gun sale transaction.