NICS Delay-- Recent Move Between States?

[stormy36]

Greetings.

Last night I purchased my first firearm (a long gun), and received a "delayed" on my NICS check. I do not know of anything that would cause me to come up "denied", but I do have a few things that may result in a flag.

I am a college student from Minnesota who attends school in Illinois (Chicago, at that). I allowed my Minnesota DL to expire in 2009, and then got an Illinois state ID in 2011. This May, I renewed my Minnesota DL (which invalidated my IL ID).

Each year from 2010 to 2013 I have lived 3-5 months of the year in Minnesota, and the rest of the year in Illinois. I have bank/credit/utility accounts with both Minneapolis and Chicago addresses, and receive mail regularly at both. Since renewing my Minnesota DL, I have not entered Illinois. My Minnesota DL is legal, and I did not falsify any information to get it. The folks at the DMV were aware that I was switching from in IL ID, and clipped the corner of it.

I am thinking that this is why I was delayed? In Minnesota, nothing is required for long gun purchase other than NICS, but in Illinois, a FOID is required. Chicago also requires a separate permit to bring firearms into the city limits.

I am currently a legal Minnesota resident, and do not intend on bringing the firearm with my to Illinois during the school year.

I also have two trespassing arrests (IL, 2011). In one case the charges were dropped. In the other, I was given "court supervision"-- which is not a conviction on my record, as I satisfied the orders of the court supervision.

Does anyone have any advice or thoughts on whether I am looking at a long delay followed by a proceed, or whether I should attempt to contact someone to clear up any residency questions that they may have?

I realize this topic has been discussed many times, so I apologize for annoyance.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Spats McGee]

Welcome to TFL, stormy36!

I don't have an exact answer for you, but I can tell you what some of the common culprits are: (1) Do you have a very common name? If your name is "Jim Brown," then there's a decent chance that there's been a mixup in some records with one of the other many Jim Browns in the country. (2) Did you put your SSN on the 4473? If not, you may want to do so in the future, to help avoid Problem #1.

I'm not sure how likely the frequent moves are to have gotten you a "delayed" answer, but it's possible.

As for the old charges, from the facts that you've given us, it doesn't appear that they should slow you down. However, if there was some mixup in the court clerk's office and they did wind up on your record, it's possible that NICS just wants a couple of extra days to make a determination on you.

Good luck!

[stormy36]

Thanks for the quick response.

My last name is fairly uncommon, and I did put my SSN on the 4473.

I am glad you don't see any reason for denial (I can't figure one out either). I guess maybe they just need access to something from CPD or ILSP. Hoping for a call from the FFL ASAP.

[Tom Servo]

I don't see a reason for denial. The fact that there's court information on a recent incident may be what triggered further review. However, the criteria for what triggers a delay isn't public knowledge, so all we could do is speculate.

[Young.Gun.612]

Fellow MN resident here. I was also delayed on my first purchase, which was a pistol, but all other subsequent purchases have gotten a proceed. My first and last names are the same as my father, who has a felony conviction. But I put my ssn on the 4473 to avoid any mix ups.

My guess is since its your first they delayed to do some digging. After this you should be good. But that advice is worth what you pay for it.

[Theohazard]

At the LGS where I work we've stopped trying to reason out why some people get delayed. Sure, sometimes it makes sense; like when someone has a common name and doesn't put down their SSN; when someone wasn't born in the US or is a Green Card holder; when someone has a complicated legal history; etc.

But very often it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. We have customers and employees alike that get delayed every single time they buy a gun and for no known reason, even though they buy them all the time. We also have customers and employees who have never been delayed before but just randomly get delayed for no apparent reason.

Customers who have never been delayed before often get either angry or worried when they get delayed, thinking maybe there's something wrong or they're going to get denied. But they shouldn't worry about it; it happens all the time and it's not something to get upset about. The NICS system works surprisingly well for what it is, but it sure isn't perfect, so there's no reason to be surprised when they can't always immediately determine if you're OK to buy a gun.

So don't worry OP, people almost never get unjustly denied and your delay will only last a maximum of 3 business days. If the FBI still can't figure out if you're OK to own a firearm after that time, the LGS can legally transfer the firearm to you even if they haven't heard back from NICS (though some stores have a policy where they wait until they get a "proceed", and state law might not allow it, but according to federal law they only have to wait 3 business days).

[stormy36]

Just got a call from the LGS and I am good to go. Excited to pick it up tonight after work.

Thanks for the replies.

[Spats McGee]

Congratulations!

[stormy36]

At this point I'm pretty sure that there must be some record that comes up for me somewhere that's in error.

A couple months ago I had a pre-employment background check that took over 3 weeks. The HR department was stumped, as they've never had one take over 72 hours before-- this isn't anything in-depth, just a basic check with each state I've lived in during the last 7 years. Of course it came back clear, but it took three weeks to do so.

Now tonight I just got another delayed response on NICS (this is my 2nd firearm). Of course I'm expecting it to come back fine in a few days.

Just starting to get frustrated with whatever is up with my record or someone else's record that comes up for me.

Interestingly, my permit to purchase was processed several days faster than I was told it should take. Maybe that's just a fluke, or maybe they only look at MN history and whatever is in error is in IL or national.

Does anyone know of a solution to this problem, or will I have to deal with excessive background check delays for the rest of my life?

[Theohazard]

Originally Posted by stormy36

Now tonight I just got another delayed response on NICS (this is my 2nd firearm). Of course I'm expecting it to come back fine in a few days.

Congratulations! It looks like you've joined the ranks of people who get delayed by NICS every single time they buy a firearm . Like I said in post #6, it's really not that uncommon. Heck, the owner of the LGS where I used to work always gets delayed. He's had an 07/02 FFL/SOT for decades and yet he can't even buy a firearm for personal use without getting delayed.

Originally Posted by stormy36

Interestingly, my permit to purchase was processed several days faster than I was told it should take. Maybe that's just a fluke, or maybe they only look at MN history and whatever is in error is in IL or national.

Your permit to purchase is a state thing (most states don't require a permit to purchase). But your delay is a federal thing; NICS is run by the FBI. And my guess is that your employment background check also used FBI information, which is probably why it also took a while.

Originally Posted by stormy36

Does anyone know of a solution to this problem, or will I have to deal with excessive background check delays for the rest of my life?

Most people who always get delayed by NICS don't worry about it, they just accept the 3-day delay as part of buying a firearm. I had lots of customers who would come in to buy a gun and say something like, "Time for my 3-day waiting period!"

If you're looking to fix the root of the problem, the only advice I can give is to hire a lawyer who specializes in this sort of thing. But if you're just looking to avoid always being delayed by NICS, you can go on their website and apply for a UPIN. Basically, you're pre-screened and given a personal ID number that's written on the 4473 every time you buy a gun. When the employee calls in the background check, the UPIN is supposed to allow you to get an immediate proceed instead of a delay (and every time I've called NICS with a UPIN, the customer got an immediate "proceed").

[iraiam]

Probably just a one time thing, I can tell you that it happens all time, I was actually denied once in error, an appeal let me buy a gun, I was quite angry with the stupid pencil pushing, I dotting, chair squashing bureaucrats over that one

[Theohazard]

Originally Posted by iraiam

Probably just a one time thing

But it's not a one time thing in this case. He said he got delayed twice now: Once on each of his firearm purchases. And also his employment background check took way longer than normal (which might also be related).

[kilimanjaro]

Live with it until you get a permanent address. Do use your SSN on the 4473.

[stormy36]

Thanks for the replies.

One thing I know is that Cook County hasn't digitized their court records, and the full files on each case are actually held at the individual circuit court where the trial took place. Perhaps each time they're having to request a fax of a file that a clerk has to physically pull.

At this point both of my cases are eligible to be expunged, just have to jump through the hoops for it. Probably won't make a difference for FBI checks, but maybe it would speed up any future private background checks.

[JimDandy]

If you think it's something that can happen for the rest of your life , you can also try and open a Voluntary Appeal File or whatever they call it with the fancy pants acronym. This lets them keep a file on you rather than trashing it X number of days after every purchase so they don't have to keep reinventing the wheel every time they have to figure out why you may not be eligible. They keep a file with whatever it is making them look you up, and give you a special number. Next time you buy a gun, you give them the special number, and they open the file and shout There It Is! That's OK.

[stormy36]

Came back fine again, as expected.

[Tom Servo]

The FBI does not share their criteria for issuing delays. Anyone who tells you that you were delayed for _____ is making stuff up.

We've really answered this as much as we can. The rest is speculation, and that's an unwise thing on legal matters. As such, I'm going to close this one.