Is three day wait for handgun universal?

[Prof Young]

I just heard first hand information that in a "Pacific North Western" state one can buy a handgun and as soon as the back ground check clears (ten minutes) one can walk out of the store with the gun. Is that true? I thought the three day wait for a hand gun was a federal minimum. Talk to me.

Life is good.
Prof Young

[Colorado Redneck]

The 3 day wait refers to the current verbiage about background checks. It states roughly that should the background check not be completed (approved/disapproved) within 3 days the vendor can complete the sale. I have never waited more than an hour or so to obtain any type of firearm.

[ms6852]

Don't know the laws elsewhere, but here in Texas I walk in choose desired guns or rifles (yes plural) wait a few minutes pay if approved and walk out.

[ballardw]

Last handgun I bought in Idaho I left the store with the pistol about 20 minutes after made the decision to buy on an impulse purchase.

Somewhat cheating with a CC license; no background check needed because of the way the license is processed.

[AzShooter]

No problems in Arizona. Just give them your money and they give you your gun after the 4473 is approved. They don't even have to call it in if you have your CCW,

[BCR1]

The TBI does the checks in TN, not the feds. We're also charged $10.00 for the service. No wait if you pass.

Bill

[Spats McGee]

There is no minimum federal waiting time. I have gone to an FFL on my lunch hour, bought a gun, and been back at work before the hour is up.

[Jim Watson]

Note that the dealer MAY let you have your gun after three days with no reply from background check. He doesn't have to, maybe you look too shifty eyed and he is glad of an excuse not to sell you a gun.

Before the present "instant check" there was a five day waiting period.

My state had a two day waiting period for many years before federal restrictions were tightened.

[TXAZ]

Minutes in (currently Free) Texas with your LTC license.

[FITASC]

^^^^^^^^^^^ Same here in Florida........

[Geezerbiker]

My last 2 here in Oregon were a short wait for the background check to clear and then take it home. Both times it was around a half hour like it was for my last couple rifle purchases. It's been a few years since I haven't been buying guns like I did 10 or more years ago...

Tony

[Prof Young]

Wow. Cool beans. Living in the the Liberal Land of Lincoln (Illinois) I've always waited three days to pick up a handgun and one day for a long gun. They recently changed to three days for any gun.

On the other hand, we have CC now and it wasn't all that long ago that we didn't.

Life is good.
Prof Young

[Aguila Blanca]

It's generally same day around here, except ...

So many people are buying guns that the FFLs can't get through to the telephone number to run the background check. I stopped by one local gun shop on Saturday. The two owners were both trying to get through. They would call, get a busy signal, hang up and redial. Rinse and repeat.

The guy I know better decided that he needs to install an auto-redial app on his cell phone just for getting through to call in the background checks.

[Mike38]

You guys make me sick! My last gun purchase, a handgun here in Illinois, took 17 days for approval. Normally it's 3 days, but now they blame it on being understaffed due to pandemic.

[Ed4032]

Originally Posted by ms6852

Don't know the laws elsewhere, but here in Texas I walk in choose desired guns or rifles (yes plural) wait a few minutes pay if approved and walk out.

#metoo

[RayVa]

If the FEDS use Delay it could be an indefinite wait.

[FunGramps]

I'm in Leftern Washington State. Even if you have your CCL, you must fill out federal and state questionnaires (you pay extra for the state paperwork), then even after the feds approve the sale, paperwork is submitted to the local Sheriff for their approval...even if it's the same Sheriff which issued your CCL.
Only after that paperwork is approved, can you obtain your firearm.
Don't I just love my anti-gun bureaucracy? No, I don't.

[dogtown tom]

Prof Young .... I thought the three day wait for a hand gun was a federal minimum. Talk to me.

No such law.
The Brady Law of 1993 imposed up to a five day waiting period on purchases. With the implementation of FBI NICS in 1998, the waiting period disappeared.

Colorado Redneck The 3 day wait refers to the current verbiage about background checks. It states roughly that should the background check not be completed (approved/disapproved) within 3 days the vendor can complete the sale.

Not even close.

RayVa If the FEDS use Delay it could be an indefinite wait.

That depends on the dealer, not the Feds. The Brady Law does not prohibit the transfer of the firearm after the MDI (Missing Disposition Information) date as long as state law doesn't prohibit.

Some dealers, chose to not transfer until the NICS updates to a "proceed".




The "three day waiting period" is a myth.
It's actually "three business days, beginning the next business day and does not include weekends, holidays or days that state offices are not open.


That "three day wait" could be for a NICS check run on a Friday:
Saturday doesn't count
Sunday doesn't count
Monday is day one
Tuesday is day two
Wednesday is day three
Thursday is the first day the Brady law does not prohibit the dealer from transferring the firearm. The FBI NICS will tell the dealer the actual date the firearm may be transferred.
If that Monday is a holiday.......your three day delay is a week.

[Don P]

^^^^^^^^^^^ Same here in Florida........

Only if you have a CCW permit. State law as they say the cool down period

[dahermit]

Originally Posted by Prof Young

I just heard first hand information that in a "Pacific North Western" state one can buy a handgun and as soon as the back ground check clears (ten minutes) one can walk out of the store with the gun. Is that true? I thought the three day wait for a hand gun was a federal minimum. Talk to me.

Life is good.
Prof Young

Currently here in Michigan, the dealer makes a call to the Feds and when it clears in a few minutes you do the paperwork, pay and walk out the door with your gun...no waiting period. However, I have not bought a gun during the pandemic.

[Jim Watson]

We had a short spell when our county issued, state valid CCP was considered good enough to buy a gun.
Then it was noted that a sheriffette was not doing thorough background checks in her county, so it is back to NICS for all of us in the state.

[DMK]

Here in NC we have a an additional barrier of requiring a handgun permit from the county sheriff for every single handgun purchase (even private sale). So for the general plebes, that's two background checks: one from the sheriff's office (which can take a day to a few weeks, depending on the sheriff) and another from NICS at the gun store.

However, if you have a NC concealed handgun license, that not only meets the need for the handgun permit, but also the NICS check. I can walk in, buy a handgun and be out of the store as fast as it takes to present my CCL and driver's license (they make a copy of both), fill out the 4473 and pay for my purchase.

[raimius]

There is no federal law requiring a delay. Those are all state or local laws.

As others have alluded to, there is a period of 3 business days, after which, if the NICS check does not produce a definitive answer, the dealer may choose to complete the sale. This ensures the government may not deny sales via refusing to answer background checks in a timely (ish) manner.

[44 AMP]

I noticed in a news blurb today that various anti gun activist groups are again pushing for waiting periods, and, if the news is to be believed, the idea is gaining traction with some members of Congress.

I feel pretty sure this is because of the passage of time, and a new generation of people who either don't know history, or are deliberately willing to break past agreements to implement outdated ideas that failed or were discarded, confident that this time they can "do it right".

Back before the "instant check law" some states had waiting periods (usually only on handguns) and most did not. The original background check law proposals included a mandatory national waiting period.

A lot of people opposed this. Enough so it made passing the law problematic. In a rare move, the anti's offered a concession. They agreed to drop the waiting period requirement, if we would support the "instant check" when it became technically possible.
And so, a deal was made. Though part of the deal meant including long guns in the instant check system as well as handguns, we avoided a national waiting period. At the time it seemed reasonable, as our primary objection was not against the background check itself, but against the burdensome waiting period requirement.

Now we have a new generation (and some of the old one still left) who seem either ignorant of, or willing to break the deal that allowed passage of the Brady bill (instant check) in 1993. No, it wasn't something put on paper as a binding contract, but it was a "gentleman's agreement" both sides agreed to and until now adhered to. We let you implement the background check on all firearms, you don't force a waiting period on us. That was the deal, and now, they are pushing for waiting periods, which to my mind, is going back on their word and breaking the deal.

Once again, they are trotting out the old argument that a waiting period is a "cooling off" period, so that someone can't just buy a gun and then go out and commit murder (or any other crime) with it. They assume that a waiting period of 3 days, or 10, or whatever number they decide on will force the potential murderer to wait and reflect on their decision and possibly they will reconsider and not do violence against others.

This assumption might actually work with some small numbers, but we'll never know, there's no way to know, people who were thinking of murder and reconsider don't let the world know that. There's no statistics that can be made into a database and used for talking points, there's no evidence available at all. All there is, is the assumption and supposition that crimes that didn't happen are the result of the waiting period. It's BS.

Another point to consider, about the waiting period, and for that matter background checks in general, while there is a slim possibility of them actually having an effect on someone buying their first gun, they cannot have any effect preventing violence done by someone who already has a gun(s).

In effect they impose burdens and restrictions on all gun buyers, every time, but can only have the claimed preventative ability on first time gun buyers.

Why should anyone have to wait and/or be checked on the 2nd (or 22nd) gun purchase?? If they are going to do murder, they already have a gun to use, what can any waiting period or background check do to prevent that?

Nothing
Nada
Nichts
Zip

Its a boondoggle, its BS, its a red herring, its a feel good about doing something "solution" that cannot and will not work as claimed and its only possible use is that when it fails, when someone "slips through the cracks" and does murder the anti's will use it as their example of not going far enough.

If the point is, as they claim, to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people, then since I already have a gun, have broken no laws, am I not then automatically the "right people"? why should I have to wait and be checked to prove it, every single time I buy another gun???

They are using the recent massage parlor shooting as their current banner, to push for waiting periods to be enacted into national law.

I cannot conceive of someone who has decided to commit mass murder changing their mind and abandoning the idea because they couldn't get a gun on the 15th and had to wait until the 19th to go on a killing spree. Can you??

[FunGramps]

How long do the criminals have to wait for their weapons, and what measures are being taken by the feds to specifically address and focus on criminals -vs- law-abiding citizens?