Yesterday my local dealer told me that the national background checks were running 24 minutes. In August it was three days plus. The change is obviously because fewer guns are being bought, but why is that?

Some combination is probably the answer, but what’s the primary reason?
For example, if someone still believes he might have to defend himself against rioters, but he feels he is as prepared as he can be because he has the gun(s) necessary, then number 1 would be the reason.

Question:
What’s your opinion?
.

Choices:
Everyone who wanted a new gun has one now.
People are no longer afraid of rampaging rioters.
People are no longer afraid of the effects of the pandemic.
People are no longer afraid of legislation infringing on gun rights.
Other.

 

The supply of most everything is running extremely low. Can't sell what you don't have.

It means nothing. Virginia was going through a period where background checks were coming back delayed. Now they aren't. Nothing's really changed.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
The supply of most everything is running extremely low. Can't sell what you don't have.

Bingo.

Your local dealer's experience does not represent every FFL across America. I have some people that always take long, one guy yesterday varies from 10-30 minutes for the check to go through every time. The majority of mine are complete within a minute. It's anecdotal evidence, nothing has changed.

The supply thing was not something I considered because I was under the impression that that had eased to a large extent. The store I go to on occasion has a pretty good inventory displayed.
Another factor could of course be the ammunition situation: no sense in buying a new gun if there’s no ammunition to shoot with it.

Or does the waiting period have nothing to do with the number of checks? According to the FBI data, the number of monthly checks has remained pretty much constant during the period (and something I should have checked before starting the poll). Does that mean the process is more efficient and just doesn’t take as much time now?

But I was unaware that the time it took for NICS checks to be completed varied by the dealer. Why would that be? The time it has taken for my local dealer to get responses back is certainly not anecdotal. Last year the times he was reporting were the same as those for two other dealers I purchased from.

About half of the states use the state as the point of contact for NICS checks, and will run a state record check as well as NICS. In Florida it runs through the FDLE. It takes a little longer but the actual NICS check online only takes a couple minutes if the system is running ok. Any slowdown along the way can slow things down. It can take a little longer if they have to dig deeper. I was in my LGS yesterday to pick up a transfer and gun buyers were standing in line at the cash register to pay for gun purchases. When they ran my info the guy on the computer said Whoa! The NICS check came back in about 30 seconds. I have not seen any evidence here that they buying spree is slowing down.

All right. Perhaps it is/was a Colorado thing that affects the response times.
If so, I wonder how/why the state has cleaned things up.

I've purchased several guns over the past year, and none of them has taken me more than a few seconds to clear NICS. I've heard the stories online about people being delayed for days, but have not experienced it myself, even at the height of the panic. It's probably like HayesGreener described...some states are running it through their own system and others are going direct to the feds. I believe my state (IN) goes straight to the federal system.

In my limited experience, my approval has always come back before I finish filling in (filling out?) the 4473 form.

This is in Florida, if that matters.

Thanks. That's what I get for making assumptions.
And this is for the one(s) who wonder(s) why I ask these questions: Ta, da! To get answers.

I recently had the fastest NICS check I've ever experienced!

A little background - I had a transfer for a P320 FCU I purchased from DaBigBR in early February, and when my FFL notified me I could come pick it up I inquired as to what the waiting period was on NICS checks. Expecting that I'd have to make two trips to the LGS to get my FCU, I wanted to have an idea on when I could plan on picking it up and said 'I realize we're not talking 'while you wait anymore' here" but how long can I expect before the transfer is approved, to which he responded, "actually they're getting approved pretty quick now." A couple of years ago, it was while you wait, as in, they call it in, you browse around for a bit, and they get the call back with approval and you're on your way. More recently, as in a several months ago, they were taking 3-4 days at times. As of December they were coming back in 24 hrs, but still not while you wait.

This time the FFL never even put down the phone....A true 'while you wait' service! I mean literally, he called it in and while he was on phone with them, they ran it and approved it...Thanks and Have a Nice Day!

No guns or ammunition to speak of, for sale around here.

No waiting going on here.... sales guy makes the call and gets a proceed/hold/denied.

Lower numbers can be several things, but most likely due to NO GUNS and NO AMMO.

The stores are still having increased foot traffic and phone calls. No shortage of people wanting to BUY.

I picked up a Ruger PC9 yesterday and the background check took about 45 minutes. I was surprised cause I expected it would take 3 days. The store was thin on firearms but there was still a decent selection. Even picked up a range pack (800) of Federal .22s for just over $0.05/round.

Lots of guns to be had a the one gun store I go to. Not much ammo though.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
No guns or ammunition to speak of, for sale around here.

Other - the guns people want are not available

I’ve never had one even take 24 minutes. Even during covid. As for guns selling, I put 11 guns up for consignment. Not at ridiculous covid prices but not giving them away either. 10 of 11 are gone. Nickel Kahr K9 is last one. Even the Beretta 87 Target sold. At 750 which is more than I paid and it was easily not as likable as my standard 87’s. I think there is still a weirdly high demand that I don’t quite understand.

At one point NH was taking a week. Last one took tops ten minutes.

 
No NICS check for me. AZ allows your CCW permit to be used in place of NICS, so as long as it takes to fill out the 4473 and I'm gone.