Waiting time for pistol

[Bravo11]

A friend of mine just asked me how long he would have to wait to get a pistol. I have a CCW so I can just go get one and hand them my card. I don't know if it's a state issue or not but if so we are in Arkansas.

[Lennyjoe]

No federal wait time other than clearing the background check. Some states have a waiting time but Arizona doesn't.

[thatguy]

As I recall from my NRA info Arkansas doesn't have any state-mandated waiting period. You do need to do the NICS so you have to wait as long as that takes. If you hold a current concealed carry permit I believe you don't even need to make the phone call for the NICS. I am told they just write down the permit number on the 4473 and you are on your way. A number of states do it this way.

[fiVe]

In Florida: A 3-day waiting period, unless you have a FL Concealed Weapons License.

[osteodoc08]

In Florida: A 3-day waiting period, unless you have a FL Concealed Weapons License.
Broward county is 5 business days, so actually it is seven real days, unless there is a holiday then it is more. I had to wait a total of 11 days when I bought over the July 4th holiday weekend. That really sucked. Actually the law reads "120 consecutive business hours not including weekends or federal holidays".

[Moonclip]

CA has a 10 day wait for firearms. Could be worse, used to be 15 and I could swear it was 21 days at one time! Doesn't matter if you already own 1 or 100 either, 10 day wait is almost never waived except for some LE.

Seems to be a standard 10 for most everything now, C&R long guns were exempt at one time as well as all long guns at one time, imagine that in circa 1988 in CA of all places you could buy a semi auto AK clone and walk out the door with it! Handgun wait has existed in CA for many years but it only used to be like 3 days a long time ago I think.

[Janitor]

In MN there's a five day waiting period to buy a gun unless you hold a CCW or a buy permit.

You can get a buy permit by filling an application (about three minutes) at your local police station. They'll do the required background check and in about five days you'll get a buy permit that's good for a year in the mail.

That I can have a permit good for a year makes me (yet again) question the waiting period in and of itself. I've always thought the waiting period was the states misguided way of controlling some "crimes of passion". So are they thinking that a five day waiting period to cool one's emotions down should provide a years worth of calm and clear thinking? :confused:

Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining about the existance of the buy permit. I'm simply confused about why we have the waiting period.

[CajunBass]

No waiting period in Virginia either other than the background check. That once took 24 hours for me, but it was during the height of the Christmas season and I just didn't have time to wait. Came back the next day and picked up my gun. Generally it's 10-15 minutes tops. For some reason my wife's comes back faster than mine. :banghead: Being from Chicago, she thinks it's really COOL to buy a gun. Talk about the lust for forbidden fruit. :)

However I've found that T.V. and movies give people the impression that waiting periods and "registration" are the norm. I don't know how many people have told me they have a gun that's "not registered." When I tell them it doesn't have to be they are really surprised, and some don't believe me.

[JA]

There is no waiting period in Arkansas. If the NICS check is ok he can take it home with him. The only wait will be the 5 minuites it takes for the dealer to call NICS.

[Mark8252]

In Colorado they do a background check and usually within 30 minutes you walk out with the firearm.