NCIS check denied!?

[The Deer Hunter]

"No, I said that I haven't had one. No tickets, no court appearances or judgements of any sort. Nothing in 44 years (my entire life) that would put me in the "denied" category, and nothing has changed since the last firearm I purchased 5 months ago. I've passed this check here in Colorado 3 times before today.

I just hope it's a simple mistake that doesn't require a lot of time and attorney's fees to get fixed."

you could always just go on a random crime spree so it would fit

 

[FTF]

Here is some interesting reading while you are waiting for your appeal to process (I have read ALL of this lol)

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/nics/ops_report2003-2004/ops_report2003-2004.pdf

Notable quotes:

Typically, out of every 100 background checks processed via the NICS Section, approximately eight transactions are delayed for further review, research, and evaluation in order to determine a final transaction status.

2004-

Total requests - 4,685,018
Total denials - 63,675
Total denials resulting in appeals - 11,349
Percentage of denials that file appeals - 11,349
Percentage of appeals that result in a denial overturn - 27%

What does this mean to you? Of the 63k denials, only 18% of those denied actually file an appeal. Of those that file an appeal, 27% of those prove that the denial was erroneous!!!!!!!!

Of course, these are only NICS numbers. 4,002,653 transactions are carried out by POC states and it stands to reason that the numbers are probably close to the same.

Just file your appeal and be patient. You'll be OK... it's just the govt in action.. they'll deny you in 3 days but take 6 months to review their decision and admit they were wrong. The wheels of justice spin slowly. You probably won't need a lawyer either... just time.

While you are waiting.. do what I did. Read up on every gun law imaginable and find out the process to get everything.

Since I have been denied I have...

Got my denial overturned.
Entered into the VAF so I have no delays
Got my C&R FFL
Got my concealed pistol license
Begun preliminary work on getting an SBR and AOW... about to form an LLC.

If they screw you, prove yourself right and get everything you possibly can. I'm putting the F back in Freedom lol.

 

[Dave Workman]

Anybody think this might be caused by IDENTITY THEFT? Some jerkweed grabs your identity, does the crime(s), gets popped, your ID gets flagged until the trouble is cleared up, and in the meantime, you get treated like a criminal.

I have been delayed once overnight and once for about 30 seconds when, believe it or don't, while I sat listeningh to my FFL pal, a supervisor came on the line and said that the transfer should go through. That stunned me a bit, but all's well that ends well.

The other time I found out that the clerk DELIBERATELY gave the wrong SS number which flagged a delay. The reason? I can only speculate this jerk wanted to give me some trouble. He no longer is employed at the gun shop where this occurred. Oh, well.

 

[ceetee]

I've never been denied, after many years and over a dozen purchases.

I don't know if this is proper or not these days, but I ALWAYS put down my SSN. I have first-hand knowledge that there are several convicted felons with my same name, first and last (and at least one has my same middle initial) living in the same county as I do. I don't know if the use of my SSN has saved me any trouble or not, but like I said, I've never been denied...

 

[unspellable]

check snafus

Here we have a state permit to acquire handguns. Background check occurs when you apply for such a permit or for a CCW permit rather than at purchase time. After having both permits for a number of years I got denied. The sheriff's office told me the nature of the problem.

Seems that a youthful indiscretion back in 1963 for which I paid a $25 fine was some how listed as a different charge, one that was a felony. I had to phone up the county courthouse back in my home state. They dug through all the old records in the attic and found the case and corrected the listing in the state records which filtered through to the federal record. All in all it took about six weeks to get things ironed out. But there was never an appeal process as such. I guess you'd call it a correction of the records.

Thank God they still had the old records in the attic. Where would I have been if the courthouse had burned down or the tree rats were getting their nesting materail from the attic?

 

[moredes]

I've been denied. There are about 30 people in the entire country with my first and last name. I don't know why I was denied; at the time of my denial there 7 same-first/last names in the state. There are only 2 "of me" nationwide if my middle intial is included, and one of me if my middle name is spelled. (these are facts--I was inside the PD as a ride-along w/my LEO friend, watching an NICS check of my first and last name on the computer screen) Obviously, we were not all born the same year--even for my first/last name, I am the only one born in XXXX year; the nearest guy my age is 7 years older, but I can see how that caused NICS some confusion.

In any case, my experience was the same as FTF's. I requested the paperwork for an NICS appeal, submitted my fingerprints along with the documents (for about $40+ in expenses [$25 fingerprint fee, $10 notary fee, $5 fingerprint card, $8 registered mail, etc.]). About 5 months later, whatever problem caused the denial was cleared, because I haven't been denied since.

The whole episode was odd, because I'd never been denied when I lived in CA; I assume that the 10-day waiting period there may have allowed some NICS clerk to scrutinize all the same-named records and arrive at the correct conclusion that my record was clean and a denial was unwarranted. The denial happened after I moved out of CA (I am the only one with my name in my state, and still I got denied). As I said, once the appeal was approved, I've never had another problem; in fact, all the subsequent NICS checks are much faster since the appeal was processed.

 

[Justin]

Here in Colorado, the state does the check and it's officially called the "Colorado Instant Criminal Background Check System", or InstaCheck.

Only the government would try to claim with a straight face that something that takes upwards of an hour is anywhere near "instant."

Comedian Dane Cook's bit about the DMV is spot on. Even in the year 3000 when everything will be instant, the DMV (InstaCheck) will still take 9 seconds.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Mailed my "intent to appeal" letter this morning. Hopefully this will be a matter of a few weeks, not months. But it will move at governmental speed, so I'm not holding my breath.

I did include my SSN on the BATF form in hopes of avoiding just this scenario. My name isn't as common as Smith, but there are at least 3 others in Colorado with the same first, last, and middle initial. Fourteen with the same first and last, according to Superpages.com. When I lived in Virginia, someone about a mile away had the same first, middle, and last names, and his wife's first name was only one letter different than my wife's. This caused problems at the bank once and at the dry cleaners on a monthly basis. Never did meet the guy.

According to the CBI statistics, the "InstaCheck" process averages just over 18 minutes. That's about what it took the previous two times for me, both of which were on weekdays. It was running about 40 minutes on Saturday when I was attempting to purchase this time. Not exactly "instant", but it beats heck out of a 3-day waiting period.

CBI data from 1999-2005 shows that about 4% of all Colorado transactions are denied, and that about 1 in 3 denials is appealled. Of those that appeal, 51% are successful in reversing the denial.

All I can do now is wait for a response. And read up on things, as FTF suggested.

Thanks for the support, everyone.

 

[mountainclmbr]

Since NICS I have bought, sold and traded many guns. Have had CCW Licenses in FL and now in CO and FL. I never had a single problem in FL. In Colorado I have had 2 Delays for one full week and 1 Denial. This is about a 30% problem rate for me in Colorado. I challenged the Denial and won the appeal. For me, the issue is the inconsistency. My advise is that if you know there is no valid reason for a Denial, go through the appeals process, get notarized originals of the form and make copies. A notarized appeal form will make the processors of the paperwork fear that they will get a summons and get hauled through the "process". If you don't stand up for your rights then don't expect anyone else to do it for you.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Update

Update to my NICS denial:

I received a response today from the CBI. They said that the denial was due to the arrest of someone with my name and same date of birth, but who was not me. They say that they have adjusted the record to prevent this problem for me in the future. My transaction is now approved.

It seems to me that if they had only looked at the SSN the I provided on the form, they could have approved me 12 days ago.

But the good news is that this was cleared up with a minimum of effort on my part. Now I have to go see if that gun is still available.

 

[Jim Watson]

The bad news is that now you know who is boss.

I think a lot of such hangups and "computer errors" are just to let us know who is in charge. Am I paranoid? Am I wrong?

 

[TimboKhan]

This response is obviously very late in coming, but I just happend to find this thread... Anyway, this is one good reason to put your SSN down on the form. I know it says optional, and I know that some people range from hesitant to downright unwilling to put it down, but the fact is that if you have a name that is fairly common, you can get denied if they can't identify you from the other "Bob Smith" that has a felony and lives in your town. For me, I figure its a federal form, and the government already has my SSN, so I don't worry too much about it. It's obviously a choice, but it's worth considering.

 

[Kevin_G]

Same thing happened to me in Colorado Springs...

I'm sort of late to this discussion but here's my experience -- same thing...purchased several guns here in state, never had any issues with the law (traffic tickets included), and out of the blue this February I was denied the purchase of a firearme by CBI .

I followed the instructions for the appeal process by sending in the letter indicating my intent to appeal. Stated that their info was in error and they must have me mixed up with someone else. I mailed the letter on a Tuesday, received a phone call that Friday from a guy at CBI...he says, "yeah, it looks like a case of misidentification...even then, I had to go downtown, get printed and mail to CBI in Denver. Four weeks later I get a letter in the mail stating that I was a "victim of misidentification." NO KIDDING....the guy they mixed me up, well, the spelling of his first name was different than mine, and the birthdate was off by two months. Same day, same year, different month.

I asked the CBI guy if they'd checked my SSN against this other guys and he tells me that they only look at name and DOB. So, if you live in Colorado don't bother listing your SSN on the form because the CBI doesn't use it to discriminate you from someone else you might be.

Now anytime I want to buy a gun, I need to bring in the CBI letter with me...what a pain.

Your process seems to have gone a bit smoother than mine. They insisted that I send in my prints to prove that I wasn't the other guy on their sh*t list.

 

[DirtyBrad]

Another day late, dollar short reply.

My co-worker has a very "John Smith" name and he was just telling me that he has to renew his driver's license, which always means jumping through ten hoops because there's some felon with his name and birthdate that he always has to "prove" he's not.

I bought my first AR lower a couple of weeks ago. I hesitated on the SSN field because of my tinfoil undergarments, but then thought of my friend and how much it would have killed me to wait even more than the ridiculous MD "7" days I was already staring at. So, I put it down.

I wish I'd seen this when it first posted. I would have felt like such a badass for suggesting the eventual outcome.

 

[bender]

sheesh, I haven't bought a gun since the background checks have been started (yeah, its been that long )

after reading thru this thread I wonder if I'll even be able to.

Gonna try for my first one in a couple weeks, hope there's no trouble. I have an uncommon name though (at least I think I do)

 

[torpid]

Try changing your name to Hyam Knott Affelondamytt to avoid things like this.

.

 

[Tory]

It's NOT "NCIS;" it's

NICS. You've confused the FBI with a television show.

Note that there is a NICS Denial appeal form available. If this becomes a problem, you may wish to file. You have, IIRC, a mere 10 days in which to do so; NICS, however, can - and will - take its own sweet time addressing it.

 

[romma]

Yea! Those NSCI People

Actually I was delayed when I went to pick up my Bushmaster Back in Feb. It is mildly embarrassing being told there is a problem, and you have to wait a day or so while sitting in a store with other customers standing directly behind you. Add to that the vacuous feeling of extreme dissapointment driving home empty handed sobbing shamelessly while unconsciously swerving in and out of oncoming traffic.

 

[Manedwolf]

Here, a denial for an outstanding warrant or any sort of warrant doesn't even get a "no"...it gets a cruiser arriving outside the store to meet you.

It does keep petty criminal punks from even trying.