Kp321
Member
I have been trying to call in for NICS background checks for a couple of hours. After they answer and I punch 1, it disconnects me. Anyone else experiencing this?
NICS Phones?
- Thread starter Kp321
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dogtown tom
Member
Received this in an email an hour ago:
tyeo098
Member
Yay government!
dogtown tom
Member
If the government ran everything as well as they do the FBI NICS we would all be pretty damn happy.
-Open 7am-midnight Central Time.
-Open every day of the year except Christmas Day.
-99.9% of the time they answer before the third ring.
-Friendly, efficient customer service reps that are easy to understand.
If NICS ran the post office, a letter mailed this morning would arrive this afternoon.
If NICS ran ATF, eForm approvals would take an hour......and you would get your stamp the next day.
Tommygunn
Member
Huh....
Yesterday I purchased a gun at Academy Sports in Madison Alabama. They generally do a NICS check via computor/internet now. They couldn't do it because the website they use was siezing up on them.
The counterperson did it over the phone. It took forever, not because the phone system was problematic but the salesman was new and didn't know how to do the check over the phone.
Wonder what's goin' on out there .....
Yesterday I purchased a gun at Academy Sports in Madison Alabama. They generally do a NICS check via computor/internet now. They couldn't do it because the website they use was siezing up on them.
The counterperson did it over the phone. It took forever, not because the phone system was problematic but the salesman was new and didn't know how to do the check over the phone.
Wonder what's goin' on out there .....
Edster12
Member
You didn't hear--They are merging the NICS system with the ObamaCare system so they can catch all the mental deficients now!!!:banghead:
Oh and the developers of the ObamaCare computer/phone system are taking the lead on this one
Oh and the developers of the ObamaCare computer/phone system are taking the lead on this one
I would not shop somewhere that did forms on the computer but that's a story for another thread.
The tin foil hat inside me wonders if we're going to start seeing 'outages' with the NICS phone systems all the while telling people the online method is always up, thus pushing even harder for electronic forms/filing.
On another note, I remember during the panic at my LGS the owner just sitting there hitting redial trying to get through to NICS, after like 15 minutes he'd get someone and run a dozen forms, then after he hung up about 5 minutes later he'd get at least one more sale and start the process over again, by the time he got through he had another dozen to run. That was around the time someone made the comment (I think a government official) about possibly shutting down the NICS (thus denying sales) for a "cooling off period". Maybe it was a rumor but I remember a bunch of us talking about it and being pretty concerned.
The tin foil hat inside me wonders if we're going to start seeing 'outages' with the NICS phone systems all the while telling people the online method is always up, thus pushing even harder for electronic forms/filing.
On another note, I remember during the panic at my LGS the owner just sitting there hitting redial trying to get through to NICS, after like 15 minutes he'd get someone and run a dozen forms, then after he hung up about 5 minutes later he'd get at least one more sale and start the process over again, by the time he got through he had another dozen to run. That was around the time someone made the comment (I think a government official) about possibly shutting down the NICS (thus denying sales) for a "cooling off period". Maybe it was a rumor but I remember a bunch of us talking about it and being pretty concerned.
I wonder if at some point they will deny 2A rights to people who do not have Obamacare. Surely now that would never happen in this country...would it?You didn't hear--They are merging the NICS system with the ObamaCare system so they can catch all the mental deficients now!!!:banghead:
Oh and the developers of the ObamaCare computer/phone system are taking the lead on this one
.
dogtown tom
Member
Source?
Dealers who use e4473 do not submit the form to anyone because its not connected to anything. It's simply form filling software.
Seriously?
For the volume of calls that FBI NICS handles I'm surprised that it doesn't experience more problems.
This was a technical problem that lasted about three hours. Tin foil hat conspiracy theories require a minimum of eight hours.
That wasn't due to NICS, that was our fault. Demand for background checks exceeded NICS ability to handle calls. Your dealer could have used the E-check instead of sitting there redialing.
Edster12
Member
dogtown tom said:
Obviously you have no idea or understanding of sarcasm.........
dogtown tom
Member
Oh believe me I get sarcasm, but such nonsense gets posted on this and every other gun forum often enough that it stops being sarcasm. Since you didn't use the "sarcasm" icon---->
, I assumed you really think that happened.Jim Watson
Member
I am paranoid enough to consider that some of these "outages" are just to show We Commoners who is boss.
Kp321
Member
Thanks for the initial response about the phones being down. I tried again after "rush hour" and got right through to a very friendly agent.
Theohazard
Member
I'm with Tom on this one. NICS is extraordinarily well run. The calls are almost always very quick and efficient, and the call reps are very well-spoken and excellent at spelling names; I only needed to spell out someone's name if it was an uncommon name or an ambiguously-spelled name. You rarely get the same level of sheer professionalism anywhere else, even in the private sector.dogtown tom said:
You can hardly blame NICS for being slow during a crazy gun-buying panic. The only way they could avoid service slowdowns during panics was if they were vastly over-staffed most of the time. Considering panics like that only happen ever several years, it would be a pretty big waste of money to do that.Ryanxia said:
Rumors like that run rampant in most gun shops. And they often help increase sales, so many shops don't bother discouraging them.Ryanxia said:
While there are many things within our government to complain about, I have little issue with the folks at NCIS. Too, I absolutely do NOT buy into the various conspiracy theories regarding electronic forms and whatnot. With so many real-world concerns, I don't need to be making things up to worry about that have no basis in fact at this time. If information ever comes to light that makes me second guess this position, I'll adjust it then, but not until then. I like to base decisions on fact, not wild speculation about what might or could possibly be....
Contracted?
Implies outsourced to a call center operation. Asking for more money to finance them sounds like asking to let more contracts.
In the day and age of outsourcing Obamacare, I don't see too many allowing the .Gov payroll to balloon just to operate NICS. From one perspective, it's a way to get around having .gov union growth, too. Even our government doesn't want to amplify that more than needed, it's already problematic.
Not seeing agents in short hair and blue suits answering the phone in reports about NICS. It's all call center friendly and efficient with a lot of data transcription.
Which, to me, is good. Competition keeps things priced less, nobody wants to lose a contract, so the "yay government" kind of bureaucracy we should expect seems to be missing. Otherwise, we would have to wait 24 hours for an "Instant Background Check" and "your stamp is in the mail."
If the current administration can bias the tax exemption requests for PAC committees, imagine just how bad it would be every 8 years when a new administration got in power and turned off the phones again. If anything, they actually are distancing themselves and not letting that be a lightning rod of discontent.
Goes to how much they don't want to get us riled up. And we think the Connecticut situation is problematic. If they turned off the NICS lines, the switchboards to DC would likely melt down. And that would be just the start.
Tommygunn
Member
I will pass along the sentiment to the people at the Naval Criminal Investigation Service. Mark Harmon will be happy!
OK, seriously, I apologize; it IS an easy mistake to make.
Let me agree with the proposition tthat the NICS system is --unlike many other govt. run systems -- very well run overall.
I will say I don't believe it really puts a big dent inserious crime, but atleast it isn't generally too inconvenient.
Back in the 90s I used to work the gun show circuit in Illinois for an FFL dealer. When they first instituted a phone call background check with the State Police a lot of the dealers (including us) were ecstatic to be able to have an instant deny/allow check from the State so we could actually make sales at a gunshow. The show venue would provide a bank of phones for the dealers to use. Pretty shortly thereafter it became very common for the State system to "go down" on almost any weekend there was a big gun show in Illinois. On Monday morning it would miraculously come back on. The whole thing is a complete joke and fraud. I'm almost glad sometimes I am no longer in the business and having to deal with the State and the ATF clowns.
Elm Creek Smith
Member
Originally posted by Midwest
"...with 'more thrusts per squeeze'..."
I used to know her, and I don't thing bringing that up is very "High Road," dude.
ECS
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