Only delayed after business hours. NICS question.

[expvideo]

So I've noticed a pattern. I always get delayed on my NICS check if it is after 5pm or if it is the weekend. And on weekdays during business hours, my checks take a little longer than everyone else's, but they come back approved. Why is this?

I'm thinking that I am always getting hit with a delay, but the representative reaches out to some other department to get approval for me, but that department is only open during business hours, or something like that.

Does anyone know how it works? Why do I never get delayed during business hours and always get delayed after business hours and on the weekend?

And it's not a coincidence. I purchase enough guns to know for a fact that I will get a delay without fail after 5pm on weekdays and all weekend long. It always happens without fail. Same with procedes during business hours. I always get approved during business hours. Without fail.

 

[UpInSmoke]

Dont feel bad, I always get delayed too. In fact ive been delayed before and my dad bought a gun right before me and got through. I asked them why that happened once and the lady at the store told me that there was 2 people with the same name in the town and same birth place, she told me to put my SSN on the form and next time it should go by faster and i did and it went right through.

One time i was at a pawn shop and the ffl ask once he called nics " Can i speak to an agent". I told him i had never heard someone ask that before and he said that the person couldnt bring me up on the computer but he said an agent can do it manually. I figured he had some trick because he always makes people pay for the guns before he calls them in. kinda weird only placei h vae ever been that does that so he must know a good trick.

 

[GRIZ22]

I got delayed once. I asked the FFL about it and he said he was selling a gun to a State Trooper (Captain) and he was delayed.

Up In Smoke has a plausible answer for your delay during business hours. In evening hours it could be a combination of that and people are out buying guns after work.

 

[waterhouse]

When you call the NICS number Person A picks up the phone and enters the data you give them into a computer.

I have been told that Person A is basically a gov't contractor who just enters the data in and reads the response.

Often, when the computer doesn't answer quickly enough (this is just based on personal experience when calling in a background check) the person will say something like "this is going to require a little more time. Let me give you the NICS transaction number and connect you to Person B." They then give you the transaction number and transfer your call to someone else.

Person B will confirm the NICS transaction number, and within a few minutes will give you a "proceed" or a "delay."

I do not know if Person B is higher up on the scale, and is able to make decisions about possible hits (same name but similar birthday, etc.), or if Person B is just someone that had a free line and a few extra minutes to wait for the computer to respond, and Person A has instructions to wait X seconds for a response and then give you to Person B if available.

Either way, I'm guessing that Person B only works regular hours.

 

[expvideo]

Up In Smoke has a plausible answer for your delay during business hours. In evening hours it could be a combination of that and people are out buying guns after work.

I highly doubt that it is a difference of increased call volume. I can reliably get approved at 3pm and delayed at 5:01pm, without fail. I buy guns fairly frequently, so I've learned to time it well. I will always get a delay on weekends. It's like clockwork, so I don't think it is just a difference of call volume. It seems to me that a department (the agent in this case) has business hours.

 

[expvideo]

When you call the NICS number Person A picks up the phone and enters the data you give them into a computer.

I have been told that Person A is basically a gov't contractor who just enters the data in and reads the response.

Often, when the computer doesn't answer quickly enough (this is just based on personal experience when calling in a background check) the person will say something like "this is going to require a little more time. Let me give you the NICS transaction number and connect you to Person B." They then give you the transaction number and transfer your call to someone else.

Person B will confirm the NICS transaction number, and within a few minutes will give you a "proceed" or a "delay."

I do not know if Person B is higher up on the scale, and is able to make decisions about possible hits, or if Person B is just someone that had a free line and a few extra minutes to wait for the computer to respond, and Person A has instructions to wait X seconds for a response and then give you to Person B if available.

Either way, I'm guessing that Person B only works regular hours.

That is my guess. It seems like person A is open pretty much all the time, while person B is only available Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Without an override from person B, person A gives a delay status.

That is what it seems like. Anyone know exactly what the process is?

 

[bonedust]

^correct!


cops and judges almost always seem to get delayed when i call. i know some of the delays are at random and some are because of database availability. literally, they are too busy to do a proper depth of search at that time.

 

[ACBMWM3]

I was supposed to get a pistol lower the other day. I showed my CPL and drivers license and was told NICS needs a few more days. checked back two days later, still nothing. Finally got it on the 5th business day... Depends on what the threat level is or just how backlogged they are.

 

[misANTHrope]

That is my guess. It seems like person A is open pretty much all the time, while person B is only available Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Without an override from person B, person A gives a delay status.

That is what it seems like. Anyone know exactly what the process is?

In my time working for an FFL, I never got a delay for anyone without first going to "Person B". And I worked all hours of the day, including night and weekends.

As was alluded to before, the first person you speak with seems to apparently just do "dummy" work... enter in info, and get back either a proceed or delay. If it's a delay, they then transfer you to someone with the ability to do some more in-depth research. Most of the time, "person B" kicks back a proceed, and the customer is none the wiser.

 

[Tom Servo]

OK, here's how it works.

The call is placed to Person A. Person A enters your information and provides a transaction number (NTN). He gets one of three results: proceed, delayed or denied.

Proceed is self-explanatory, as is denied.

A delay result gets forwarded to Person B. Person B can dig a bit deeper, say to make sure you're not THAT Expvideo. If Person B, based on the resources they have at the time, can clear it, they will, and it's a proceed.

(Incidentally, about 30-40% of transactions need a minute's review by Person B before they go to "proceed.")

The transaction remains delayed if Person B can't get the information to clear it up. This could mean any number of things.

Maybe there's an Expvideo in another state who jumped bail, and your personal information is similar, or maybe your name is flagged on a local system for something.

For example, if you were in a car accident this morning, your name has been entered into a local law-enforcement database. Even if it's not your fault and you weren't cited, the name is in there. States have differing ways of doing this, but in some, just having your name on a police report at all will throw up a yellow flag.

So, you go to buy a gun that evening at 5:05PM. NICS runs the check and finds that there's a yellow flag because of a recently-created record on the local level. Person A transfers the matter to Person B. Person B tries to look it up, but whatever local system your name is in closed up at 5:00PM. Result: delay.

Other people who are affected this way are judges, law enforcement and folks with government clearance. Why? Because your name is In The System, and if they can't verify why within a few minutes, it goes to delay.

Time constraints are another reason. They've got a flood of calls coming in and a limited number of operators to process them. So, if the system's slow, or if they can't get the information quickly enough, they'll let it default to "delay."

The whole NICS thing has improved a great deal over the last few years (since Holder hasn't been running it), but it's still got a few wrinkles.