In the (first) Clinton era 1993 Brady bill, exemptions for background checks were provided for people who had undergone a check for state gun permits. Not all states meet the federal requirements for those exemptions. For example, the background check for the permit system must go through the National Instant Check System (NICS) and must have been done within the previous five years. That’s why most state permits are renewed every five years.
The statute provides the following exceptions to the national instant background check system:
1. The transferee presents to the licensee a permit which was issued not more than 5 years earlier by the State in which the transfer is to take place and which allows the transferee to possess or acquire a firearm, and the law of the State provides that such a permit is to be issued only after an authorized government official has verified that available information does not indicate that possession of a firearm by the transferee would be in violation of the law;
In addition, some states, such as Illinois, maintain their own state background check system. While those permits may meet the federal requirement, the state still requires a state check for their system.
A glance at the map above reveals some surprising contradictions. For example, Missouri recently became a permitless or “Constitutional carry” state. But the legislature hasn’t bothered yet to make their permit meet the requirements for their holders to be exempt from federal NICS checks.
You can check the list of states that qualify at atf.gov. There are currently 25 states that qualify (not including the California “Entertainment Firearms Permit”).
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Interesting tidbits. In Illinois(go Cubs!) we’re screwed 3 times. FOID card ,go through the ringer on CC and 4473 BS. Oh wait it’s more than 3…
It still takes just as long for me to buy a gun with my carry permit. I bought my Glock 19 and my wife bought her Nano before we had permits and it took about ten minutes to complete the transaction. The next gun I bougt was my AR15 online and I had my permit at the FFL dealer and it took about 10 minutes to transfer the rifle. The next gun I bought at Academy Sports and I will never do that again. It was an over under 12 gauge and it took those idiots about 25 minutes to complete the sale even though I had my carry permit. I bought my Mossberg last year and, you guessed it, it took about ten minutes to get to the part where I pay for the gun. I just bought my wife a Ruger SR22 and with a permit…wait for it…10 fucking minutes of just standing there waiting for the transfer. So saving time is not a reason to pay $75 every five years for a permit to exercise a Constitutional right.
Um… the NICS check takes anywhere from 10 minutes to 3 days. The whole system routinely goes down for hours at a time.
Since the “new new” NICS system has gone live, I get sometimes as many as four emails a day from the NICS administrators, telling FFLs that the system is up, down, sideways or simply screwed up.
A right delayed is a right denied, thank you MLK. But you make it sound like this is an everyday occurrence, and that just aint so.
P.S. You aren’t the only one here that sells guns to buy groceries.
Well, in my case my carry permit saves me 1-3 days because without it I get a “delay” every freaking time because apparently my name is similar to someone who is a prohibited person or maybe because I was born out of the country. Was the initial reason I got a carry permit, in fact.
My wife was born out of the country, too. Not just that, but was born a foreign citizen. When we first got our Texas carry licenses, we applied online the same day. As a naturalized U.S. citizen, hers arrived in about three weeks. Mine, as a natural born citizen, bumped up against the full 60 day statutory limit.
That might make sense. You wife’s background was checked carefully before naturalization. For her carry permit, they wouldn’t have to go back further than that. On the other hand, they had to check you all the way back to the womb.
That might be what happened with my wife and I- she was born in Detroit. I was born in Germany (in a US Army hospital, to two US citizens), but, nonetheless, I was naturalized when I was four. My older brother was born on Okinowa, and he was fourteen, but, apparently, somebody in the state department decided that all the children like us needed to be naturalized. So, I have paperwork saying that I’m a natural born citizen (born abroad), and another paper that says I’m a naturalized citizen. Fortunately, I’ve never run for president.
Last time I bought a gun, filling out the form took about 3 minutes (I read every question, just in case some BATFEr is trying to develop a sense of humor), the guy calling it in took about 2 minutes. Paying took another minute or so.
Petting the shop dogs, asking the owner how her hunting trip went, and talking with the guy behind the counter about the relative merits of Ruger ARX ammo brought the total to about 45 minutes, however.
You’re lucky.
There are some people who have names that are common enough that prohibited people with the same names are also in the database.
Those people can wait a while to get their go-ahead.
Well I always gave them my SS number. Maybe that helped. It is optional on the form.
I was at my favorite LGS a few months back buying a 9mm I had been wanting for a while and when it came time to finish up they said, count yourself lucky to have a carry license. The NICS computers were down and had been for over an hour.
Your not lucky to have a carry permit. Your being an outstanding citizen.
I hearted WA once, then all these god damn loons moved here and started fixing stuff that wasn’t broken. After that horrific accident in one of our fine lakes and selling the rest of my stash to the highest bidder no strings attached right before I594 went into effect (as I love telling my idiot aunt) this state is loosing it’s deeper movements in my feelz.
Confiscation with no due process (aka “domestic violence gun restraining order”) is coming via initiative after this election, too. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
They will tweak that to any heresy or rumor phoned into a hotline before they are through.
No guns for heretics! 😉
Yep. By my count I’ve now purchased 10 firearms on one NICS check. Of course I sold them all. Well, most of them, anyway.
There is an error concerning your chosen image for this article. Michigan residents with a valid CPL do not have to submit to a NICS check to purchase a firearm. Your text states this information correctly, your graphic does not.
If you look at the map it’s dated 2014.
Michigan has been NICS waiver since November 22, 2005.
All current active permits are NICS exempt.
So update the map before posting. TTAG is routinely 3 or 4 days behind the news. Two years shouldn’t surprise.
Thanks for the correction. I will see if I can get a corrected Image. Good eye.
Hawaii doesn’t qualify for a damn thing and everyone knows it.
Tom
In WA state, the CPL satisfies the Feds, however the state itself requires an NICS check! Go figure.
The map is wrong. Michigan is NICS waiver for LTP’s and CPL’s.
Permit allows bypass of NICS in Michigan.
What else is wrong with that map?
In NJ, you pay $5 for an FID card and $85 for the fingerprints to qualify for the card. You then pay $2 for each Pistol Purchase Permit, good for 90 days and $15 for NICS done by the state. Of course, that’s if the NICS system is up and running. It’s down so often you would think the state’s entire population was trying to buy a pistol at the same time. I suggested to my State Senator that they scrap the state NICS and go Federal since we pay for both as taxpayers and the state system is redundant. Haven’t heard back on that.
So does this mean when media issues NICS checks data that they are UNDERREPORTED because guns sales were not run through NICS?
No. When you compare NICS checks to new gun sales, there are very close to six new gun sales for every ten NICS checks. NICS checks are also done when used guns are sold. Actual sales of both new and used may be underreported, but additions to the gun stock are not.
Do you mean a NiCs check for 1st amendment activity? Absolutely, support universal background checks for all news agencies, and reporters!
A CHL in Oregon isn’t a substitute for NICS, but if you list it on your application, it speeds the process up considerably. Not that the process doesn’t take very long in the first place.
Is the Brady permit a state legislated thing or a process the state has to apply for with the ATF? Here in Oklahoma we’ve been told our drivers licenses do not meet the “Real ID” requirements and will not be valid for ID to enter Federal facilities or board airplanes. Its a state thing our do-nothing legislature has known about for 6 years. They will fix it as the Feds are the largest employer in the state. We might as well do the Brady thingy at the same time.
If you have a CHL in California they wave the unconstitutional 10day wating period and you can walk out of the store with purchase in hand. They are supposed to wave the 10day period if you already have a registered firearm, but they don’t.
Another really stupid thing in NJ. If I sell a gun face-to-face to a Purchase Permit holder there is no NICS since the state ran a NICS before granting the permit. However, if I go into an FFL with my permit he has to run a NICS even though one has already been run. I don’t see the logic.
There is a lot of stupidity in firearms laws, overkill and/or gaping holes in their stated purpose, and that’s leaving aside the fact that the stated purpose is itself stupid by any objective measure.
The real purpose is just downright evil.
Now if we just get Constitutional Carry in Ohio, we could be able to use our driver’s license or other state-issued ID (in case you lose your license or choose not to get one for some reason) to bypass the NICS check…
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