Trying to nail down (put it into writing) what our policy is on transfers--specifically NICS denied cases--and am looking to see what others are doing.



- Give the customer a Deny/Delay form with the NTN number.



- Explain options; a) they pay to ship back to sending FFL [if individual...ships to FFL they choose], b) we hold firearm for xx days while they appeal, c) customer pays fees to place into auction/local sale.



- If no communication / storage exceeds xx days, we assess storage fees and....

Out of the seven or eight denials I've had, only one elected to not appeal.
I give the buyer/transferee the NICS Deny/Delay form with NTN if they are present when the status is received. If a Delay turns into a Denied, I email them the NTN with a link to the FBI NICS appeal page.

I make them aware that I will hold their firearm at no charge until there is a decision on the appeal.
If they choose to not appeal, they can choose:
- to list the firearm themselves for sale to an out of state buyer, I'll ship the gun to the buyers FFL.
- I will list the firearm for sale and charge a commission.
- they can accept my offer to purchase.
- I will not allow the denied buyer to sell it locally for fear of a straw sale.


The original seller has no interest in refunding the purchase price. The sale is complete.

I don't charge a storage fee unless I believe the buyer did not promptly submit his appeal. I did have one nitwit wait seven months to submit his appeal........that's because he was waiting for his prohibited person status to change so he could appeal successfully. Little shit knew damn well he was a user of illegal drugs because he accepted deferred adjudication....but he lied to me twice when I contacted him about the status of his appeal. Once his case had a final disposition he knew he could finally submit the appeal. Since he lied to me I applied storage charges to his firearm.....most satisfying $265 transfer I've ever done.

I'm not looking to hang anybody up over an appeal either. Any number of reasons to get incorrectly flagged. On those rare cases, I'm thinking 90 days before assessing any storage fees is fair?



Good point about straw sales, don't want a 'buddy' or family member coming in to purchase/transfer for them.



Thanks,

I fully explain to the buyer the procedure of the NICS check and what the outcome could be well before the firearm arrives at my door. I clearly explain to them that if they receive a denied response then the firearm goes back to the seller or to an out of state FFL. There is no way in hell it's going to another person in this state as it may be a straw purchase. So far in the the twenty plus years I've never gotten a denied response.

This is why we don't do transfers from the internet unless it is a known "good" guy

I won't take people off the street and allow them to have a gun shipped to me because we have had similar issues that it was
a.) wrong gun sent
b.) damaged
c.) person knew they were prohibited and were trying to skirt the system

I will tell the person that comes in looking to do an online sale that I will price a gun for them and that is all I offer.
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Denials-- theay allways are told they are on "hold" and the transfer fee is collected. (keeps people from not paying the fee or causing a scene)That is our price for you being an idiot when I asked if you had anything that might stop you from owning then told you to read the paperwork you filled out. They get a call some time after informing them they were denied and that they can come and collect a challenge form (PA does a paper form and needs info off PA state firearm sale form) they challenge and win.....cool. They don't challenge, not my problem.

If it is a F2F transfer the seller of the gun retains possesion untill the back ground check is complete.

Might seem like a dick move to some but when you have at least one applicant escorted out in cuffs a month, you have less pitty on them for not being honest.

If the FBI NICS denies the transfer, the buyer has several choices:

- We will hold the firearm while the buyer appeals the denial. If the buyer files the appeal within 30 days of the denial, no storage fees will accrue as we will not penalize buyers for the government's delays. If the buyer does not file the appeal within 30 days we will charge a storage fee of $10 (ten dollars) per week to store the firearm. Once the storage fees have exceeded 50% of the firearm's value we will sell the firearm, deduct our storage fees, and return the remainder to the buyer.

- Arrange with the seller for the return of the firearm and pay us for return shipping.

- Consign the firearm with us.

I basically do what everyone else said with a couple exceptions. I do gunshows and used to get about 10-12 denials in a weekend until I started charging $30 for denials. Now, I may get 1 or 2 on a weekend. In 4 years of me doing this I've had one denial get overturned. When my IOI last came by I looked at the denial print out and every transaction had Felony next to it.  I also don't receive as many trace calls now either.

I will hold while they appeal.  if they fail the appeal or dont want to, I tell them to contact seller to see if they'll take it back or that I'll sell it for what it will bring on Gunbroker.  that is all i will do.  I also collect the transfer fee (in advance).  most of my biz is with texas chl holders. so it hasn't really an issue.

here's an interesting question.  if i try a nics check on a customer and he gets denied, but then later comes back after getting a CHL, should i do a transfer for him?

Whatever the issue with NICS would, I believe, have to have been resolved to pass the Texas CHL background.



Is that a hypothetical or did it actually happen?



 

IDK about Texas, But Pennsylvania has one discrepency between the approval to carry and the approval to buy. And it happens rather often often that we have people who come right from the Sheriff's office and get denied, on hold or put into research. But with PAs carry permit isn't acceptable for a transfer, you still have to run the person through PICS (PA version of NICS)

Texas CHL is good to go for skipping NICS, love those transfers.

You cannot knowingly transfer to a prohibited person.  A denial does not mean he is a prohibited person, it could be an error, or something unexplained. Most common is getting charged but charges are dropped and NICS does not know final adjudication.

Outright denials are a pretty rare thing for me. The last one that was denied was going to appeal and seemingly out of the blue the NICS people called back a week later and said the denial was rescinded and he was good to go. His purchase was still in the safe so I called him up and told him to come over for his transfer.
The buyer told me he hadn't even submitted his appeal paperwork yet.