Short version of the story, I've tried to buy a rifle 5 different times, and I have yet to be  approved by NICS.  Three times were in small gun shops, once in Dick's, and another time in Wal-Mart.  I was delayed past the 72 hours, but in each of the five cases, the store employees didn't have the guts to transfer the rifle to me anyway.  It says right on the form that the dealer can transfer the weapon if NICS does not deny within the allotted time.  This is the part that really upsets me, having an employee look me in the eye and tell me no when I know they can legally say yes.

I finally found a small pawn shop who's owner had enough guts to transfer an Oly lower and a 22LR rifle without NICS approval.

Why can't I get NICS approval?

I have been married for over 50 years.  I don't think a divorce or domestic violence conviction is the problem as some suggested ;).

I have a very uncommon name.  My first name starts with a Z, and my friends couldn't pronounce it when I was little, so my grandfather started telling everyone to call me Zoom.  That name stuck, because I really have never liked my given name.

I always put my SSN on the form.  I have an unusual SSN that starts with a 7, because it was assigned by my employer rather than a local SSA office.  I had my SSN before the Army required us to get one (1956?).

I have never been denied, but neither have I had NICS come-back with an approval.

I know NICS approval does have something to do with the fact that my fingerprints are on file.  After my last delay, the clerk said that the check is generally only instant for those people who have no entry in any of the systems they reference.  Any entry means that they have to manually check the reference.  I wrote a letter to Senator Hollings from SC asking for help with NICS.  An aide of his called me at home, and said he believed my checks were delayed because the FBI didn't respond in time to the request for more information as to why they had my prints on file.  Does that sound like the problem to you guys?  I appreciate that callback.  Even if Hollings is a democrat, he looks after his constituents.

I have never been arrested, much less charged with a crime, much less convicted.  I have never followed-up on this, but I don't think my discharge from the Army is incorrectly recorded.  I'll have to trackdown a copy of my DD-214, because this is something that could cause a problem.

A rather rude post from a Mr. Hineline accusing me of committing a felony by buying a gun from a dealer without filling-out a 4473 convinced me I need to get this problem fixed.  I did not, and I certainly wouldn't post to a public forum that I did (where I've given enough information to uniquely identify myself: last name, initials, age, and hometown).  This is the type of knee-jerk rabid anti-gunner reaction I don't want aimed in my direction, so I want to get this fixed.  If I find anything out definite, I'll post back.  If any of you guys have a suggestion on how to deal with NICS, then I'd appreciate that.

Sorry you're having trouble Zoom, but it sounds to me like the NICS is working just fine.