I may have been missing something for a while, but today I went with friend to Sports Authority to buy a shotgun to use in US Air Force intramural skeet.  He wanted a Remington 870 (God only knows why..that's a different story), which our local Sports Authority had on sale.  He got delayed, which was no surprise as he had been delayed before (This is a USAF E7 with 22 years in the service, a top secret security clearance, etc, etc).  The salesman made a statement that if NICS hadn't called back in 72 hours they wouldn't proceed with the sale.  I asked if he meant until the 72 hours was up, he said no, they could not proceed with the sale period.  At this point I asked to speak to the store manager, who confirmed that this is SA "policy".  I would most likely never buy a gun from them anyway, but wanted you all to know about it.  Boycott the heck out of the MFers!!  I already sent my "Customer comment form" to the president of the company stating I will never do business with his company, and exactly why.

Rob

Dude they don't have anything there anyhow,no prob.

in homer simpson voice "done and done."

Add Dick's Sporting Goods to that list to boycott.  In NC you can substitute a CCW permit for the NICS check, but Dick's Sporting Goods has a store policy against doing this.  Tried to buy a rifle for my son to use a few months ago, NICS was down and they told me I would have to come back the next day to make the purchase even though I had a valid CCW permit.  Needless to say, the purchase was made elsewhere.

Sports Authority is pretty much boycotted anyway, they don't carry any handguns anymore, which caused a bunch of us to stop going to the store for anything.
Ice

I'm not taking SA's side, but I think that their policy may derive from advice from the BATF. They're currently telling dealers if for any reason they do not feel comfortable with the sale and transfer of a firearm, then they should not complete the transaction. I got this from a few BATF newsletters that they send to licensees as well as from a BATF inspector in regards to an incident with an FFL holder in another state (long story, but the licensee was WRONG and the BATF had to get in his butt). It may open the licensees up to a whole new area of liability, but that's the line of thinking.