NH Background Check Question

[Mr Weebles]

I was picking up my new .357 a couple of weeks ago and the background check took some time to get done. No one answered the first time my dealer called and he left a message for them to call back. According to him, there is usually only one person in the office most evenings and if they go grab something to eat or a coffee, the process can take a while. Some time later, they called back and approved the transaction and everything was fine.

I thought NH only did a NICS check for firearms but he told me that they did a federal and state background check for handguns and a NICS check only for long arms. If true, I'm assuming the handgun background check is the same one they do for a CCW license.

Anyway, this whole thing surprised me because I remember the Brady Bunch whining about NH gun laws and saying the state only did the federal check and didn't check state records (although I'm not sure why it would matter).

Does anyone have any insight as to how the process in NH works?

 

[vellnueve]

A NICS check IS a Federal/State background check. Not a very thorough one, but it is.

I don't think NH does anything other than a standard NICS check, but I'm not an NH resident and thus have never bought a handgun there.

 

[sdavid]

When I lived in NH I purchased two pistols and one rifle; the NICS for the rifle was through the feds and I was approved when the dealer hung up the phone. For the two pistols the call was throguh the State Police and I had to wait a half hour for them to call back with the approval.

 

[drgrant]

I was picking up my new .357 a couple of weeks ago and the background check took some time to get done. No one answered the first time my dealer called and he left a message for them to call back. According to him, there is usually only one person in the office most evenings and if they go grab something to eat or a coffee, the process can take a while. Some time later, they called back and approved the transaction and everything was fine.

I thought NH only did a NICS check for firearms but he told me that they did a federal and state background check for handguns and a NICS check only for long arms. If true, I'm assuming the handgun background check is the same one they do for a CCW license.

NH uses a state-level POC for handguns. So all NICS checks for
handguns actually go to some office in NH. Some states have
their own NICS POC so they can check both the fed databases and
their local databases. A lot of times this is done so the state
can check against state-level looney bin databases, etc, which
aren't always available to the standard FBI NICS center.

-Mike

 

[Mr Weebles]

NH uses a state-level POC for handguns. So all NICS checks for
handguns actually go to some office in NH. Some states have
their own NICS POC so they can check both the fed databases and
their local databases. A lot of times this is done so the state
can check against state-level looney bin databases, etc, which
aren't always available to the standard FBI NICS center.

-Mike

Thanks. I didn't realize handgun checks went to the state. I was confused because of the whiny crap I had read from the Brady Buch a while ago. Maybe they were pissed the rifle check didn't go through the state office too. I forget.

That State office must be the same as the CCW check.

None of this affects me personally, I was just curious.