I suggest you Google your state statute and find out. In Florida the statute is Chapter 790.065 and following. Basically if you're charged or arrested on felony or domestic violence charges you will be denied purchase when the shop calls in for the background check. Amazingly the Dept. of Agriculture, who runs licensing here, says it will figure all this out in a very short time.Originally Posted by nucci
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
At 0300hrs when you are leaving the police station after a armed robbery report/shooting interview you might find it tough to buy a pistol, regardless of background check status.
Murphy dictates that if you do not have a back-up carry gun your gun will break on a trip to the range five minutes after all of the gun stores have closed for the day.
I am the owner of Agile/Training and Consulting
www.agiletactical.com
wise wisdom "3 is 2, 2 is 1 and 1 is none" As long as it is affordable i would have an exact duplicate of your carry gun.
I keep 200 identical copies of my carry gun in a safe. At work. Even have a concierge/delivery service that will put a new one in my hand before I leave the police station after a shooting.
Doesn't hurt to have something else handy. I don't own two of any handgun because I'm a poor bastard, but if I lose one in a fight with a hurricane I have another I can slap on in an emergency.
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
Federal law allows for the transfer after 3 business days if allowed by state law, at the dealer's discretion. Going to court to try to get the gun store to do the transfer would be a waste of time, your only recourse would be to get refunded for the gun and try buying from a shop that will transfer pending delays. As far as length of delays, well here in Oregon I've got a couple people who have been delayed since May.
"Customer is very particular" -- SIG Sauer
Interesting, I didn't realize some states allow LE to place a hold on purchases even if no charges are filed. I understand the hold if there are charges pending a trial, but no charges, no purchase, for how long?
Remember, after a shooting, that gun becomes "evidence". You may not be charged in the incident,
but that gun may be unavailable to you for months, and some jurisdictions are known to make it more
expensive to get pistols back than to buy a new one.
If you ask the OSP FICS unit they'll say that the background check can't be completed due to "missing or incomplete information." If I had to make an educated guess, that information usually relates to something that happened out of state requiring FICS to contact whatever applicable agency of that state to determine whether the event would be disqualifying or not. Interestingly enough, as far as state law goes, Oregon allows for the transfer after only one business day has elapsed (though federal law still of course requires 3) but OSP has long been in the habit of telling people OR law does NOT allow for a transfer unless the check comes back approved, period. Which is a flat-out lie.
"Customer is very particular" -- SIG Sauer
When I shot a suicidal person in 1993, in a classic suicide-by-cop scenario, my GP100 went to the PD's firearms lab for two weeks. Had I been a private citizen, the wait would have been much longer than two weeks. I was glad I had a Colt Stainless Python to carry for those two weeks. I owned other suitable weapons, but only the Python fit my duty rig, enabling me to continue working normal duty.
I elected to save some carry weight shortly after that, and acquired two S&W 4" K-frames, a Model 19 and a Model 66, for duty and personal-time carry. The GP100 remained on hand, for hard-use personal carry, and a reserve duty handgun.
When a duty pistol policy change was about to go into effect in 1997, I "grandfathered" three 1911 pistols, with my PD, as "primary duty" pistols, deciding to relegate my revolvers to occasional personal-time use. One, my trusty Colt Classic Government, with the upgrade Royal Blue finish, was too nice to carry on duty every night, due to the wear and tear of constant open carry while doing the physical things typical of police patrol. One of my two Kimbers was reliable enough, after much work, and had become my usual duty pistol. The second Kimber was never quite reliable enough, but was my designated training pistol. I later acquired my Les Baer Thunder Ranch Special, which became my usual personal-time-carry pistol, but not having been "grandfathered" by September 1997, could not ride in my duty holster during working hours. That is not just a pair and a spare, but four.
In 2002, when I decided to enter the polymer era, it was with a pair of G22 pistols, which were on my employers listed of approved primary duty pistols. This was my pair for a short time, then I added a third, the spare. (Special-purpose = longer-range situations, or other occasions calling for more accuracy. My usual long gun is a shotgun, and being one of the few guys left on my shift who is trained to breach, I should probably keep carrying my shotgun to work.)
I soon tired of being unable to shoot Glocks with the same level of accuracy as either 1911 pistols or revolvers, and switched to SIG P229 pistols. (PD policy would not let me return to the 1911 or revolver, for the duty rig.) In 2004, I started with one P229, and these being expensive, I did not add the spare until 2006, and the third one took a bit longer, probably 2007.
I thought I would finish my career with .40 SIG, for duty and for personal-time carry, but age was not kind to my right hand, wrist, and shoulder. I started carrying a 9mm Glock G17 and Les Baer TRS during personal time, then sold two SIGs, and later added a pair of G19 pistols. When my chief added 9mm to the listed of approved duty cartridges, in late 2015, I added another G17, and now carry a G17 in my duty rig. This means I not only have an matching spare of my usual duty pistol, but a matching pair of more-compact G19 models, in the same system, that can fill the role of primary duty pistol. It is not unusual for me to carry both G19 pistols during personal time.
So, yes, I do tend to keep an identical, or near-identical copy of my chosen weapon, with a third, and perhaps a fourth, being nice to have, because if I have two pistols with me at a shooting scene, I can expect both of them to go to the firearms lab. This will not stop when I retire from peace officering. (Things being more streamlined now, at the firearms lab, I will now, as police officer, have my pistols back within a day or two, if preliminary investigation shows it to be a righteous shooting. I do worry, however, in the current political climate, how many police shooting incidents will continue to be so readily deemed righteous.) A private citizen will still have to wait until it is known whether the pistol will be needed as evidence at a trial.
Even if I were happy to own only one pistol, and just quickly buy another if something happened to the first, there are times when specific models are not readily available, and, I definitely prefer to function-test a weapon, with hundreeds of rounds, before trusting it on the street. This points toward owning a spare, and keeping it safely stored, to be a best practice.
Another reason to have a second pistol, is training. Serious training gets a pistol very seriously dirty. Having two pistols enables me to carry a clean weapon at all times. One of my above-mentioned Kimbers, the one that was not perfectly trusted for street carry, was a designated training gun. One of my pair of G22 pistols was a training gun, though actually reliable enough for the street, after some early drama. (Glocks are not all perfection.) None of my current centerfire handguns are designated training guns; any of them can be used for training or carry, but I have plenty enough of them to always be able to carry a clean one. (My .22 LR S&W Model 17 is a training gun.)
With my Les Baer TRS returning to importance, for personal-time carry, and to be a special-purpose pistol while on duty, I recently added a second Baer 1911.
Last edited by Rex G; 10-20-2016 at 10:11 AM.
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