Teh One Who Knocks
12-27-2012, 11:36 AM
By Ryan Parker - The Denver Post
http://i.imgur.com/8zdVo.jpg
The continued rush to purchase firearms in Colorado has overwhelmed the system businesses use to track background check wait times and left thousands of would-be gun buyers on wait-lists that are now many days long.
While staff at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation continue to track the time manually, the information is no longer readily available to gun dealers.
The result is that would-be customers no longer know how long they will have to wait to see if a background check clears.
Thousands of customers remain on the wait list at least 100 hours long.
And with a major gun show coming to metro Denver this weekend, those expecting to walk away with a new firearm that day may be in for a surprise.
The uncharted territory in which the state's gun sellers now find themselves stems from unprecedented interest in guns and CBI's online wait-time clock, which tops out at 99 hours and 59 minutes.
Weeks ago, the background-check process took minutes to complete. Now, CBI's processing time has moved beyond that 99-hour-and-59 minute threshold.
This news comes as one of Colorado's largest and longest-running gun shows heads into town. The Tanner Gun Show will be held at the Denver Merchandise Mart this weekend.
"This is new," said Ty Blount, co-owner of the show. "The process usually take hours to half a day."
Blount said the situation means that dealers will either mail a patron's gun or agree to meet them another time once their background check has cleared.
While he realizes some may be frustrated by the change, it is important a background check be run on every person attempting to buy a gun, he said.
Background checks at gun shows in some other states aren't required — leading to the national call to close the so-called "gun show loophole" — but in Colorado, that loophole was closed following the Columbine High School shooting.
"It's the same whether you're going to a gun show or to Cabela's," Blount said.
While gun buyers flooded CBI with requests for background checks on Black Friday, the latest surge follows the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre and an outcry for more stringent gun-control laws.
Since that time, the bureau has expanded its hours of operation from 6 a.m. to midnight, said spokeswoman Susan Medina.
About 3,000 checks are being submitted a day — "these are unprecedented numbers," Medina said on Sunday.
For perspective, on Dec. 15, there were 573 background checks for firearm purchases in the CBI queue, Medina said. Wait times were just over 15 minutes.
Background checks are cross-referenced through federal and local law-enforcement databases.
Checks to be processed will remain in the system until they are approved or denied, Medina said.
http://i.imgur.com/8zdVo.jpg
The continued rush to purchase firearms in Colorado has overwhelmed the system businesses use to track background check wait times and left thousands of would-be gun buyers on wait-lists that are now many days long.
While staff at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation continue to track the time manually, the information is no longer readily available to gun dealers.
The result is that would-be customers no longer know how long they will have to wait to see if a background check clears.
Thousands of customers remain on the wait list at least 100 hours long.
And with a major gun show coming to metro Denver this weekend, those expecting to walk away with a new firearm that day may be in for a surprise.
The uncharted territory in which the state's gun sellers now find themselves stems from unprecedented interest in guns and CBI's online wait-time clock, which tops out at 99 hours and 59 minutes.
Weeks ago, the background-check process took minutes to complete. Now, CBI's processing time has moved beyond that 99-hour-and-59 minute threshold.
This news comes as one of Colorado's largest and longest-running gun shows heads into town. The Tanner Gun Show will be held at the Denver Merchandise Mart this weekend.
"This is new," said Ty Blount, co-owner of the show. "The process usually take hours to half a day."
Blount said the situation means that dealers will either mail a patron's gun or agree to meet them another time once their background check has cleared.
While he realizes some may be frustrated by the change, it is important a background check be run on every person attempting to buy a gun, he said.
Background checks at gun shows in some other states aren't required — leading to the national call to close the so-called "gun show loophole" — but in Colorado, that loophole was closed following the Columbine High School shooting.
"It's the same whether you're going to a gun show or to Cabela's," Blount said.
While gun buyers flooded CBI with requests for background checks on Black Friday, the latest surge follows the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre and an outcry for more stringent gun-control laws.
Since that time, the bureau has expanded its hours of operation from 6 a.m. to midnight, said spokeswoman Susan Medina.
About 3,000 checks are being submitted a day — "these are unprecedented numbers," Medina said on Sunday.
For perspective, on Dec. 15, there were 573 background checks for firearm purchases in the CBI queue, Medina said. Wait times were just over 15 minutes.
Background checks are cross-referenced through federal and local law-enforcement databases.
Checks to be processed will remain in the system until they are approved or denied, Medina said.