Buying a gun- pending approval?

After so many days, stores can choose to proceed if they have not received a denial. My understanding is that Academy is not one of those stores. If they don't get a proceed, they won't sell and you could end up having to move on to another store. The time for ATF to return an approval or denial is only a couple of days...

you're fricked.

with regular NICS delays, you can pick it up from the shop after 3 business days, assuming ATF doesn't call the store and approve/deny you sooner.

with Academy, they have to get a call saying you're approved before they will transfer it to you. very good chance that they will not get a call in the 30 day period and you will have to start over.

get your money back and shop elsewhere. one of the dumbest policies on earth

Most people do not understand that when you "pass" the NCIS background check it simply means that the system returned nothing/zero for your name or SSN, you do not exist at all in any of the databases checked. If it returns a record for your name there is delay while they figure out if the record returned is actually for you, or someone with the same name.

Not sure if someone else brought this up, but the government shutdown could have affected this as well.

I always buy at a local place. The one I bought last year, I just handed him my CC card and paid. Selection was miles better than a big box store that is only going to carry a few big names. Prices were comparable. Better on some, worse on others. But the service is hands down better. The only place I might buy one other than a local store is if WalMart is running some deals.