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(courtesy ammoland.com)

The Buckeye Firearms Association writes [via ammoland.com]

Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA) is pleased to announced that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) has certified the Ohio Concealed Handgun License (CHL) as a valid NICS-compliant background check for firearm purchases. [Embedded Below or Click HERE to see the letter from the BATFE.] This is the result of . . .

more than six years of work by BFA to improve and simplify background checks for Ohio gun owners. Thanks also goes to Attorney General Mike DeWine, who worked with the BATFE to help win this approval.

And it’s great news for Ohio CHL holders and law-abiding citizens who frequently get a “hold” when trying to buy a firearm.

When someone wants to buy a firearm from a dealer with a Federal Firearms License, the dealer must first make sure the buyer is legally approved to make the purchase. After the buyer fills out Federal Form 4473, the dealer either calls in the information or submits it online so the BATFE can perform the required background check and issue the approval.

While this is typically called an “instant background check,” for many people it is anything but instant.

“Sometimes the system is down,” says Jim Irvine, Board President of BFA. “Or high demand overwhelms the system. Or maybe bad weather prevents government employees from showing up for work. For some unlucky people, they share a name with someone else who is not permitted to purchase firearms or errors in the database cause delays. Historically, this has not always been a user-friendly system. Now, Ohio gun owners finally have a solution.”

House Bill 234 passed in December of 2014 and became law in March of 2015. That bill improved the background check and added disqualifications so that people who are not permitted to buy or possess firearms do not qualify for a CHL.

By aligning the rules governing the Ohio CHL with federal law, and by checking CHL applications against the same databases the NICS system uses to ensure that everyone issued an Ohio CHL is qualified to buy a gun, the Ohio CHL has been approved as a valid NICS check.

“This is a big improvement,” continued Irvine. “It’s good for everyone. Legal gun buyers will benefit because they can just show their license when making a firearm purchase. And even those who favor stricter gun regulation will like it because it will help the system do what it’s supposed to do, which is help cut down on illegal purchases.”

The NICS check is valid for five years, the same as the CHL. If a CHL holder commits a disqualifying offense, sheriffs are notified and can revoke the license and, therefore, revoke the ability of the CHL holder to use the license to purchase a firearm.

“Several other states have been doing this for years and it works well for BATFE, gun dealers, and individuals. It is a proven system in which Ohio is now participating for the benefit of everyone.”

[NOTE: Only Concealed Handgun Licenses issued on or after March 23, 2015 are NICS-compliant. For those issued before that date, license holders must wait until they renew their CHL for their license to be recognized as NICS-compliant.]

In addition, it may take time for dealers with a Federal Firearms License to learn about this new process. Please be patient during this transition period.

Open Letter To All Ohio Federal Firearms Licensees

About Buckeye Firearms Association:

Buckeye Firearms Association is a grassroots political action committee dedicated to defending and advancing the right of Ohio citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities.

For more information, visit: www.BuckeyeFirearms.org.

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24 COMMENTS

  1. So a permit that nobody should need also works as a background check that nobody should want.

    Happy happy joy joy.

    • I wish I lived in the days where you could order guns of all flavors and varieties out of Sears and Roebuck and magazine ads and have them mailed to your door.

  2. Can someone explain this to me: does this mean that no 4473 is filled out and therefore the ATF does not have the ability to track this purchase?

    • Unless I read the article wrong. You still have to fill out the 4473 regardless CWP or not. But you don’t have to wait for the results of the NICS, Id imagine.
      Here in my part of Florida they still call you in or do the online NICS check after you have filled out the 4473, while your in the store. With a permit walk out with the handgun as soon as $$$ cross hands. No handgun permit you fill out the 4473 form and there is a 5 day wait, Eventually the dealer gets around to calling you in if you have no permit.

    • You fill out the 4473 and give the FFL your CDW permit. He copies the info from it in the area he would normally fill out for the phone in background check. Then you take your firearm and leave the store. No phone call or online check needed. It works really well for gun shows where the FFL might have non existent or spotty cell service.

    • Here’s how this works in Wyoming, where we also accept a CCW as a substitute for a NICS check:

      No $$$ for the NICS check, no NICS check, no waiting. Customer fills out the 4473, the FFL fills out his part, takes the CCW and adds that information to the 4473 form where the NICS info would go, takes payment, gives customer A-OK and a receipt and we’re done.

  3. The BATFE can still track as the selling FFL will have the buyer logged. The weapon will also be logged at the manufacturer level so the BATFE will know to which FFL the weapon was shipped. Only a private sale not involving an FFL logbook would break the BATFE’s ability to trace.

    • FFLs log all serialized transfers, you can back into who bought what bh the NICS call. A/K/A defacto national gun registration.

  4. The fact that so many of us buy, sell, trade, or give away guns quite often means that the information contained in the 4473 paperwork is less and less useful over time. Then factor in guns that are passed on when someone dies and the ones that get stolen, not to mention the ones that are lost in boating accidents!

    • Heh, if they came looking for all the 4473 purchased FAs there would not be too many still in my possession. I buy/trade/barter too much, and sometimes give gifts to those who are deserving, or, in some cases, less fortunate. It makes for more PoTG and brings smiles to young faces.

  5. Happy & Sad. So, pay every 5 yrs (or bribe your state’s BUREAU OF INvESTIGATION) to hook you up for a concealed carry permit and it’s flash the cash & carry card and you’re good until the next felony arrest? That’s essentialy paying for NICS without them doing any work.

  6. Compared to waiting for a NICS check, this is an improvement. It also provides private sellers with the equivalent of a NICS check. Irvine is wrong about one thing, however. It won’t please gun grabbers for whom background checks are just a way to make all transfers as inconvenient as possible. A particularly egregious example is requiring a NICS check before letting a friend try a few shots with your gun at the range.

  7. That is ass backwards. Instant checks are to insure that the buyer in question has not committed criminal acts or in the case of CCW holders, committed crimes since obtaining a permit. This new regulation prevents that and may let criminals that are concealed permit holders purchase weapons they have not right to. True, chances are low but they still can happens with more frequency than people can imagine. Too impatient to wait for an instant check? too bad, go home and try another day. Politicians and other government officials have a tendency to get numb brains from sitting too long on them.

  8. After reading what’s going on in Kaliforniastan and other “states”, this IS good news. When I buy a gun (in Texas) I am able to bypass the NICS check due to my having a LTC. It makes the transaction faster, and it’s one less computer system my name passes through as I purchase a new gun. We have to celebrate these small advances if we want to get the rest of the country on board.

  9. This has been the case in North Carolina since day one of concealed carry permits. If you have a permit, no call to NICS is made (4473 is still filled out, and copies are made of your DL and permit) for handguns or longguns. NC has an antiquated system where you have to obtain a “pistol purchase permit” from the sherriff for each pistol you buy, and having a carry permit allows you to bypass this system as well.

    Yes, none of this should be necessary, but it’s a HUGE hassle-saver in NC compared to the non-carry-permit route.

  10. Why does it say Gallia county at the top but the address is in Cleveland? One is on shores of Lake Erie the other is on the Ohio River across from Point Pleasant WV.

  11. Being satisfied or happy about an improved “concealed carry permit” or about a “better support prcoess” from the NCIS is the same as being happy about how the National Health and Human Services (HHS) has upgraded how it controls the sale and ditribution of of prescription for Cancer patients! ! ! ! Most of these STATE movements are in opposition with the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONAL SECOND AMENDMENT, or at least “in spite of it” which gives each and every AMERICAN CITIZEN (regardless of age, sex, race, or ethnicity) The UNMITIGATED “RIGHT” to bear arms. Come on AMERICANS ! ! ! ! Do your homework! ! !

    • ok..but would you prefer we went back to 20 years ago when we couldnt carry at all without being arrested and charged with a felony?
      MY FAMILY and their safety is what *I* care about. If it means taking back our rights a step at a time thats better than not having them at all.
      Right now I can carry a gun legally to protect my wife…THAT is more important to me than politics on a day to day basis.

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