In my previous blog post article, I wrote about how the manager of a gun store in southwest North Dakota was illegally using gun buyers’ personal information from their NICS paperwork that was kept on file at this store.
Although firearm purchases were being handled by store employees, who had the gun buyer complete the NICS paperwork, and then called the NICS system while the customer was standing there, at a later point in time after the customer had left the store, the manager of the store got into the gun buyers’ files, and used their personal information to look them up on the internet.
Some readers are thinking, “So what, what difference does that make?” To many gun buyers, they believe that the Second Amendment To The U.S. Constitution where it says “the right to keep and bear firearms shall not be infringed” means what it says. People who buy guns from an FFL licensed gun store know that part of the law now is that the store must have the gun buyer complete the NICS paperwork, the store will call this information in to the NICS center, and will receive the response “Proceed”, “Delay”, or “Deny” the purchase. Many gun buyers don’t like this, but this is the process now.
What is not part of the process, is other people at a gun store who are not involved in the gun sale and NICS personal information transmittal, to later go back through gun buyers’ files and look them up on the internet. If you read my previous article, all gun store employees must complete and sign and FFL Form acknowledging that they can not use the NICS information for unauthorized use.
The reason why I wrote the previous article and am now writing this article, is because a friend of mine has been prevented from purchasing a firearm for the past 2-1/2 months because of the actions of this particular gun store manager in southwest North Dakota.
My friend who is in his early 50s, in March-April of 2020 he completed classroom instruction, written tests, shooting tests, paperwork, photo submittals, fingerprinting, and FBI background check in order to receive his North Dakota concealed weapons permit.
One advantage of obtaining a concealed weapons permit, is that it certifies that the background checks have been completed, and that the permit holder is legally authorized to own firearms. Usually, the NICS check and the FFL gun store firearm purchase proceeds much more smoothly if the buyer has a valid concealed weapons permit.
In May, my friend with his new North Dakota concealed weapons permit was able to purchase a 9mm handgun in Dickinson without any NICS delay. In June he purchased a smaller concealed carry .380 handgun with no delay. In July he had to return his newly purchased .380 handgun to the manufacturer due to a defect. In August this manufacturer sent my friend a replacement 9mm handgun in lieu of repairing the defective .380 handgun.
In September my friend attempted to purchase a .22 rifle from a gun store in southwest North Dakota. He was told by this gun store that his purchase was delayed by NICS, but no reason was given. My friend could not understand this delay, nor could I, nor could his other friends. He had a valid North Dakota concealed weapons permit, this should not have happened.
At first, when my friend was finally able to contact an actual person at NICS, they told him that he was purchasing too many firearms, that he would be delayed until the end of September. Then, throughout October my friend was delayed in purchasing any firearm. Then throughout November my friend was delayed in purchasing any firearm. Being prevented from purchasing any firearm for September, October, and November, this isn’t really a delay, it’s a denial.
What happened? How did my friend who obtained his North Dakota concealed weapons permit in May, who was able to purchase one handgun in May, one handgun in June, and receive a replacement handgun from a manufacturer in August, why did he become banned from purchasing any firearm by NICS immediately after attempting to purchase a .22 rifle from a gun store in southwest North Dakota?
My friend, myself, and his other friends began to believe that the gun store where he tried to purchase the .22 rifle had “Red Flagged” my friend. By “Red Flagged”, we mean that the gun store made some kind of written or verbal statement to the NICS center that my friend was prohibited from owning firearms, such as being mentally ill, mentally incapacitated, a drug-addict, currently facing criminal charges, convicted of domestic abuse, or some such thing.
When I began talking to this gun store manager, that is when he admitted to me that he was going back into gun buyers’ files, and using their personal information on the NICS application to look them up on the internet, to see who they were, what they were doing, and decide what he was going to do to them.
Because of this gun store manager’s actions, my friend has been unable to buy any firearms at any gun store in Dickinson for the past 2-1/2 months, though he has a valid North Dakota concealed weapons permit.
If you are a gun owner in Dickinson, you need to think twice about trying to purchase a firearm from a gun store in southwest North Dakota, because a store employee could just Red Flag you to NICS after going through your personal information and looking you up on the internet.
Dickinson58601 
He said that the NICS people said that the reason he couldn’t buy gun is because he was buying too many in a short period of time. It likely doesn’t have anything to do with the store. Quantum leap there don’t you think?
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Julie,
In any of the western or mid-western states, there is nothing in state or local law about “purchasing too many guns” or “owning too many guns”, nor is there any Federal law about “purchasing too many guns” or “owning too many guns”. There is literally no local, state, or Federal law defining or specifying what constitutes or limits owning or purchasing “too many guns”, there is no such law.
What has happened, is that sometimes local, state, and Federal government offices and agencies have made rules or procedures all on their own which have the same effect as the passage of a law by legislatures. However, in this case, there is no FBI or ATF written law or procedure which defines or specifies what is or is not “too many guns”.
Furthermore, in states like North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming which are rural and sparsely populated, there are very few activities that people participate in other than hunting or shooting. For example, in North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, there is no NFL, no NBA, no MLB, no NHL, no NASCAR, no PGA. It is fairly common for people in North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming to purchase a firearm per month, or multiple firearms at one time.
Getting back to this article, the NICS told my friend to wait until September was over, then he would be cleared, but October came and went, so did November, with my friend still being prohibited by NICS from purchasing a firearm. Their “delay” in effect really turned out to be a “denial”.
The other thing which I didn’t write, is that I watched an FFL gun store video, where the gun store spokespeople were explaining that for a particular firearm purchase, the NICS center only holds a gun store purchase request for 30 days, after 30 days the NICS no longer treats that request as active, it is dead and does not continue. The NICS process for a particular firearm purchase is only active with NICS for thirty days.
So what this means, is that my friend has actually been denied by NICS multiple times following his NICS submittal with this gun store in southwest North Dakota. He hasn’t been arrested by Law Enforcement during this time, nor gone to any kind of court trial, nor been admitted to any mental hospital or substance abuse program. He must have been Red Flagged somehow, and he, myself, and his friends think that it was this gun store manager, who later admitted that he was going back through gun buyers’ personal information and performing internet searches, which is very aberrant and illegal behavior to do this kind of thing in search of a reason to deny someone’s firearm purchase, which he admitted to me was his purpose.
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The store shouldn’t even be dialing into NICS if he produces his ND permit. Most FFLs prefer to not call NICS due to the hassle that it is when they can make a legal sale with one less step.
I had a friend a few years ago that comstantly was delayed by NICS and he had to get a ND permit to work around it. His only recorded “crimes” were speeding tickets and an underage drinking charge many years earlier.
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Rusty,
There are three or four things going on: 1) I have seen, heard, and read some information that gun store employees are encouraged to not make a gun sale if they are “suspicious”. 2) For some people with a low education level, and never-been-anywhere, “suspicious” could mean that they don’t know the gun buyer and have not seen him before. 3) Under the guise of a gun buyer being “suspicious” to a store employee, and this store employee claiming that they were sincerely and innocently trying to protect the store owner and the public from harm, they can refuse to make the gun sale or “Red Flag” someone to NICS because they don’t like him. 4) The ATF/FBI/NICS appear to very much like people turning in other people, whether justifiably or not, they seem to enjoy getting into other people’s business whenever possible to see what they can find. Truth be told, the ATF/FBI/NICS would probably like all firearms to be confiscated from everyone, except for themselves and their family members.
I have decided for the time being, that I don’t want to publish the name of this store, the store manager, and the two store owners, but this could change. I was hoping that in my two articles that I wrote, that this would sound very familiar to other guns buyers in southwest North Dakota who had this same experience: They had been buying firearms on a regular basis without any delay, then once they tried to buy a gun from this particular store, they were denied repeatedly, for reasons unknown to them.
But getting back to something that should be recognized as highly illegal and strictly prohibited, because the FFL Form that all employees must read and sign says so, gun buyers’ personal information that they enter onto the NICS paperwork solely for the purpose of the NICS process, should not be used by gun store employees to go look people up on Facebook, MySpace, LinkIn, Realtor.com, Google Earth to learn more about them, for any reason.
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