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AuntB, it's so good to see you. I haven't seen you around in some time. I haven't had a credit check in some time, but I did have a little something happen a few years ago. I hope maybe some of the men reading this will tell me if it's normal procedure.

My husband loves to bird hunt, this particular year Browning had come out with a new shotgun with a gold trigger, so I decided to buy one for his Christmas. Then I decided to buy two because I felt another family member would love to have one also. So I did, I bought two of them. A little time went by and I got a call from the F.B.I. An agent was asking me about the serial numbers things like that. When I said that I would have to call him back when my husband got home because I wasn't sure where he kept his paper work on the gun, the agent freaked a little bit.

He thought he had been talking to the store where I bought the guns, and didn't realize he was talking to the gun buyer. Someone had mistakenly switched phone numbers on the form between my number and the store number.

He was really angry about it. So when you say that these background checks usually stay in state, it makes me wonder. Is it the F.B.I. that checks your criminal background, because, if not, then perhaps I was flagged for buying two guns at one time. It would seem to me if your "friend" had been checked through the F.B.I. then his felonies would surely have shown up, if it's not normal to run the checks through the F.B.I., then why was the F.B.I. checking on my purchase?

I don't know, Miss Pie, I think it's just a matter of who is handling the paper work at the time. That simple, that sad. I called the FBI and asked them HOW this could happen and they told me to call BATF in Portland, that BATF does the checks. I didn't call, because I am WAY past my long distance limit this month!

Good to see you too, I've been away from the forum for the most part, taking care of personal business (translates=messes!!!LOL!)

I do not know the answer to your question but I have a couple of observations based on your experience. First, the methods of data collection are very error prone. If they can goof on the telephone numbers, they can goof on the serial numbers too. Second, the methods are very manual in nature. This leads to a large government expense, which of course results in more taxes to you and me. It also is a root cause of mistakes.

There is something amiss in the scale of effort demonstrated to process the paperwork, in my opinion. If it were something large and relatively expensive or dangerous, such as a 18 wheeler truck or a box of dynamite, I could see such individualized care being justified. But two shotguns for personal use...?

Doesn't the FBI have something more important to do, such as going after criminals?