Huge Influx of Gun Sales in Oregon Causes FICS Delays

Oregon's BM114 becomes law on December 8, 2022

Image courtesy: The Oregonian

(SALEM, Ore.) - Since the day after Ballot Measure 114 passed in Oregon, guns and ammo have been selling like hotcakes.

According to the Oregon State Police, the Firearms Instant Check System (FICS) unit has experienced unprecedented volumes of firearms transactions since November 8, 2022, as never seen before in the program’s 26-year history.

The new law goes into effect December 8, so FICS transactions that are not completed with an approval number by midnight on December 7, 2022, will require the purchaser to initiate their permit application to obtain a Permit-to-Purchase before their FICS transaction can resume.

This means your FICS transaction will not be canceled on December 8th. Once the purchaser has an approved permit, the FICS transaction will resume.

OSP continues to work diligently to process and resolve as many of the pended/delayed FICS transactions as possible.

Complete Info is Mandatory to Avoid Delays

When there is missing or incomplete information on a person’s Computerized Criminal History (CCH), OSP must contact the agency that is the owner of that information to obtain official records so that OSP can determine whether the person is approved for the firearm purchase.

The agencies contacted most for missing or incomplete information are the Courts or District Attorneys’ offices throughout the United States. There are no required timelines for the agencies to respond to our requests for missing or incomplete information.

"We’re actively working with the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association and Marion County Legal Counsel to learn more about the requirements to be enacted under Measure 114 and the services we are expected to provide at the local law enforcement level," Marion County Sheriff Joe Kast said in a recent press release.

"We anticipate significant strain on our limited staffing and resources as a result of Measure 114. Moving forward, we will prioritize our services towards the areas of greatest need to best serve the residents and visitors within Marion County, therefore will not be focusing investigations on magazine capacity issues," Sheriff Kast added.

Oregon State Police has worked with Permit Agents regarding the application form for the Permit-to-Purchase.

The draft application is in the final review with permitting agencies and will be posted to the Oregon State Police’s website and available to those wishing to apply for a Permit-to-Purchase on December 8, 2022.

With BM114 becoming law on December 8, 2022, this gives Oregon State Police a very short window to develop a program and have technology available for use on day 1 of the new law.

Because of this, the Permit-to-Purchase program at Oregon State Police will be a manual paper process until new technical systems can be designed and implemented.

So far, nine states and Washington, D.C. have enacted laws banning magazines capable of holding a certain number of rounds.

Source: Oregon State Police; Marion County Sheriff