OSP updates its instant check system for firearms

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, November 16th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

SALEM – The following is a news release from the Oregon State Police in light of concerns expressed by the passage of Ballot Measure 114:

The Oregon State Police (OSP) is aware that the public has many questions regarding Ballot Measure 114. The Oregon Secretary of State’s office notified OSP that Ballot Measure 114 will go into effect at 12:00 a.m. on December 8, 2022. The Oregon State Police is working very closely with the Department of Justice, the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association and the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police to assess the required processes that need to be completed to implement this law.

For the month of November 2022, approximately 63% of the requests received into the OSP Firearms Instant Check System (FICS) unit have been approved. The remaining transactions must be evaluated by an OSP employee to determine what caused the person to be kicked out of the automated process. If applicable a manual correction can be made, and the application can be approved.

Here are some important notes to consider when submitting for a Firearms purchase or transfer that could exclude you from the automated process:

If you have ever been arrested or convicted of a crime in Oregon or any other state.
If you have incomplete or incorrect information listed on federal ATF Form 4473
- Potential Fix- Double-check the information for accuracy.
If your registered DMV address does not match the address listed on federal ATF Form 4473
- Potential Fix- Update your personal address with DMV.

This unit has been working through these extreme firearms request volumes and will continue to process them as quickly as possible.

The FICS unit’s hours of operation is set in Oregon Revised Statute (ORS), and largely determined by retail hours. FICS is open and processing background checks from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., seven days a week 363 days a year with only Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day off. For more information about the Oregon State Police’s Firearms Instant Check System (FICS) including how to complete a Firearm Pre-Purchase Self-Assessment Questionnaire click here:

https://www.oregon.gov/osp/programs/cjis/Pages/Firearms-Instant-Check-System.aspx

Image shows the daily average backlog for the Firearms Instant Check System daily average for 2018 to 2022.