Background Check Delayed Two Years?

kbbb · Jul 8, 2023

Camelfilter said:
Never having pawned anything, and hopefully never will...

With interest, what did this escapade cost you in total? Vs the "loan" itself?

Would you pawn anything of intrinsic value again?

At this point, I don't know much it cost exactly and I probably wouldn't share it publicly here if I did. If you're pawning something, you've exhausted other options. If I was ever in that place again, I'd go to different pawn shop - that much I know. I would never pawn a firearm again ever.

ODG_Chad · Jul 9, 2023

kbbb said:
Sorry for the slow reply, but yes, the firearm is now safely back in my possession. It's a huge relief. And to USA Pawn's credit, the manager called as soon as the check was approved and said he had "some amazing news." He was a standup guy along just doing his job. Still, I think USA Pawn should have made it clearer at the beginning - a post-it-sized note on the front door with fine print isn't enough. Then again, I could have missed something along the way, too. I'm just relieved it's over.

Regardless, I hold Oregon FICS as most responsible for the delay. Interestingly, I'd stopped calling the FICS appeal line for months, and then decided to start calling again. I called once, and 1-2 weeks later it was approved. My guess is that the Background Check just got put at the bottom of a stack - lost, for all intents and purposes - and then I got lucky when someone decided to put enough effort into resolving it, either at FICS or in the courts. Fortunately, it was approved when it was, as I had contacted a lawyer and was getting ready to begin efforts to expunge the Assault charge so that it wouldn't show up in a new background check. The lawyer said expungement would take approx. 8 months in Multnomah Co. - the longest of any Oregon county apparently - and cost around $1000. Oh, and the lawyer did indicate that there might have been a legal way to recover the firearm by transferring ownership to (only?) a family member while in pawn, and then submitting a background check for that individual. I say "might" because I'm not sure I remember the details exactly, and am neither speaking for the lawyer or providing legal advice of any kind, but I was surprised the lawyer brought it up.

And re: whether I would have considered giving up the gun, the answer is absolutely not. I would have travelled to pay the interest forever no matter what the gun is financially worth. It was my dad's, and our hunting trips when I was young are a big part of how I remember him. That shotgun and a few photos are really all I have to remember him by now.

Just glad it's over!

FYI, it doesn't take $1000 to have a misdemeanor expunged. You might end up paying the lawyer that, but you absolutely do not have to involve a lawyer in the process at all. And if you do need the help of a lawyer, I believe the public defender's offices in Portland should offer free 'classes' on expungement. Of course, Multnomah County has been having staffing issues with public defenders, so those classes might not exist now.

With all that being said, I can tell you first hand that expunging a misdemeanor in Multnomah County is as simple as filling out a single form and sending it in with a check for a couple hundred bucks. You just need a bit of info about the original conviction such as the case number, dates and arresting agency and maybe a bit more. You can contact the county if you don't have any of that info.

I still have copies of all of my paperwork from my personal journey with this process if you ever need more info. But really everything you need to know is on the Multnomah County website. I figured everything out myself and I'm not all that intelligent. Heck, I just misspelled intelligent when typing this up.