Question on background check denial in Oregon

[shakazulu12]

Got a letter back from the FBI stating that they didn't have anything in their records yesterday. Letter stated that the Portland branch of the US Attorney's office flagged me as "under indictment or information for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year....". They stated they could not provide specifics and that I would have to contact that agency. Interestingly, they did not give me a phone number or address or anything. Just two email addresses. Neither of which worked. I just called the general number for the Portland branch of the US Attorney's office. One of the people belonging to one of the email addresses actually picked up the phone, she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. She put me on hold trying to find the second person who is apparently in meetings at the moment, so I'm awaiting her call back. The person who answered stated she couldn't do anything with the case number that I had been provided, so I'm still waiting to hear what that entails.

I'm not an attorney or anything, but I always assumed that if you were indicted for something, you should probably have heard about it by now (case number seems to suggest 2009 if I'm reading it right). So the fun continues.

 

[boarder4life81]

Got a letter back from the FBI stating that they didn't have anything in their records yesterday. Letter stated that the Portland branch of the US Attorney's office flagged me as "under indictment or information for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year....". They stated they could not provide specifics and that I would have to contact that agency. Interestingly, they did not give me a phone number or address or anything. Just two email addresses. Neither of which worked. I just called the general number for the Portland branch of the US Attorney's office. One of the people belonging to one of the email addresses actually picked up the phone, she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. She put me on hold trying to find the second person who is apparently in meetings at the moment, so I'm awaiting her call back. The person who answered stated she couldn't do anything with the case number that I had been provided, so I'm still waiting to hear what that entails.

I'm not an attorney or anything, but I always assumed that if you were indicted for something, you should probably have heard about it by now (case number seems to suggest 2009 if I'm reading it right). So the fun continues.

Any update you are able to share with us?

 

[shakazulu12]

Nothing from the Portland branch of the US Attorney's office. Well, TONS of excuses, but no action. From what I gather, their was recently some sort of big migration of all their records, or transferring to a new database of some sort. After two weeks of no returned phone calls (despite being promised profusely every day they would call the next day), I finally just went down there and sat in the lobby. This resulted in several people basically having no clue what to do and then finally the determination the person I needed to speak with wasn't in the office. Lot's of passing the buck at this point. I'll be going back down there again tomorrow in fact.

The one person who did examine the letter in front of me (she was also named specifically in the letter) seemed most perplexed and while I don't know her title, it was pretty apparent that she was not in a position to actually sign off on anything.

 

[boarder4life81]

I'm not big on lawsuits, but have you discussed this with a lawyer? Seems like you might have a case against the US attorney's office for defamation of character and (I'm sure) other rights violated (due process). I wonder how quick they would either charge you or make the whole thing disappear if a lawyer served the office and subpoenaed the records. Otherwise (I fear) they will just give you the big brother run around hoping you will abandon all hope.

On a side note, has this had any effect on your FFL status?

 

[Squidly]

I do not have a passport so I did not know that was an option.

Get one. It's worth it.

 

[Modeler]

Alright, it's been another month... What's the latest?

 

[shakazulu12]

Latest is that after calling constantly and then showing up at their office repeatedly, I was finally angrily advised that "The forms have been sent to the FBI. It was strongly, actually I'll go further and say rudely, advised I stop harassing their office over this matter. They have refused to provide any copies or proof that they sent anything in to NICS. Calling NICS is a joke, their automated phone line is telling me they are currently processing documents received in May. Not sure what else to do until I can get confirmation the forms have been sent. If this thread disappears it's because I hired an attorney.

 

[Modeler]

If this thread disappears it's because I hired an attorney.

Seems like the most reasonable course of action at this point.

 

[billdeserthills]

I was told I was denied specifically. The FFL mentioned if it had been an address or something like that, they would have advised her the specifics, but that they won't on a denial. I did include my social, and as I said before, I just recently got my C&R FFL. So I know all my information is updated. The number given to me is just a message line, which is kind of annoying since it gives me the impression that I won't be able to speak directly to anyone to get it clarified.

I wouldn't think I would need an attorney, I've never been arrested, no court cases etc. Just trying to figure out if there is something more I should be doing to correct this as opposed to just waiting for a callback from a voicemail line.

according to Brady Denial? You CAN Get Your Guns Back the first thing to do is ask the salesperson if you were denied by the state (if appl) or the Feds (generally NICS) The sales guy is supposed to also have handed you a Denial brochure, but they never do. If you were denied by the feds there is a form that you are supposed to fill out that once returned, will get the fed to start working on exactly why You were denied, which will give you what you need to begin to fight this wrong. Or you can do what many other folks do, just write it off as a bs mistake (it could be just that) and go get that gun elsewhere. The nics (feds) do screw up and there is no point in letting one try make you crazy.

 

[Liberty97045]

I had an error on my record and had to go through the expungement process to get it corrected. Took years and thousands of $$

 

[billdeserthills]

I have helped many folks get their rights back & that was just by utilizing the current forms that the atf /fbi publishes. Of course for every seemingly easy fix there are prolly plenty of tough to impossible ones. The voluntary appeal file form has been very helpful, but for some reason almost no gunstore has the form available.

 

[shakazulu12]

Got the all clear letter from the FBI today. Never did get anything from the Portland office of the US Attorney, but at least the matter is settled.

 

[Modeler]

Did it require an attorney or did they get it figured out on their own?

 

[shakazulu12]

No attorney, I had set an arbitrary date of October first as far as when I was thinking of going that route. NICS doesn't give status updates, other than to tell you how many months behind they are due to the flury of background checks from the previous year. Up until today I simply had no verification of whether the US Attorney's office had filled out the required forms for them or not. They REFUSED to answer this one simple question that would have put me at ease. Had they simply given me an actual confirmation that they did anything, I would have shut up and just let time go by.

That said, I'm glad that NICS was able to get to it a lot faster than the times I was being quoted.

 

[Modeler]

Glad it all worked out. Did you end up getting the gun you had originally tried to purchase then?

 

[shakazulu12]

Glad it all worked out. Did you end up getting the gun you had originally tried to purchase then?

No I did not actually. With a potential long delay I re-considered my decision in caliber change and actually ordered up another pistol that isn't due in for a few months. Now I have a GSSF coupon to burn.