Requirements & Processing
After
the potential firearm purchaser completes the applicable portions of the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' (ATF) form 4473, the Federal Firearm
Licensed dealer (FFL) is required to verify the identity of the potential
purchaser by comparing the information they provide on the ATF form 4473 to a valid
government-issued identification document containing a photograph and the
person's name, address, and date of birth. A valid driver's license or
identification card meets the needs of an identification document.
In
order to fund the Point of Contact Firearms Program, a $25.00 fee is assessed for
each background check performed. It is highly recommended that prior to
contacting the Point of Contact Firearms Program for a background check that the
FFL collects from the potential purchaser the $25.00 fee. This fee will be
assessed whether a ‘proceed’, ‘unresolved’ or a ‘deny’ is granted for the
transfer of a firearm. Additionally, once the licensee has made the background
check request to the Point of Contact Firearms Program the fee is non-refundable
even if the potential purchaser or FFL decides to cancel the firearm
transaction.
Upon
receipt of a completed form and verification of identity, the FFL must contact the
Nevada Point of Contact Firearms Program.
Hours Of Operation:
The
State of Nevada Point of Contact Firearms Program is open 7 days a week (excluding
July 4th, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day). Phones are open
from 8am-4:00pm and anyone in queue before 4:00pm will remain in queue until
staff are able to answer all remaining calls in the queue.
Callers
are capped at 10 background checks per call to allow other callers on hold to
get through during business hours. The phone queue is capped to allow staff
time to process everyone in queue by the end of the business day.
Contact Information:
Location |
Phone |
Reno, Sparks, Incline, Carson City, Minden and Gardnerville |
775-684-6200 |
Las Vegas and Southern Nevada |
702-486-8730 |
All Other Areas |
1-800-4PISTOL 1-800-474-7865 |
Faxed 4473's
NOTICE: Faxed 4473 will no longer be accepted after Saturday,
January 25th, 2025 with the opening of the Agency Portal.
Faxes were being accepted as an
additional means of having background checks conducted. Faxed 4473's received from the firearms licensed dealers are entered into the system by the Brady Unit the next business day. The processing time and response back to the dealer for faxed 4473's is no longer than 4 business days.
The faxed 4473 must include the following information for processing:
1. Fax cover sheet that has the
following information on it:
- Employee Name
- FFL #
- Phone #
- Fax #
- Email address as another means of communication
- # of backgrounds being sent
- # of pages included in the fax
2. Pages 1, 2 and 3 of the ATF 4473
form, completed and legible.
3. A copy of the person’s driver’s license is helpful, but not mandatory.
*To avoid duplicate billing, do not duplicate by faxing multiple times or
faxing and calling in the same background checks.
**The POC Firearms Program staff
cannot confirm individual receipt of faxes sent – please set your fax machine
program to indicate if your fax has gone through and transmission has been
completed. If you are faxing your 4473’s, it is paramount that they are
completed in full, with accurate and legible information. If there is
information missing or incorrect, an examiner will contact you via phone to
re-fax the form. If this happens, the form will be placed in the order in which
it was received, not at the front of the line. We are unable to alter the forms
for you.
In order to conduct a background check, Point of Contact Firearms Program
staff will require the information listed below:
- The last 5 digits of the Federal Firearm
License number and name of the business.
- The caller’s name.
- The full name of the potential purchaser
(last name, first name, middle name, suffix).
- Potential purchaser’s state of residency.
- Potential purchaser’s date of birth.
- Potential purchaser’s gender (male or
female).
- Type of gun transaction (handgun or long
gun or other).
- Potential purchaser’s driver’s license
number or identification card number.
- State of issuance for driver’s license or
identification card.
- Potential purchaser’s country of citizenship.
- Potential purchaser’s place of birth.
- If the potential purchaser
is not a U.S. citizen, the alien registration number or I94 number.
If
the Point of Contact Firearms Program staff needs more information to further
identify the potential purchaser, they may ask for the potential purchaser’s
social security number, race, height, weight, as well as other identifying
information provided on the ATF form 4473.
Based
upon the information provided, the Point of Contact Firearms Program staff member
will execute the background check against federal (NICS) and state databases
that will result in one of the following determinations:
Proceed: The firearms transaction may proceed, as no disqualifying information was
located within the data bases available to the Point of Contact Firearms Program that
would prohibit the transfer of a firearm to the potential purchaser.
Delayed: The firearms licensee will be advised that further
research is necessary, and the transfer of the firearm is delayed. This delay
will take the three business days allowed by 28 C.F.R. § 25.6(c)(1)(iv)(B) to
determine eligibility of the transferee. (Weekends and legal holidays are not
counted in the total three-day hold.)
If a
transaction has been delayed, the Point of Contact
Firearms Program will call the FFL back on the third business day with one of the following
determinations:
Proceed: The firearms transaction may proceed, as no disqualifying information was
located in databases available to the Point of Contact Firearms Program that would
prohibit the transfer of a firearm to the potential purchaser.
Unresolved/Open: The Point of Contact Firearms Program is unable to reach
a Deny or Proceed status, further research will be conducted for up to 90
days. An Unresolved/Open response does not prohibit an
FFL from transferring a firearm after the three-business day timeframe has elapsed since
the FFL initiated the background check with the
Point of Contact Firearms Program.
Deny: The FFL will be advised that the transfer of a firearm would violate federal or state law. Upon the denial of a transaction the Point of Contact
Firearms Program will request that the 4473 corresponding to the background
check be faxed to 775-687-3419.
Per 28 C.F.R. § 25.8 and 28 C.F.R. 25.9 FFLs
are not permitted to receive criminal history information pertaining to the
potential purchaser.
The results of each
background check (regardless of the result) may not be disclosed to anyone
other than those who need to know for the purposes directly associated with the
firearms transfer.
To apply for a Point of Contact Firearms (Brady) account, or to update an existing
Point of Contact Firearms (Brady) account, Click here:
For
more information on ATF guidelines specific to Federal Firearms Licensees click
here to go to the ATF’s official web site https://www.atf.gov/firearms