WOW! Got rejected on the back ground check to buy a rifle!!!

ArcticBowMan · 12-09-2004, 09:43 PM

Can you believe this. Some letters are going to get fired off to my state senator.

I'm living in Las Vegas while my wife is going to UNLV. One more year and we'll be moving back home. I still spend half the year up in Alaska hunting, fishing, trapping and oh yea... working.

We went to the new Bass Pro Shop in Las Vegas today and my wife surprised me with an early X-mas gift, she was going to get me a new rifle. I've been wanting an all around predator rifle that won't blow apart fox, but is enough to take down a wolf at a couple hundred yards. My .243 works good, but is a bit too powereful for fox. I chose a nice Ruger Mini 14 .223, and we got moving on the paperwork to purchase. I paid the $25 fee for the back ground check, and they called in to get the information. The gun dealer got this confused look on his face and said, "are you sure?" and was re-confirmed that the in the state of Nevada, it is illegal to sell guns to Alaskans!!! What BS! Just since our state isn't "connected" with the lower 48, they are unable to sell to me.

Anybody else every experience something like this? What a crock. I'll be writing in a letter to both the Nevada representatives and the Alaska representatives. Grrrrr, mostly venting right now, but this is rediculous.

My .243 seemed to do the job on this wolverine last week, but I don't even want to post pictures of some of the fox we have shot.[:@]

North Texan · 12-09-2004, 09:48 PM

That is ridiculous. I didn't think anything was illegal in Vegas.[&:]

frizzellr · 12-09-2004, 09:52 PM

Look at the bright side, you didn't get stuck with a mini 14. You would be lucky to hit a fox with one of those. They shoot minute of pieplate accuracy. I love Ruger rifles and handguns but the 14 wasn't built for accuracy.

bigbulls · 12-09-2004, 10:19 PM

That is absolutely absurd.

It still baffles me why the states have any authority to regulate firearms at all. Seems that the US constitution gives every US citizen the right to bear arms and no where does it give the authority away to the states to regulate firearms.

I agree with frizzellr though. At least they kept you from wasting your money.

ArcticBowMan · 12-09-2004, 11:19 PM

I'm not too much of a gun person, but all the guys behind the counter recommended this rifle for what I'm wanting to do. What would you guys recommend?

Currently I have a .22 and a .243, and what I'm looking for is a single gun that will not blow apart a fox, but at the same time be able to knock down a wolf from a couple hundred yards. Should I just move to a full metal jacket round in the .243 and call it good?

bigbulls · 12-09-2004, 11:58 PM

By all means get yourself a new rifle but stay away from the mini 14.

For the $500.00+- that you would spend on the mini 14 you would be much better served with a bolt action. Savage would be a good yet inexpensive rifle to put your money into. Remington ADL will run you about 400 bucks, Howa varminter will be somewhere around 500 bucks in a laminated stock, or even a NEF handi rifle if you don't mind a single shot and this would leave you some extra money to put into better glass to go on top.

ArcticBowMan · 12-10-2004, 12:05 AM

Are you recommending these in a .223 caliber, or would you consider a different caliber in my situation? I definately don't want a single shot rifle, I'd hate to find myself having to reload each shot if I had a pack of wolves nearby.

Briman · 12-10-2004, 12:41 AM

I agree also, ixnay the Mini-14 idea unless you want a gun made for plinking not varmint hunting.

Quote:

I paid the $25 fee for the back ground check, and they called in to get the information. The gun dealer got this confused look on his face and said, "are you sure?" and was re-confirmed that the in the state of Nevada, it is illegal to sell guns to Alaskans!!! What BS! Just since our state isn't "connected" with the lower 48, they are unable to sell to me.

I would try another gun shop as Bass Pro doesn't always have the most knowledgable people, or better yet, call the Nevada State Police or Attorney General's office in Nevada and ask them.

I don't see anything in the regulations about either alaska or Nevada, Clark county, or Las Vegas that prohibits you from buying the gun. There are a few states that don't allow you to buy rifles out of state unless you are from an ajoining state- the most prominent example is Illinois, but I don't see anything pertaining to Nevada or Alaska unless a law was passed within the last couple of months.

halcon · 12-10-2004, 12:57 AM

ABM I believe you will have that problem with most state and that it is a Federal law rather than a state law . It is to keep people not qualified in one state going into another to purchase a firearm . When I first moved to Vegas I had the same problem until I became a resident . this was back in the 90's . When I moved to Oregon it was the same here to .

Briman · 12-10-2004, 01:28 AM

27 CFR part 178 sections 178.99(A) and 178.96 (C)
to paraphrase: allows for the sale of rifles and shotguns from a licensee to a nonlicensee from another state so long as the business is conducted at the Licensee's place of business.

I don't see anything about prohibiting sales outside of the 48 contiguous states, but I'm not denying that it could exist. Contact the BATF or go to a gun shop with a knowledgeable owner and ask them