Wednesday, April 17, 2013

New Rifle Purchase Process - Stage 2 Complete

Shooting Buddy arrived down from "up north" yesterday so this morning we decided to attack the paperwork for the new rifles.

The forms have to be completed on-line and then you take them to the Post Office for them to be sent to Firearms Branch.

I logged into the online forms process on one of my computers and the form didn't display - not to be discouraged I woke up one of my other computers and tried again and this time it worked.

We decided to do Shooting Buddy's application first.  The form is interactive, so depending on how you answer questions additional ones come up. I am sure there are questions on there that weren't on the form last time I did it, that or I've blanked it out of my mind!  You have to answer questions about names / previous names / addresses / previous addresses (sure, list all previous addresses with dates!) / criminal convictions / medication / VROs etc, etc.

Once you get through these type of questions you actually get to the bit to do with the firearms.  To be honest this bit was quite simple - as you require a Firearms Serviceability Certificate for each firearm which contains all the relevant details (make, model, serial number, calibre) you don't actually have to fill this in on the form - only the Serviceability Certificate Number (and attach it to your application).

I only ended up having to ring the Firearms Branch twice during the process.  Once was regarding how to put the 'other licencee' information (i.e. my information) in and the other time was at the end of the process as the guy on the phone (blogged about here) had mentioned an additional form (Co-Users Permission Form) to me but the application process did not refer to this form at all.  (Yes, you do need to submit it).

After filling in the six pages of information for Shooting Buddy we went to print it, which requires it to contact via the Internet to Firearms Branch and get a unique barcode - and for some reason this didn't work and we lost all of the entries and had to start again.  Filling it in the second time was a bit quicker!

Validated and printed and then it was time to repeat the whole process for me.

No problems this time and once that paperwork was also printed and supporting documentation photocopied, we headed off down to the Post Office.

So for my application I had a five page printed form, a Firearms Serviceability Certificate for my firearm, a copy of Shooting Buddy's Firearms Serviceability Certificate, the Property Letter and the Co-Users Permission Form signed by Shooting Buddy.

Shooting Buddy's collection of paper was similar but he had a six page printed form as he had different answers to some of the questions than I did.

At the Post Office we had a short wait in the queue (apparently we were in the wrong queue but given that there was no signage showing two queues I didn't worry about that too much).  Then the lady behind the counter had a look through my Firearms Application form and attachments (slight change from the last time I did this process where the initial response was "Do we process these?") and then she asked me for 100 points proof of identification.  No where in the online forms or documentation do I recall reading that I needed to supply this, however, luckily I did have enough cards in my wallet to prove that yes, I am who I say I am.  (Interestingly enough the "Working with Children" Card does not count (even though it has photo, address and signature and itself was obtained with a 100 points ID check).  My Medicare card - First Name & Surname only - and Credit Card - full name only - were taken in preference.

Once she had scanned the form's barcode, entered the reference numbers off each of the identification cards, asked for $72.50 and printed me a receipt it was Shooting Buddy's turn.  He was more organised than me and actually had his 100 points worth of cards out of his wallet.

That done she assured us that they would be scanned and then posted by registered mail to Firearms Branch for processing.

So Stage 2 is now complete.  It will be interesting to see how long Stage 3 (Firearm's processing) takes.  In the past I have not have any firearm approved in less than 90 days.  I am hoping it will be quicker this time! Stay tuned.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

That funny! I live in the Commonwelth of Kentucky USA. It takes me less than 15 min. to fill out the federal "mother may I" form and buy a firearm. No waiting , not state BS, no permits, and no record keeping for ammo. I can own any type of fire arm I have the money to buy, AR, AK, shotgun ,handgun or Barret .50--Oh!! and I live in an "open carry" state. If I wish to strap on my S&W revolver and go walking-It's legal , Our Pol's. know that if they wish to keep there jobs they best stay away from new gun laws. ---Ray

Cheesy said...

And we want to keep it that way!

Armed Texan said...

I'm sure that all of this bureaucratic non-sense keeps the criminals from owning firearms...legally. After all, criminals are lazy and probably just go their friendly neighborhood black market dealer who only asks for several forms of picture ID as long as all the pictures look like Dame Nellie Melba or Benjamin Franklin.

Anonymous said...

Reagan was right. America truly is the last bastion of freedom...

Robert Langham said...

...but they are working on that as fast as they can!

Old NFO said...

WOW, all I can say is WOW... No wonder it's so hard for y'all...

Sendarius said...

90 days? I wish!

Application dated 15th July 2012, still not through Stage 3.

Anonymous said...

Have an Aussie detail the process of getting a semi-auto pistol for competition purposes. My head was spinning after just 1/4th of the crap they go through was explained. You have to compete with borrowed guns, X times, practice x times, have logs from the range to prove that you did shoot and practice and more. Once you get the license you have to compete and practice X number of times per year to keep it. Thank God for our 2nd ammendment!

Billll said...

Do your children require co-users certification to shoot the guns or are they included as family?

B_L said...

You have my sincere sympathy.

Kevin said...

Julie:

I want to use an big chunk of this post in an Überpost I'm currently writing, with a link back. If that gives you heartburn, please drop me a line - thesmallestminority@gmail

Kevin

JRebel said...

Wow, If I am remembering right, the last firearm I purchased. I gave my Brother in Law $300 he gave this nice Mossberg 12ga. You know one of those no ID check, back-alley deals done in the dead of night. Or rather it was around noon in his driveway, 50 yds from my front door. Evil of evils, I had to carry it across a public road to get it to my house. OH THE HUMANITY!!!

Julie said...

Thanks for stopping by guys, I've been away a for a couple of days so apologies for not responding to your comments earlier.

Ray - NICE!!! Glad your pollies know their place.

Cheesy - Amen, keep fighting for it

Armed Texan - :) unfortunately true

Anon (10:29) - Fight to keep it that way

Robert - Yep ...

Jim - Yer ... :(

Sendarius - What are you trying to licence this time???? And have you followed up? I've actually spoken to people who have had guns approved in less than 4 weeks.

Anon (10:52) - State laws vary but yes the process here for a handgun is a) financial member of a approved club for 6 months; b) completion of approved safety course - club requires 12 weeks course and then once you have your licence you need to shoot once every 8 weeks (regs say 6 times per year, club has additional requirements on top of that).

Billl - will do a separate post on that question in the next day or two .. stay tuned

B_L - thanks :)

Kevin - use away :) Will check out your blog shortly. Check out the category "firearms licensing" for additional details and www.police.wa.gov.au for links to relevant legislation / regulations if you want

JRebel - hehehe, wish that was the case here!

Mark said...

Holy Moly!! The last firearm I bought (My Rossi 12ga Side by Side) it took 11 minutes, 3 of that was talking the pawn guy down from $400.00 to $350.00. He was on the phone less than 4 minutes to get my NICS check and approval. I would go absolutely nuts under your system, especially as I purchase mostly older firearms which spend the majority of their time being admired, and maybe only taken out to be shot 2 or 3 times a year.

Julie said...

Fight to keep it that way Mark