Details of a Background Check When You Buy a Gun or Need a Permi - KCOY Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo - News

Details of a Background Check When You Buy a Gun or Need a Permit

SALINAS, Calif. -- There are several different types of background checks, one of them is for the Concealed Weapons Permit.

It allows you to be able to carry and conceal a gun after to you buy it. Part of it requires a psychological test that does happen now, but there's even more checks that are needed before you buy a gun.   

Right now if you walked into a gun store it would take about 10 days for you to get a weapon. There is a different process to buy a handgun and a shotgun. For handguns you have to get a handgun safety card. You do that by answering a quick test. It's about 25 questions mostly about the functions of the gun.

Local gun shops we talked with said you don't need this card if you're buying a shotgun.

The next step is the background check by the state. You have to be in the store to actually fill out this information after you pick out your gun. There will be questions about your criminal history, whether you have kids in your home, where you plan to store your gun, what other guns you may already own.

California gun shops will need your ID and fingerprints. The gun shop then sends that info to the state. Once approved and you get the gun you just have to show the store you know how to use it and you're done.

Commander Lisa Nash told Central Coast News that to get a Concealed Weapons Permit more background work is required like a full criminal history check, an in-person personal history interview, psychological exam and they'll even send investigators to talk to your neighbors to see if you're capable of handling a gun. "A lot of it can be revealing you know. How your neighbors see you. Interaction with neighbors have been tell-tail in our backgrounds," said Nash.

The number of people carrying concealed permits in Monterey County has almost tripled since May 2011. Right now 183 people have a permit and 32 are on the waiting list.

In California you can apply to buy a handgun every 30 days and you have to pay for a background check every time. Gun stores say the checks only cost $25.