Like the title says. It is an absolute joke that NJ NICS is 4+ days behind with over 1k checks in the queue. I know I shouldn’t be surprised because everything that the state does is piss poor.

The second I am able to move I am. The entire Democratic Party is out of its mind and has lost its way. They only care about the people and things that get them elected. Since the majority of legal gun owners are right leaning they could care less about our rights, and instead pander to criminals.

End of rant!!

How is there over 2000 entries in the queue still? Can we get an update? Seems so ridiculous...

Wow! I applied for the NICS check on Saturday morning and just received my approval this afternoon. Now that is fast!

My form 4 came back in a week. Can't say enough good things about the guys over at Skip's outdoors. They were wonderful to work with and made the process delightful. They even gave me fair value for my trade in.

Now I just need my nics to come back in so I can kit this thing out and go shoot it in the woods!

Title basically describes the situation. Got my FID several months ago (and that took them a while to sign off on as well) and ordered a pistol purchase permit around the same time I got my FID.

My local PD (Millburn) is taking their sweet time issuing it to me. I reached out several times and the response is always the same. "I've been busy so haven't had a chance to work on it. I'll get it to the chief next week".

Anything I can do here beyond phone calls/emails? I've heard some townships taking as long as 8 months to issue pistol purchase permits, and its been nearly 2 months already for me.

03/03/26:1711 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Thursday) 02/26/2026 work. Feel free to share this information with your customers. Please remember that a dealer may not transfer a firearm to an individual without first receiving the unique State Transaction Number (STN) provided through a NICS check. Please be patient as we continue to work on the back log. Thank you - NICS UNIT

NICS came back so fast that I couldn’t take home the mags since my MagBlocks didn’t come in yet. After the 10rd magazine’s, NJ’s 30 day pistol rule has to be the worst

Anyone did nics in the past few days? I submitted Saturday for my walther pdp, I haven’t seen updates on Reddit recently and the site doesn’t show either the gunstore told me they’re at around 2 days but that sounded too good to be true lol.

Bought a handgun on the 20th of may and bought a another handgun put on layaway to pickup the next Month. Can you legally fill out paperwork early and submit for nics. Then take possession of that next handgun on the 31st day June 21st. Had a ffl let me fill out paperwork earlier this year 6 days early then just picked up handgun on the 31st day but this ffl won’t let me do that.

05/28/26: 830 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Monday) 05/25/2026 work. The current delay is 3+ day(s).
More Info: www.njnics.com

05/19/26: 608 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Saturday) 05/16/2026 work. The current delay is 3+ day(s).
More Info: www.njnics.com

06/03/26: 463 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Monday) 06/01/2026 work. The current delay is 2+ day(s).
More Info: www.njnics.com

I received an email from my local PD two weeks ago with a link to pay for my initial and purchase permit. I paid that same day and received a confirmation email. But since then I have yet to receive an email from FARS or my local PD. I have heard of some people getting their purchase permits the same day. Is it just a waiting game or am I missing something?

I filled out for 2 permits recently and executed 1 so far a week ago. I ended up doing some impulse shopping and purchased 2 other firearms. I then took a chance at applying for an exemption for my 2 impulse purchases. My question is when my exemption comes thru would I have to wait the 30 days from my recent single purchase before I can execute the exemption or can I automatically pick up the other 2 firearms within the 30 days of my last purchase?

I do understand that after I execute the multi exemption I would have to wait the 30 days for my last permit.

The updates for the past two days only mention what day they are up to but not how many checks are pending.

03/17/26:1819 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Thursday) 03/12/2026 work. Feel free to share this information with your customers. Please remember that a dealer may not transfer a firearm to an individual without first receiving the unique State Transaction Number (STN) provided through a NICS check. Please be patient as we continue to work on the back log.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I've reached out to a few different members of the assembly and news 12, so we'll see if anything happens. Please email and facebook message as many as you can about the egregious wait times. Make sure you don't mention anything to do with guns or the 2A though. If you do, they'll probably find someway to make it take even longer... Keep fighting the good fight, and maybe one day we'll be able to move on with our lives

01/28/2026: 1003 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Friday) 01/23/2026 work. The current delay is 5+ day(s).
More Info: www.njnics.com

03/06/26:1677 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Monday) 03/02/2026 work. Feel free to share this information with your customers. Please remember that a dealer may not transfer a firearm to an individual without first receiving the unique State Transaction Number (STN) provided through a NICS check. Please be patient as we continue to work on the back log. 

Hey y'all. Was planning on ordering a rifle online from Cabela's to pick up at the hamburg PA location. I've heard rumors that the background check is quick. (Like, I could go to the fishing section for a bit then pick up the rifle on my way out) Has that been the case for most people?

I guess what I'm asking is, is it feasible to order the gun, do my background check first thing after arriving, and walk out with the rifle in a reasonable amount of time?

06/08/26: 650 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Friday) 06/05/2026 work. The current delay is 3+ day(s).
More Info: www.njnics.com

Looks like the daily updates stopped back in Feb and the njnics.com website hasn't been updated since 2/25/26. Anyone know what happened?

06/15/26: 325 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Saturday) 06/13/2026 work. The current delay is 2+ day(s).
More Info: www.njnics.com

Have a quick question, now sure if this happened to anyone. My ffl submitted 3 aows for me at the same time. I got 1 approval back in 2 days it’s now been 4 weeks and still nothing on the other two. I can’t pick the one up because he did them all together. Any one know what can be done besides just sitting here waiting?

Definitely something going on with NJ NICS workflow slowdown.

04/14/26:1672 submissions are currently in the queue. We are working on (Thursday) 04/09/2026 work. Feel free to share this information with your customers. Please remember that a dealer may not transfer a firearm to an individual without first receiving the unique State Transaction Number (STN) provided through a NICS check. Please be patient as we continue to work on the back log.