From the Dec. 6, 1998 News Record:

It took Allen Townsend about one hour and 15 minutes to get permission to sell a gun — a process that is supposed to take three minutes. A national system for instant background checks for gun buyers began Monday (in 1998). Gun dealers are now required to contact a computerized FBI phone line to check a buyer's background. The federal law replaced voluntary checks by state and local police and sheriff's deputies. Townsend, owner of T&T Guns and Ammo, had hoped the recent changes in the Brady Act would go smoothly. Like many gun dealers, he's finding that's not the case. Computers at the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia, apparently were down for a while Tuesday. "They told me to call back in 30 minutes," he

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