They took my guns

On Nov 23, I got a USPS card saying I had a certified letter to come pick up. Sender was "DoJ" I jokingly said to my fiancee that they were probably gonna ask me to surrender my firearms... HA HA HA... So I go to the post office and get the letter, it was indeed from The Department of Justice: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosions division. I opened it and read that under USC 922 (g)(2) that I was a prohibited person to possess any firearms/ammunition.
Had a phone number to an ATF agent out of Phoenix AZ that I was to contact before 12/1/11. I called and got his voicemail. Told him about the letter and that I was supposed to contact him before 12/1 and I have now done so. He called the next morning and told me I had a warrant in MO from about 3yrs ago for an unpaid fine, which made me a FUGITIVE OF JUSTICE.

Seriously?? Who comes up with this shit??

I told him I would call the municipal court and pay my fine over the phone. He said that wasnt good enough, I needed to sell or surrender my firearms to an arms dealer first, THEN I could pay the fine. I said "thats not gonna happen Agent Tsui" He said that if I didnt fax him proof that I had surrendered my firearms by 11/23 that they would come and arrest me for felony possession of firearms and I could sit in PRISON for 10yrs. (over a $150 fine at a municipal court I didnt know about from 3yrs ago!!!) So, I took them to the pawn shop a block from my house. Got the receipt and faxed it to him. Paid the fine, called him up to see if he verified that I paid it, which he did. Went back to the pawn shop to get my firearms back. Since I was receiving firearms (even though they were mine already) I had to fill out the FFL for the FBI NICS. DENIED instantly. Called Agent Tsui back, no answer. Called the FBI and explained what was going on, she put me on hold, we got disconnected after about 5 minutes.... Then Agent Tsui calls me, saying "you just called the FBI and got disconnected? Yeah, I was on that call too" W T F??!! He said it would take 24 hours to purge from the system, but since 24 hours from the time I paid my fine would be Thanksgiving, that I could just pick them up on Friday. Went to the pawn shop Friday, did the paperwork again and DENIED instantly again!!!

*Blah Blah Blah calls back and forth between ATF and FBI*

I had to file an appeal to get them to un-deny me so I could pass the NICS... Did that on 11/25 and they said it could take 5 business days to respond.

Which brings me to today... got a letter from DoJ Federal Bureau of Investigation saying they got my appeal BUT they needed my fingerprints to prove my identity (I guess my ID and Soc Sec# wasnt good enough) and any court documents mailed to them.

WAIT WAIT here's the best part!!!
-and I'll just go ahead and quote em here

Please be advised that appeals are processed in the order in which they are received by the NICS Section. Currently, the NICS Section is receiving a high volume of appeals, and the current average processing time is approximately 109 days from the date your fingerprint card and/or court documentation is received by the NICS Section.

So to sum it up, got a call that I had a fine and had to surrender my guns or go to jail, pawned my guns, paid my fine (all within 2ish hours of the call that AM) and now I'm looking at about 4-5 months total time til I can go get MY PROPERTY.