from a federal level , it is pay the fees , fill out the app , wait on the background ... get the licence ... up to 90 days or more ... Your locality may also have hoops to jump thro .
IIRC you must have a bona fide ''place of business'' - which can I believe be home but also I seem to recall some minimum amount of trading - meaning they do not want to dish one out for ''convenience''.
Does not seem an insuperable challenge at all but maybe - go check out BATFE web site - sorry, forget URL.
I would strongly recommend that you not obtain an FFL unless you truly desire and intend to make your living selling firearms. An FFL is not for the casual hobbyist.
If you intend to "engage in the business", you're going to need a place of business, start-up and operating capital (you have to spend money to make money), insurance, and any state and local licenses or permits, just for starters.
I'm not trying to discourage you, but I do advise you to put some real serious thought into this.
I would strongly recommend that you not obtain an FFL unless you truly desire and intend to make your living selling firearms. An FFL is not for the casual hobbyist.
If you intend to "engage in the business", you're going to need a place of business, start-up and operating capital (you have to spend money to make money), insurance, and any state and local licenses or permits, just for starters.
I'm not trying to discourage you, but I do advise you to put some real serious thought into this.
.....and then deal with everybody and their brother who wants a piece of the pie; utilities, salesmen, insurances, rent...."Won't you people just let a guy make a buck!"
I would strongly recommend that you not obtain an FFL unless you truly desire and intend to make your living selling firearms. An FFL is not for the casual hobbyist.
If you intend to "engage in the business", you're going to need a place of business, start-up and operating capital (you have to spend money to make money), insurance, and any state and local licenses or permits, just for starters.
I'm not trying to discourage you, but I do advise you to put some real serious thought into this.
I agree about not doing it unless you really intend to try to make a business of it. Been there, done that, realized my mistake.
For one thing, if you have an FFL then the BATF is permitted to come and inspect your place of business, and all of the guns on said premises, anytime they wish (with reasonable advance notice). Yes, I said ALL the guns on the premises. And every last one of those guns had better be accounted for in your records or you are going to be facing some serious legal issues.
That means, in essence, that once you have an FFL--if your place of business is your home--you cannot own any "personal" guns. Every gun in your home--even guns that you owned BEFORE you got the FFL--MUST be accounted for in the business records.
Besides that, there may well be local issues concerning licensing, bonding, zoning... The list goes on and on. Maybe for some people it is worth it. For me it wasn't.
I also looked into this when it became clear that I was interested in accumulating.. I found that the C&R FFL was the best route for me, although it does nothing for collecting modern arms. I like the older stuff anyway, and the discounts at certain shooting supply places is nice.
You might look into that, they are super easy to obtain and have their benefits.
Actually, if the area that you live in is zoned for business then you can use your home.
Also, you will have to get a business license from the county and maybe even the state (for tax purposes).
You MUST have hours of operation. They don't have to be 8 hours a day but you must have posted hours so they (batfe) can come and "visit" during these hours.
They will come out and inspect your place of business and even if it is your home, you will lost the castle docterine (sp?) rights (privacy) that you have now. They will look at where you are selling and where you are storing.
If you have ANY stock on hand you will need (mandatory) to have safe(s) in which to store. One of those aluminum 'storage' safes will not be accepted.
Then you have to keep up with the forms, the log book, and ensuring that you log in and log out within 24 hours of the sale/purchase/inventory. Failure to do so is not a good thing. The atfe can come unannouced at any time to view your books/forms.
With C&R, they call to make an appointment.
Now, if you get through all that, then you can get the FFL and you have to do a certain minimum worth of sales (don't know the minimum, I don't think it's really set but at the discretion of the batfe and you know how that is).
Your best bet is to go to Glock, Sig, Ruger, Etc.. schools and learn how to Smith on the guns. Then set up a Gun Smith shop. You are not "dealing" but you still have to have an FFL in order to work on guns.
Your best bet is to go to Glock, Sig, Ruger, Etc.. schools and learn how to Smith on the guns. Then set up a Gun Smith shop. You are not "dealing" but you still have to have an FFL in order to work on guns.
I am not too sure about including your personal firearms in the business records. I'll have to check my ATF documents. They address this issue somewhere.
I have a buddy back in WI that is an FFL on his residential property. He made three acres of his property his business property (sold it to the business for a dollar), put up a small 25y range, a small steel building, and acquired a seperate address for that 3 acre area. That is his business property. All the guns, gunsmithing and everything is there, but at a separate location. The ATFE can do whatever snooping on that 3 acre business property, but they can't to squat to his house, since it isn't part of the business. Something to think about if you are serious about this.
For hours listed, if your primary specialty is gunsmithing, but you do transfers too, list hours of operation something narrow like "10:00-16:00, or by appointment". If your doors are open for the public and that time isn't on the FFL app you will have problems. If you have "or by appointment" on there too, you won't.
When I move back to WI after school, I plan on doing a similar thing and getting my FFL and going SOT3.
I ran a repair and special order shop from my basement for six years as a "Hobby" I never did it to make money and I had zero inventory. I did it because it was fun. I sold stuff to guys that they could never afford at retail. I would charge them cost, tax and shipping and I would require 100% payment to place the order. You would think that would turn people away, but all of my customers came to me by word of mouth with checks in hand. Because I could get any class I firearm for them at cost. Oh yea, and I got all of my stuff at wholesale. After a career change I let my FFL expire because I could not devote the time that was needed.
If you have the spare time. Go for it you'll have a blast.
I believe FFL recipients are being more heavily scrutinized and regulated since Clinton was in office. He felt too many FFLs had been issued and alot of renewals were disapproved. I think holders went from 150,000 to something like 20,000.
The process to obtain one is not complicated. It is not issued as freely as in past years and unless it is a business necessity I would discourage it.
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