biganimal said:
Getting an 01 FFL without a brick n morter store is getting difficult as the BATF is trying to eliminate the "kitchen table" gun dealers.
Yes and no.
You can run the business out of your house just fine, provided local laws/zoning allow for it the ATF will be fine and dandy with it if you have an ability to secure inventory and keep up with the required record keeping. Now, they may be a little more skeptical up front if you say you'll be running your business out of your garage, but if they are satisfied you will actually be engaging in business then there usually wont be an issue. A lot of gunsmiths work our of a garage/building on their property or a van after all. And they get the same FFL (Type 1 for regular retail, type 2 for a pawn broker) as a regular old gunshop.
BUT, the point again is that a FFL (with the exception of type 3 C&R FFL) is a business license. And the ATF will not issue the license if you aren't engaging or intending to engage in business, and they'll pull it after the fact if they catch wind you have discontinued business or lied during the application process. The crack down on "kitchen table" FFL's was a crack down on people who weren't engaging in business. They were using their FFL's primarily to obtain firearms for themselves and friends, and the ATF decided to stop turning a blind eye to something that was technically against the rules all along but wasn't being enforced.
I'm not saying I agree with any of this process, I think it be just fine and dandy for any of us to be able to mail order firearms just like it was before '68, but it is how it is unless/until we get the regulations changed.
And just to step off the legal/regulations aspect and onto a more practical IMHO note, attempting to get an FFL just to supply yourself with the occasional firearm is a pretty horrible waste of money. The license is 200 bucks and then another 90 every three years, a local business license may be needed will vary in cost depending on your location, and the time and space requirements for record keeping and storage of inventory isn't exactly low. This is still all assuming there are no local laws and your property is properly zoned for business.
The markup on new firearms is pretty low, and given the low volume you'd see with ordering a few firearms per year for yourself and some friends you certainly aren't going to be getting any volume discounts from the distributor, so you'll be saving
maybe 5-10% on the average price of a particular firearm in your area. Closer to the 5%, if not less than that. Gun shops make their money on used guns and accessories. You also aren't going to be getting priority on shipments when it comes to popular guns or during a crunch like we're having at the moment either, in fact with your low volume expect to be frequently bumped to the back of the line to have your order filled. That's assuming the distributor you work with has no minimum order requirements. SO availability will be as bad if not worse during a crunch or for a popular firearm. The distributors are going to be taking care of their higher volume customers before filling your order. And anything you log out as transferring to your own private collection? Your supposed to pay all applicable taxes on that as it is considered a sale, your business is selling it to you. Ignore that at your own risk like any other business that avoids properly paying sales taxes.
So in short, depending on just how many firearms you plan on buying in this scenario, you're breaking even at best and more than likely loosing money on the deal. Now, there is the perk of getting discounts at places like Midway and Brownells, but you can get the discount with a 30 dollars every three years 03 C&R FFL. And IIRC it's the same discount.
