doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Home FFL?

This is where lawyers are a necessity. I don't know anything about gunsmithing but I do have experience protecting my family's assets. If you set up a business without an attorney, you are betting your net worth and you family's future that you got it right. There is significant liability in any business that you have to be protected from. Even attorneys purchase professional liability to protect them if they make a mistake in advising you in how to proceed. Nothing that is worth doing should be approached half assed and I've never known anyone who went bird hunting in January in a briar patch naked!

I have a dumb question to add to this. Is it legal to borrow or lend a firearm for longer then 24 hours?
Jeff G.

Hmm, that needs answering in a generally applicable, nationwide, rule-of-thumb way. And in the Garden State also, if that's possible.

jack

Seems to me that borrowing or lending a gun could not possibly qualify as a business. The gun control act makes it illegal to transfer possession of a firearm through interstate commerce without going thru an FFL (with attendant record keeping) or to take possession of a firearm for business purposes without having an FFL and entering the gun in the FFL's 'bound book' record.

All bets are off though in New Joisey, California or ChicagoLand...Geo

No, that is not where an attorney is a necessity, I talked to an attorney first, he said pay me $1750 and my office manager will do it or fill out the 2 pages yourself. All this accomplishes is to form an LLC.

I gave up my FFL in The mid 90's due to an upcoming divorce.{ Ex wanted 65% of inventory and past earnings}. Right about that time the ATF began a practice of not issuing Class 1 FFLs to non storefront locations, hence no more new home firearms stores. I was grandfathered in, but when I moved to a new location in the middle of nowhere, with a detached 30' X 30' garage that I thought I would build longrifles in, it turned out that the covenants in my extremely rural( surrounded by a nationally known regulated shooting grounds) town allow no home business's at all. Oh well, I didn't sell SKS's or AK's, or AR's, so I wouldn't have any customers now anyway.

I have had an FFl since '68. Up until about 15 years ago, pretty much anyone could get an FFL, and buy guns direct, maybe sell a few to their friends. Then BATF decided they could cut down on the number of FFls buy requiring that holders need to be in compliance with all zoning regulations, and certify this on license applications and renewals. Even need to be fingerprinted and signed off by your local police dept. This, of course cut way back on FFLs. Since that time you have to meet all these requirements. There were a lot of part time gunsmiths, and most if not all started out that way, who had to give up their licenses. One that I know told me he just saved the cost of the license. The basic law is that if you have the firearm in your care (home shop etc.) overnight, you need an FFL and must enter this firearm in your Bound Records (name address serial no, etc, etc) There is no mention of part time, hobby, etc.

The American Custom Gunmaker's Guild at this time worked to see if we could get a separate Gunsmith's FFL so those that could not get a regular license, could be legal. I was the point person on this issue. I wrote to BATF and asked then about a Gunsmiths license, and BATF replied they were in favor of a separate license, but it would take a change to Gun Control '68 to do this. I still have the original letter. And I should clear up what a Gunsmiths license would allow, you would not be able to do transfers (sales), otherwise you get an 01 FFL. I attempted to get NRA/ILA to help get the ball rolling, should be pretty easy, eh? I could not even get a written reply from NRA/ILA, and I tried a few times as the Directors changed. So I eventually gave up. Fast forward, as the say, and a few years ago I got a call from an NRA/ILA person wondering if we were still interested in the issue. Sure I said, but the person there also asked another for opinion on the Gunsmith's FFL and I guess was advised it was not a good idea, so the issue is dead. It truly is a shame that even with BATF's positive opinion, it won't get done.

Do remember that the full time gunsmith has to pay for this license, has to meet all local zoning regulations and do all the record keeping this FFL entails, he has to have an alarm system, safes, probably a local business license, Liability and theft insurance, and the list goes on. And he has to pay taxes on what he makes. I started out as a part timer but have been full time since 74, I am 70 and am cutting back but want to continue with MY WORK, but I cannot get a license to work part time out of my home. Sorry for the rant, but maybe this describes the real world of FFLs

This has all been very enlightening. looks like my hobby will stay a hobby. I will stick with working on my own guns.

I do have a question. If BATF considers the receiver the firearm, can you just do barrels and not have any of the other parts in your shop?

Sadly this discourages new people in the trade, making it die with the old timers.

Absolutely correct.......most of the time!

Bingo.