Here's one for you guys. Just talked to a friend of mine at work regarding his recent experience with the ATF, while seeking a FFL.
My friend is a big Class III and SBR enthusiast and decided that it would be easier on his pocket book if he went ahead and applied for his FFL. Long story short, he applied using his home address with store hours for 2 hours a night.

We both figured that his odds of being successful were slim to none. Well guess what? ATF guy shows up and talks for a while. My friend shows him the software that he uses to track his own guns and explains that he won't be stocking an Inventory. He'll just use the FFl for himself and a few friends to get a break on prices.

ATF guy says he'll see what he can do and leaves. Well yesterday my friends license came back approved.

What do you think? Anomaly?

BE CAREFUL, BE VERY CAREFUL, THEY TRIED TO SET ME UP WHEN I WAS A CLASS 3 OPERATING OUT OF MY HOME, WITH UNREGISTERED MACHINE GUNS. I WAS LUCKY, THE GUY THEY HAD TRYING TO SET ME UP, FEARED ME MORE THAN THEM WHEN I FOUND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON, HE EVEN GAVE THE NAMES OF THESE SCUM AGENTS FROM THE TAMPA ST. PETE FLORIDA AREA! I TOOK IT RIGHT TO NFA IN DC. YES, SEEKING CIVIL REMEDY!

Hmmmm....Your friend could

A) buy unregistered machine guns without government intervention, undetectably, or

B)  The government could have a floor plan of his house, take inventory once a year, keep close tabs on what he has, and force him to pay outrageous fees

if you were Uncle Sam, which would you chose?

BTW, congrats to you friend

Sounds fishy to me.  I just sent in my app. for another ffl.  Ive had a couple before.  It says right there in plain sight, in plain english, on the cover page of the packet as follows:

2. A license under 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44

c. Is a business license and will not be issued to an applicant solely intending to enhance a personal firearms collection.  Applicants for curios and relics license must use ATF F 7CR.

On the form itself there are 3 questions;

15. Do you intend to make a profit from your business?  yes or no.  

A no answer means no license.

15a. Do you intend to sell firearms only at gunshows?  yes or no.

A yes answer means no license.

16. Do you intend to use your license ONLY to acquire personal firearms?  yes or no

A yes answer means no license.

I think your friend may have told you a story about what he ACTUALLY said to the ATF or someone is lying.  It is not that hard to get the license as long as you have a legitimate business, small or large, but they dont give them out to save people money.  They will not give you a licesne for personal use.  Thats a FACT.  Unless your buddy got on his knees under the table and "asked him nicely", then he might have had a chance after telling him he just wanted to save him and his friends money.


On the subject of the friendly ATF man, I have always had excellent dealings and experiences with them every time I have ever dealt with them.  The last time I had an ATF agent come by for an ispection he wound up sitting around for an hour telling drinking stories.

I have to agree with threegunar - it's not what I would expect from an ATF agent, helping the guy circumvent the law.

When the ca-ca comes down, the ATF agent will possibly deny everything and your friend will be in a real pickle!  So much for his firearms collection then, it will be on the truck back to ATF headquarters for display in their gun room. Your friend [s]will[/s] may be on his way to ClubFed (not to be confused with HedoIII).

You will invaribly get different ATF agents on these compliance visits. What happens when ATF Agent BitchWitch comes to visit?

Besides which, as we all know, even an advisory letter from the Director of the ATF will not be a defense to an NFA weapons criminal charge! So much for the ATF agent's opinion on the law.

Why risk it, just to save a few measley bucks on weapons costing mega-buck$?

Eric The(BeenThere,DoneThat)Hun[>]:)]

Remember, the ATF motto....It's OK, were here to help !!!
smells of rotten carp !!!
[frag]

Rotten fish?

That's right....just keep believing that the ATF is your friend and everything will be okay.[;D]

BTW, next time your buddy sees this agent tell him the ghost of Waco say "Hi".

sgtar15