DogtownTom's Steps to getting an 01FFL:

1. Check with your city and county to see if home based business are allowed or not. Deed restrictions or homeowners association rules may prohibit home business as well. If you rent your home then read your lease contract to see if home business is allowed. Usually city & county websites will have this info on their website. Print out a copy of those rules and keep them. If all is okay with a home based business then...

2. Decide what kind of business structure you want to have: corporation, LLC, partnership (if you have a partner) or sole proprietorship. There are advantages to each kind: sole proprietor is the easiest, corporation or LLC may give you certain legal protections. Don't for a minute think having your FFL business as a corporation makes your immune from lawsuits against you personally. Google "piercing the corporate veil". Once you decide...

3. Go to the county courthouse and apply for an assumed name (DBA). Do this before you incorporate or form a partnership because the name you want may be taken. If you’ve already done this for your other business you could just use that name. Now that you have a name for your business...

4. Go to the IRS website and get a Federal EIN # for Federal tax purposes. Then...

5. Go to http://www.state.tx.us/portal/tol/en/bus/home and apply for your Texas Sales Tax & Use Certificate- this will be required. BTW, there is no sales tax paid on transfer fees in Texas- only on firearms you sell. You do not collect Texas Sales Tax on guns the customer buys and has shipped to you. Live somewhere else? Then see your state website.

6. Decide what your “business hours” will be. These are not necessarily hours that you are open to the public, but hours you plan to devote time and attention to your business. My real job is teaching- so I put my “business hours” as M-F 5-10p. ATF wants to see that you are actually going to be in the business of dealing firearms. You can always change those hours later if needed. The hours you note on the Form 7 are the hours ATF can visit for a compliance inspection.

7. Complete the Form 7 Application for Federal Firearms License. It doesn’t carbon copy, so you’ll have plenty of writing to do. It is actually three identical forms. Keep a copy for yourself, send a copy to the chief law enforcement officer of your city or county- and put a sticky note on it that says “For Files Only- No Action Needed”. Along with the Form 7, ATF will have sent fingerprint cards. Go to any law enforcement agency and tell them you need “prints for file” or “prints for Federal background check”. They should not charge you. Use ONLY the ATF fingerprint cards. Get two passport size photos taken. Mail this last Form 7 to ATF along with the app fee of $200, fingerprint cards and passport photos. I sent mine Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. How long you wait for the FTF interview with ATF depends on the volume of FFL applicants. While you are waiting...

8. Go to www.atf.gov and start reading EVERYTHING.
For starters:
FAQ's (and the citations to the response) https://www.atf.gov/questions-and-answers/firearms-qas
Forms https://www.atf.gov/firearms/firearms-forms All of them. And read the instructions.
FFL Newsletters https://www.atf.gov/resource-center/publications-library?field_document_type_value=All&og_group_ref_target_id=186
Code of Federal Regulations pertaining to firearms 478 & 479 https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/regulations-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives
Rulings (not law, but ATF's current opinion) https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/firearms-rulings
Open Letters (some apply to all FFL's, some state specific)  https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/firearms-open-letters


The day you mail your Form 7 off, plan on just an nhour a day reading something on the ATF site. At some point, an ATF Industry Operations Investigator will call to set up an appointment for your interview. The interview will be at your “licensed premises” (your home). Odds are, he will already know if your home is legal for a home based business, but show him the proof you got in #1 above. Then...

9. At the interview, the IOI (Industry Operations Investigator a bean counter, not dog shooter) will review your application for accuracy and briefly review the various forms. He will have a checklist where he will tick off each topic he is required to cover, you'll sign his copy and he'll leave one with you. It shouldn’t take more than an hour. He may ask about safes, alarms, etc. NONE of which are required- but it would make ATF very happy if you have a safe and alarm system. It would make a good impression if you knew a few damn things about federal firearms regulations. Don't expect the ATF IOI to educate you.

“Secure storage” has to do with gun locks for customer guns. Federal law requires every FFL to have gunlocks available for every handgun that they transfer. Almost all new guns come with a lock. Free locks are often given away at gun shows or you can buy them for as little as fifty cents each. After the interview...

10. He should have given you an idea whether you will get approved. The app will be reviewed by his supervisor before being approved. You should get your actual license in three to six weeks. Once it arrives...

11.Do NOT sign the license- leave it blank! Copy the original, put it away. I highly recommend signing one copy and scan it both as a .pdf file. You can then email that FFL to the shipper/seller. Faxed FFL’s are the mark of a dinosaur, don't be a FFLdactyl. A copy of your FFL must be displayed where you conduct business, including gun shows.

12. Immediately register with the FBI NICS  https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/nics/resources-for-federal-firearms-licensees You can’t transfer guns until you do. I registered with NICS at 7pm, at 9:30am the next morning they called to tell me I was active. (if you live in a state where FFL's do not contact FBI NICS but use a state POC (point of contact) you'll need to register with that state agency. After that...

13.Order your 4473’s from ATF, along with Multiple Sale of Handgun forms, Multiple Sale of Certain Rifles (CA, AZ, NM, TX only), Youth Gun Safety brochures and other forms you might need.  Order paper forms here: https://www.atf.gov/distribution-center-order-form    ATF may have sent some when you get your license, but more is better. There is no official “bound book” and there are several different ones out there- I buy mine from Brownells because they are cheap. Order at least a pack of three. Put them in a three ring binder. There are also electronic bound books that incorporate point of sale, inventory control, etc. Then...

14. Go to GunBroker or other auction site and list yourself in the “Find an FFL” directory. After that things like business cards and the like to spread the word about your new FFL. Visit distributors websites and open accounts. Some love home based dealers, some don't.

15. Although not required I highly recommend getting insurance. Both inventory and general liability coverage. Collectables Insurance  https://collectinsure.com/ has a firearm dealer policy that protects your inventory, when you ship customers guns and your guns on the table at gun shows. Very easy to deal with.





Whatever you do………don’t buy one of those “Get your FFL Kits” off the internet. They don’t tell you anything I didn’t write above.

You need to be sure the location meets all zoning requirements, and is distant enough from any "school" including a pre-school day care or registered home school.

Plan out what you posted hours of business will be. Likely you will need to be present to sign for UPS, Fedex, USPS firearm deliveries unless you plan to add other "responsible individuals" to your FFL.

"By appointment only" won't fly. BATFE expects you to be present and OPEN during the posted business hours and will drop in for a compliance check, or after you have been in biz awhile they might stop by for a firearms trace of an item that moved through your FFL.

While existing business may get away with not following the above - they are not applying for a new FFL, you will be.

Best bet is to find a hole in the wall commercial/industrial zoned rental unit. "Employee" (perhaps a commission only position, with ability to buy at cost...) enough staff as part time counter sales to keep the place open during hours of business to be ready to accept deliveries. Expand from that if business is profitable. Remember your biggest competition will be the internet so doing local transfers to customers buying online may bring in most of your initial foot traffic. The ability to up sell accessories, ammo and other things that the customer can take home today is what will drive profits.

Edit: if you only want to work 60hrs/week this biz isn't for you. You will be a slave to it and it will own all your time.

Having worked with my cousin getting his FFL and SOT, what I would offer is:  I really is not that hard, if you are genuinely interested in having a business, and you do your homework with your locality on zoning first.  What is really hard is the guy who just wants an FFL to buy guns for less and has no plans for how to run a business, or has not done his homework with his HOA (if he has one) or his county on zoning, and business license and State Corporation filings (if appropriate).  Also, the guy who does not really know the gun industry, has no clue from whom he is going to buy or to sell to, and then the guy with background problems.

at the end of the day, the ATF will do a 4 hour interview, at your place of business.  Most of this 4 hours is really instructional:  how to complete all the ATF paperwork, but the agent is looking for very, very, very basic things:

2)  Are you truly going to run a firearms business, or are you looking for ways to buy guns cheap.  Note:  a business could by only acting as a paid transfer agent.  What is that plan?  The plan does not have to be a written plan, but that helps.

4)  Do you have a place to secure your firearms and the ability to receive firearms at your place of business

9)  Do you undertand how to conduct a background check and will you retain the ATF and FBI records in your possession forever, or until you close the business.

The SOT is easy.  Once you have an FFL, you send your money in annually and get a Class 2/3 license.  the cost is $500 or $1,000 per year, depending upon your business.

That's it.  You can pay me $50, and you know what you need to know.