I just got my packet to apply for a dealer's FFL. It seems easy enough to get if you lock up your inventory and don't sell only at gun shows. Yet, I have this strange suspicion that one can be turned down for an FFL or have it revoked fairly easily.[>:/] (Dammit, the "confused" face NEVER works on this board!! [:(!] )

Looking fo more info on the subject.

My uncle had trouble a couple years ago the first time around. Somewhere on there it asks for [b]'Business Hours'?[/b]. He left it blank, or whatever, and they said it had to be completed.

He could use his home address as the business and had to have hours listed also.

Don't know the whole story but he has the FFL now. I just remember the problem with [b]'Business Hours'.[/b]

Good Luck

I don't know yet! It's been three weeks and I haven't heard from my application.

They have 45 business days to process your application.

World Wolf, where in CT are going into business?  I'm down by Stamford and plan to send my application in May.

I had an FFL for one "term," ending about 5 years ago. The rule then seemed to be that a person who got licensed as a gunsmith only could work by appointment, but a regular dealer making purchases and so forth had to have regular hours. My excuse for getting the FFL was to do professional gunsmithing part time, but I wanted to be able to order surplus guns, actions, etc. to fix up. So I applied for a regular dealer FFL, but put something like "Sunday 3 - 6 PM" for my hours.

I got a call from an ATF guy who sounded like that actor William Devane with a sneering Boston accent. He didn't like my hours and said that a business with hours like that wasn't really a business at all. He wanted to know why I didn't just get the limited gunsmithing FFL, and was giving me a hard time all around. I told him I thought my business hours were my own concern and that a person doing any other part-time business would be free to operate whenever they wanted and would hardly be exempt from government business regulations (OSHA, etc.) because their odd hours prevented them from being considered a "real" business. He replied that dealing in guns wasn't any other business and that there was too many guns on the street down in Detroit. Also he accused me of being a nut who hates the federal government, but I lied and said I wasn't. Finally, he asked me what I would do as a dealer in various situations -- straw purchasers, multiple handgun purchases, etc.

After all this, the guy suddenly shifted gears and said he would approve my license, that I was more knowledgeable than average, and that they didn't expect any trouble from dealers out in the sticks like me anyway.

I think the whole phone call was just a test or mind game to see if I'd totally blow my top. Something like what drill sergeants do to recruits in the early weeks of basic training. But that insight did not prevent me from physically shaking with anger when I hung up the phone. Anger isn't even quite the right word -- I felt something like what German Jews or Japanese-Americans must have felt when they were rounded up for the concentration camps. Just powerless before an arbitrary government and guilty until proven innocent.

I did get the FFL, of course, but having the business out of my home was an uncomfortable situation. They want you to have a separate building or very distinctly defined part of your house set aside for the business alone, which wasn't practical for me. And you basically give up at least part of your protection against warrantless searches. With things getting worse under Clinton, I was relieved to buy myself a couple cheap SKS's at the last minute and to let my FFL run out. Now I support my local dealer and let him handle the Gestapo.

Yes. The first time I applied in '93. An arrest that was never prosecuted in "81(weapons charge...imagine that) was also never recorded. With the ATF, the burden of proof is on YOU. It took me 3 months to get the "nolle pros disposition". By that time the ATF had already refunded my application fee. Good luck.

Yeah,

I used to have an FFL.  I couldn't meet "Local Zoning Regulations" so they wouldn't renew it--I rented a house in the county (suburb), and was a "kitchen table" dealer--I sold all of 1 gun to a friend, bought 2 for myself, and used it primarily to get acessories/ammo cheaply.  I had to send in all the paperwork to the ATF out of business center in WV (which means it is all logged into a computer somewhere).  

AFARR

Conn's just my "adopted" home state. I never post my real residence on the web. Not conducting business there... My granpa lives there, though. He had to get a Class 3 FFL just to keep his collection. [V]