Marc:
The law has not changed in the past 6 months. The applicable law is Title 22, US Code, Section 2778, Part 178 (Commerce in Firearms and Ammunition), Paragraphs 178.94 and .95. They require a licensee to have and keep on file a "certified copy" of the recipient's FFL. It further states that a licensee may reproduce their original FFL and then "certify" it.
Furthermore, on the bottom of the FFL itself, it states: "DO NOT SIGN THE ORIGINAL LICENSE (emphasis theirs) prior to making copies, as the signature on each certified copy must be an original"
Actually, right below the signature block it says: "The licensee named herein shall use a reproduction of this license to assist a transferor of firearms to verity the identity and the licensed status of the licensee as prided in 27 CFR Part 178. The signature on each reproduction must be an ORIGINAL signature.
Every single distributer, manufacturer and FFL dealer I've dealt with for the past decade has always required a copy with an signature. No one has ever accepted either a FAX or a copy of a signature (I've signed and mailed thousands of FFLs over the years)
It's not that I don't want to sell you a stripped lower (hell, I want to sell everyone in the WORLD a stripped lower!). But, I want to comply with the federal law.