A friend I know built his son a gun shop, has a excellent location, and only one other competitor about 10 miles away. The population is maybe 40 thousand in the two towns, and there are only 3 gun shops in the whole county. He also sell suppressors and SBR's. We're only at the talking stage now, but what is the best route on a FFL? Can I buy his with the business and transfer it to myself? Do I just get mine with the appropriate additions to sell suppressors and SBR's? The catch is he has a number of weapons I'm not interested in that are part of his 07 SOT, their old crappy full autos he wants to much for. The nice thing is that he is the only dealer of suppressors for about 300 miles. He also has a suppressor shop kiosk. I live about 30 miles from the business and I would also like to open a 2nd store closer to me that would be more attractive to another large base of customers who don't want to drive the 75 or so for a suppressor, which I have property at, and could do very easily. Last thing it's also a pawn shop that is actually carrying the gun business right now, I'd like to separate the gun from the pawn shop, to kind of bring the gun shop "up" in stature, but still keep them both viable. I don't think people wanting guns want to see old chain saws, guitars and other pawned stuff, plus it cuts down on space for the gun shop. Thoughts, ideas and how should I tackle the FFL

I would view it as basically a office/retail building purchase with furniture and name, especially if you don't want the existing inventory... and then start your FFL as a new shop using the same building.

Any plans for expansion like an indoor range?

If he's giving up the SOT, those post-samples can be sold without a law letter......and no-letter-required posties sell quickly, and for a premium......

Just something to consider

No FFL advise but LGS first hand experience.
I have a friend that started a LGS in detached garage a few years ago. Focused on two things, NFA sales and popular gun sales. Best suppressor dealer in area and always gets great deals on fast moving guns like low - mid priced ARs, CCW pistols. People came from all over the state to his garage behind his farm house in the middle of nowhere. He does a ton of internet / phone orders also. He later moved to strip mall in town.  I have no idea why every other LGS thinks they can charge 30% more than him and sell anything.

Be good at buying from distributors and pass the savings to your customers. Worked for him.

No.

Yes at the 2nd location where I have property now

Yes but their Sten guns, a Sterling, a CZ58 and odd shit like that. He wants a 100K for like 10 WW2 and 50's era subs.

I want all his inventory except this post sample pos sub gun he wants a 100K for.

So I have to apply for my own? I can't transfer his to me?

You should call the local ATF office near you and ask these same questions.  As I understand it, no you cannot transfer his to you.  He will relinquish his license and send his 4473's and bound book to their document storage center, and you will apply for a new FFL and start a fresh bound book and stack of 4473's.  


You have to have an FFL back and approved before you can apply for an SOT (this is what you need for SBR's and cans).

I have found the licensing center at the ATF easy to work with and they will answer all your questions.

Is the business a sole proprietorship, LLC, Corp or what? If it's a legal entity, the transaction can be a lot smoother.

It's a corporation

I would form my own corp/FFL, purchase the inventory from him you want, let him dump the rest, and move into his location.  An FFL/SOT going out of business can get rid of post-samples easily and they bring decent coin; if you take over his corp/FFL they're tough to sell.

Also by starting fresh you're not inheriting his years worth of paperwork - and whatever errors are in that paperwork - that you have to maintain and deal with if there's an ancient trace request as well.  Are his records are stored electronically so you can do a search and retrieve a particular 4473 in a few minutes?  If not I would start over with your own system.

Then all you would need to do is be added as a responsible person within the corp. The corp holds the FFL, not an individual. Once you're approved, you can handle transfers and the old owner can be removed. As far as the purchase goes, it could be either an asset or stock sale. You'll still need to work out the disposition of items you're not interested in keeping with the corp.

This.
Purchase the assets, not the liability.

That's what I plan on doing, will be sending in my FFL application this weekend, did the finger prints today, get a photo tomorrow and then is off to the mail box. How long does it usually take? Then how long before I can apply for a SOt to sell the suppressors? He has a pretty damn big supply of those, I'd say all told his inventory will be pushing 100 grand? He also has a successful pawn shop, which goes with it.

Anywhere from two months to four months.


Once you get your FFL you can pay the SOT.
SOT tax year runs July 1st-June 30th .....if you pay in January you'll be due again next June.