It's not always easy to stay abreast of all the rules and regs as they are constantly changing and will probably be even more of a challenge in the next few years. But if you want to stay in business and not become the focus of an investigation, unwitting or not,, you keep as up to date as you can and try to keep track of everything that goes on.
Given that it is not always easy to keep abreast...especially of what one BATF agent told someone else...I have a BATF hand-out copy of the Laws and Regs, which can only be considered bullet proof by doing advanced legal research at a law library terminal. Meanwhile, having shipped some guns lately by the USPS, which is the consensus "best way" for non-FFLs who do not regularly ship stuff with FedX or UPS, my buy & sell file for each gun (in addition to correspondence with the non-FFL end-purchaser) contains the following:
(1) A FFL photocopy, signed at the place indicated, to which address I shipped the gun; I have not yet had occasion to receive a post-Jan. 1, 2008 issued or renewed FFL by fax or e-mail file.
(2) A dated post office receipt for insurance and postage paid, which shows zip code, plus an Insurance form that shows the address of the FFL recipient.
(3) A Post-it simply stating "Firearm Enclosed," initialed by my postmaster; my postmaster usually fills in the insurance form.
No part of this is onerous. Should the destination FFL screw up and hand the gun over to a nut case or convicted felon who commits some sort of crime, I am insulated and protected by my file documents. When the FBI comes to investigate, I will not need to explain to them how I heard on the Internet what someone's BATF compliance officer said, or how the overly-brief BATF answers to FAQ's seemingly fail to conform to the details of the cross-referenced regs. I will simply show them my bullet-proof file.
If my prospective purchaser wants to lecture me on what his FFL licensee had to say about not supplying his FFL, I would tell him to find another licensee, or he isn't gonna get the gun.
My successful career as a lawyer was grounded in giving advice that kept my clients out of court. Bullet-proof documentation does not lend itself to debate and litigation as to the meaning of words, or whether the words were spoken. A photocopy-FFL plus post-office-receipt plus Post-it-notice hardly justifies all this debate. EDM
