Butch,
It's not a big deal. But the inspectors from ATF get their advice from their management and policy that flows down. These policies are just that, policy, not law. This "signed copy" thing was a policy and if you followed it and the recipient turned out to be a mass murderer and falsified the FFL, you still violated the law to ship only to a legit FFL holder. But, the ATF made a policy stating that you did due diligence and they would accept that you did a "reasonable" job of verification.
In my job, I deal with the Code of Federal Regulations (of which the ATF laws are a part of) daily, but in the aviation end of them. Inspectors and other 'compliance finders' often have very different interpretations of regulations (laws) and much time is spent in this area. Heck, I make a living argueing/negotiating this stuff with the FAA. They both (ATF and FAA) have policy, guidance, and regulations structured in the same manner, and much time is spent clarifying what's guidance, what's policy, and what's law. And it makes a huge difference on compliance.
