doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com All Gunsmith's and Members of ACGG are now Felons

John,
They told me I wasn't selling enough. When I started importing it was 6 FF to the dollar, Euro came on at about 1 to a dollar, less than a year it was 2 dollars per Euro.
Yea, my sales went down. I was sitting here trying to figure out something I could buy there, and sell here, at a small profit, when they told me to forget about it.

Honest enough?


Best,
Ted

They said we didn't do enough transactions. They did not give us a minimum number that they would find acceptable. We had a secure business address. We were never found in any violation of any reg, rule or law. There were never any inquiries against the club for possible violations.

Honest. Let's hear the real reason that you're asking.

As for me, I did not renew mine because the cost went up so much when Clinton was elected that it just was not worth it for me. That was EXACTLY the reason Clinton raised the FFL annual fee. And, in my case, it worked. I did not sell many guns, so it benefited dealers like you John. Except that it cost you more money for the FFL, too. It did, however, eliminate much of the "competition" for you.

SRH

It seems to me they are targeting kit builders and people who build from 80% receivers and such. And they have caught some others is the widely flung net.

Hopefully Congress will pull their heads out and over turn this nonsense.

https://blog.princelaw.com/2016/07/25/ddtc-issues-guidance-on-itar-registration/

John, you seem to think you have knowledge others lack. Ted answered your challenge and responded with his "the honest reason". Craig answered your challenge and responded with his "the honest reason". Stan answered your challenge and responded with his "the honest reason".

How about you enlighten us now.

Brick and Mortar Guns Stores hated the kitchen table FFLs for being able to under cut their prices. And from a business view point who could blame them?

Brick and mortar stores and chains simply weren't interested in what I was doing. It was a business model that would only be interesting to an enthusiast with very low overhead.
John wasn't interested in it. He looked into it, spoke to me about it, and decided against it.
The first couple years were very profitable, as there was a demand that had developed due to the fact there was good press, but, no importer. That slowed to a trickle, but, it was a profitable trickle for a one man band.
The ATF lady never found anything wrong in the books, never told me what she considered an acceptable level of business, never accused me of doing anything wrong.
But, she left with the books at the end of the meeting.

Best,
Ted

OK:


First, let me say I am not standing up for ATF not renewing licenses.

I myself started out small when I was in college but even then I was doing a healthy amount of transactions.



I knew how Craigd was going to answer before he did.

I was one of the first to renew the ffl under Clinton, back when the hammer came down.

An ffl is for someone to be actively engaged in the business.
They did resend lots of licenses because folks did not do enough transactions.

An ffl was never ment for buying guns for yourself at a discount or just selling to your buddies.

When I had a talk with an agent he said they would go on an inspection and a guy might have the same guns in his bound book for years, or he maybe sold only 2-3 guns a year. They said this is not what an ffl is for. They could see he was not actively engaged in the business.

I think anybody would agree that if you are only buying guns for yourself or selling only a half dozens guns a year that you are really not trying to make a business of it.

They want to see that you were selling enough guns to justify having a license.

(one of my good friends and great clients had an ffl for more that 15 years. On his last inspection the agent said he did not do enough transactions and asked him to surrender his license)

So other reasons that ffl were not renewed was for deed restrictions and zoning laws. Also in Texas because you did not have a sales tax number, if you had operated they wanted you to get one. I had to prove that we did.

Operating an unsanctioned business out of a rented building or office space.

I know a lot of guys personally and friends that had ffl and had to give they up for those reasons, and they were not really in the gun business, they had used it for themselves and friends. They did realize that they were not en-gauged in the trade. They did not like it, but understood it



John Boyd

I never bought a Darne for myself.

Wish I did.


Best,
Ted

John, thanks.

But your answer begs the question. Why would ATF care who has an ffl or not...what their volume of business is? That's a business issue. Why are the regulating who is in the business?

None of their business really. Except they have made it their business.