You, my freind, appear to be drinking the tasty koolaid the ATF and other anti-gun groups are handing out. Your statement is just as ridiculous as those that tried to get yet more Draconian gun control passed in the name of national security after documents were SUPPOSEDLY found in an Al Qaida training manual telling Jihadist's to buy guns at American gun shows.
The attempted anti-gun scare tactic went further, with the anti-gun WHACKOs saying that terrorists wanted to buy .50 caliber semi-auto weapons and use them to take out our infrastructure, airplanes, etc. (the RINO Kalifornia governor bit on this TRIPE and banned them, and the anti-gun likes of RINO-rudy would do the same on a national level, if given the chance).
ALL TOTAL B.S.
It was around this time that an ENTIRE SHIP, heading to Yassir Arafat's Palestinian Authority, was intercepted and FIFTY THOUSAND TONS of all sorts of military arms were seized!
To think Muslim extremists are shopping at U.S. gun shops or gun shows is LUDICROUS, and even if they WERE, there would be little more threat to the general population than, say, the gang bangers that already endanger citizens in most any big city in the country.
Whether the enemy is gangbangers, terrorists, or an out of control government, law-abiding citizens MUST be able to keep and bear arms in their own defense, as enumerated in the 2nd Amendment.
Do you have any evidence whatsoever that the people with FFLs who do not engage in storefront sales are harming anyone in any fashion whatsoever (aside from making Brady et al. nervous, of course)?
Curio and relic licenses. class 3. The government created it in 1968. You can't sell with it.
If this makes absolutely no sense to you, then you are beginning to understand the maze of firearms laws in this country.
A LOT of folks bought and sold guns in other than the "traditional retail trade". They got FFL's so they and a few friends could get guns wholesale. Completely honest and legit folks. The ONLY purpose of the BATF**KS is to make it more and more difficult for honest citizens to buy firearms. The already know that there is NO way to keep criminals from getting arms.
why would a terrorist buy guns in america? they cost way too much here, and its hard to get anything good.
you could probably pick up a crate of full auto ak47s in africa for what one civilian (semi-auto) version costs here.
the only terrorists buying guns in america are the ones doing it at bloomberg's direction.
We The People, the ones who the Right to Keep and bear arms belongs, are supposed to be the masters of the government, not it's children, servants or underlings.
How about instead we just punish those Jihadies that funnel guns to their illegal brethren.
Besides, if one checked, I'm sure their are plenty of Islamics who hold licenses in areas of high concentration, such as Detroit, Arlington Texas, and other such places.
You're forgetting about C&R Collectors. A C&R is licensed as a FFL but is an FFL 03 and can NOT sell your guns in business sense.
A "gun dealer" is a FFL 01
That 103,942 was in 1999. As of 2005, the number is half that.
Do you know that prior to the '68 GCA, under federal law ANYONE could buy a firearm without going through an FFL...because there was no such thing as an FFL. Anyone could contact Colt, Winchester, etc. and buy a gun. You could order from the Sears catalog - check out the 1967 edition if you don't believe me.
The point is that the nanny state didn't exist. People took responsibility for themselves, and the government had limitations on what it could do. Heck, prior to the 1934 National Firearms Act, anyone could walk into a lot of establishments and buy a machine gun. AND CRIME WAS LOWER.
Why do I (and everyone else out there) have less of an ability to exercise my rights than my father or grandfathers? How (in the absence of a criminal record, drug abuse or mental disease) can that be justified? Because if that can be justified, so can government permits to buy books or magazines, to get internet access or to attend a house of worship. Why shouldn't I be able to get a gun for under retail if I buy it directly from a manufacturer or distributor (thereby cutting out the middle man) without the "holy" permission of the feds (plus paying them hefty fees, and paying the local government hefty fees, and being forced to enter into a business that I may choose not to enter into)? How do you justify it?
Don't tell me "it is to cut crime, because this reduces access to guns by criminals." BS - criminals will get guns in a hundred different ways if they'd like to, including stealing them from dealers, police, the military or average citizens. Why? Because they're CRIMINALS - they disobey the law, that's what they do and why they have that label! The ONLY people affected by the FFL requirements are average citizens - and those that have FFLs as part (or all) of their business now have that much less competition and can charge higher prices (yet another government interference in the private martket).
Maybe I missed something - where in the 2nd Amendment does it say that I have to buy a gun from a licensed dealer?
Quite frankly, with America under a domestic assault, when we are being overrun with illegal immigrants, when there are undoubtedly Muslim extremists moving in through our open borders, when we know there are Muslim extremist cells here already, --
-- It's unbelievable that the reaction is to restrict the ability to sell firearms at the retail level.
We need more armed citizens, not less. .
I would be willing to bet that the remaining 23,372 FFLs are C&Rs, manufactures and Class III to name a few.
You are incorrect in your statement about FFLs have nothing to do with possession, etc. You must have a Class III FFL if you own/possess/etc. one of the few citizen ownable machine guns.