Federal Firearms Licenses (FFL) in 1938: Simple, Cheap, & Shall Issue

AmmoLand ^ | April 21, 2025 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

The precursor to the Federal Firearms License (FFL) required by the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA1968), was the Federal Firearms License required by the Federal Firearms Act passed in 1938. The Federal Firearms Act of 1938 is not the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. The NFA of 1934 is an act requiring taxes and registration for machine guns, short barreled shotguns (sbs), short barrelled rifles (sbr), silencers, and an “any other weapon” for firearms that do not look like firearms.

The Federal Firearms Act (FFA) of 1938 was an act that required people to have a license to ship and receive firearms, ammunition components, and pistol ammunition, except for .22 rimfire, across state lines and international boundaries for commercial purposes. The fee for a manufacturer was $25 and for a dealer was $1.

The license required for a dealer under the FFA is a direct precursor to the Federal Firearms License required today. Both were/are requested on a Form 7. Both were/are issued as a Form 8.

Before the Form 8 was issued in August of 1938, people wanted a license to bridge the gap from the time the FFA went into effect until the Form 8 became available.  It appears the gap was for one month, starting on July 30th, 1938. The Form 8 was issued in August 1938. Form 8 has been modified extensively over the years. A few very early FFLs were issued by letter. The wording is very similar to that of Form 8. Here is an image of a sample letter in Pennsylvania.

Application for a license was sent to the collector of income taxes for the local district of the Internal Revenue service. There were 64 Internal Revenue districts in the United States,

[marktwain]

In the first year, about 33,000 Federal Firearms licenses had been issued at a dollar each.

[marktwain]

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Thank you for that. I cloud wish they could have seen into the future.

It seems, today, that we register our automobiles to share our crumbling roads with foreign drivers who do not bother - perhaps to even tell us they’re here. We register our firearms to share an apartment building with TdA and pay them the rent.

[bunkerhill7]

Up until 1922 machine guns were legal in NY State when a Western NY judge said they weren’t .