Posted on 04/24/2024 6:52:54 PM PDT by george76
Flipping a gun for a price higher than one paid now may turn anyone into a dealer, making any such sale unlawful if it does not involve all the licensing and paperwork that govern gun dealers..
On Friday, the 31st anniversary of the massacre of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, the ATF issued new regulations that make it more difficult to comply with federal laws regulating gun dealing and background checks.
Since the 1930s, federal law has required gun dealers to be registered as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL). The requirements hinged on the meaning of “engaged in the business of” gun dealing. This language has always been ambiguous, and there has never been (even after the announcement of the new rules) a true “bright line” that distinguishes when one graduates from selling a few guns from one’s personal collection into full-fledged gun dealing.
The law previously required the primary purpose of sales to be “livelihood and profit.” The new rules reduce the requirements to seeking profit alone, tracking the a congressional amendment to existing law in 2022. The changes are more extensive than the legislative guidance, though, by stating that selling guns in the original packaging or shortly after purchase create a rebuttable presumption of being “engaged in the business.”
The potential risk is substantial, as violations are felonies. Flipping a gun for a price higher than one paid, even if one originally intended to keep it, now may turn one into a dealer, making any such sale unlawful if it does not involve all the licensing and paperwork that govern FFLs.
The War on Gun Collecting
The new rule is the latest salvo in the ATF’s longstanding war on gun shows and private transfers. In the 1980s, the ATF wanted to make it easier to become a dealer because that meant fewer private transfers as well as more records and tax revenue. In those days, it only took $10 and filling out some forms to become an FFL. These were sometimes referred to as the “kitchen table” dealers, and the numbers of FFLs increased substantially.
Then, during the Clinton years, the ATF wanted to limit FFLs, so it began requiring a larger fee as well as a storefront. They realized a lot of guns were being sold by these guys, and these measures cut down FFLs considerably. Clinton thought gun control was a great wedge issue to peel off suburban moderates from the Republican coalition.
Now, with a Democrat again at the helm, the ATF wants to further limit private sales with the threat of criminal punishment by expanding the definition of gun dealing while leaving it vague enough to dissuade private sales.
Everything under the sun that is collected has a community and events associated with it, and this typically includes shows. Shows are places where people can buy, sell, trade-up, and learn about their hobby. Fishing, boating, cars, coins, beanie babies and every other hobby and collectable has shows.
Gun shows are particularly popular because guns tend to hold their value well, and lots of people collect guns. Since many gun owners are of modest means, many of these guns eventually need to be sold, taken to a pawn shop, or otherwise converted into money after they are purchased. Gun shows allow ordinary people to sell guns to other collectors and enthusiasts, whether they are dealers or not.
Background Checks Sound Good, But Accomplish Little
While the 1993 Brady Bill mandated FFLs conduct background checks on all transfers, private sales are unregulated. This is sometimes described incorrectly as the “gun show” loophole. Contrary to the propaganda, most sales at gun shows are conducted by FFLs, and all FFL sales include a background check. But, whether conducted at a gun show or a barbeque, private sellers transferring their personal firearms do not have to conduct a background check. As I was told by a cop when I was new to the game, selling a personal gun is like selling a toaster.
While this lack of regulation conjures images of shady back-alley transactions, these sales often involve family and friends, fellow collectors at a gun show, and sales to FFLs, who have already been thoroughly vetted when they were licensed. The only legal requirement is that a gun cannot be knowingly sold or transferred to a felon.
We have heard a lot in recent years about universal background checks as a cure for most criminal misuse of guns. This doesn’t sound crazy on its face. Most people support background checks because they don’t want guns in the hands of criminals and lunatics. Also, background checks are not particularly scary because most gun owners have been through many background checks when buying guns from FFLs or obtaining concealed weapons permits.
Even so, mandatory background checks would prevent the private sales that facilitate gun collecting as a hobby. Moreover, while background checks sound like they would stop illegal guns, they don’t seem to have much of an impact. There is an extensive black market for guns, and many criminals using guns are already prohibited possessors because of felony records.
One more law is unlikely to stop criminals from getting guns, and the inevitable failure of such a law will be used to provide support for a national gun registry, which is a necessary precursor to mass confiscation.
Letting Criminals Go Free While Turning the Law-Abiding Into Criminals
Like most gun control laws, reducing crime appears to be a secondary goal of the latest ATF move. But this change will have the effect of harassing and dissuading gun enthusiasts. The new and ambiguous regulations will have a chilling effect, making gun owners think twice before liquidating a personal collection or conducting a private sale. This will make gun ownership more expensive and less inviting to newcomers.
The law will also, through selective prosecution and strong pressure to turn people into confidential informants, destroy organic gun clubs and friend groups. Facing decades in prison, the pressure put on those caught in the net to become snitches will be tremendous. Government-sponsored sales, entrapment, and the creation of unintentional new criminals may become widespread in the same way it always is when federal law enforcement is involved.
The Democratic Left’s continuing pursuit of gun control is a bit of a surprise. In the 1990s, they hypothesized that it would get suburban moms to vote their way, but it has barely moved the dial as a wedge issue. Many thought it backfired, motivating gun owners in certain swing states to vote Republican.
That said, as with much of the left’s actions in education, popular culture, and sexual mores, any short-term political cost is outweighed by a longer-term and more sinister aspect. In this case, the accretion of rules and uncertainty surrounding gun collecting and trading undermines the networking, organic friendships, and cooperation that allow gun owners to organize and present a real threat to the leviathan state.
Adjusted for inflation? /s
This article seems to clearly state the situation.
It adds history and background.
It is not confusing, unlike many announcements reported about the ATF and guns.
Good Post
thing is, they have no idea what I paid for any particular gun. All you have to do is sell for a dollar less than the price guide. see no profit. Or go to selling “this collectable photo” and the gun comes with it free. no profit.
Thank you.
“ATF Rule Change Creates a Trap for the Unwary”
That’s ok, Trump is just too BRASH. I’d rather go to jail under Biden’s new rules than have to defend myself against my sister and her family when talking about Trump.
The ATF has nothing to do with criminals except to create as many as possible out of honest gun owners. That agency is no longer engaged in controlling anything other than class warfare and the elimination of legitimate firearms ownership. This is activist government pretending to be a regulatory agency. Poorly.
Hold on there. The Executive branch now makes “laws”. If you had a Glock and sold it for $550 then the government could say you bought it for $450. So what if you show them the receipts from years ago showing you paid $550? They make the laws and that’s it.
Oh, and it’s “democracy”.
I can attest to the fact personally no LEOs know firearms laws
Arrest you and let your lawyer and state attorney or AUSA sort it out is their mindset
Maybe a few exceptions
Who is to decide what a gun is worth? The buyer and the seller, of course. Who is to decide you are making a profit on a private sale? I bought it for $X and sold it a year later for $X+1. Is that a profit or simply inflation? And how long do you have to keep it before you aren’t just flipping it for profit?
I can’t imagine that this will not be challenged in court.
Watched a Los Angeles, CA area police chase. It ended with at least 2 of the police shooting up (and wounding the driver of) another vehicle - a distance separation from the “target” (bad guy) vehicle being:
8 feet
One can find a gun to buy from a manufacturer or wholesaler and buy it through a local gun shop who does the paperwork for a nominal fee.
Should be able to sell a gun to another person through a gun shop with an FFL who calls in the background check for a fee too.
You are right, you seldom get a good price for a gun from a gun shop.
As with all bad Government rules they should be ignored.
I rather suspect the murder of the man in Little Rock by the ATF who bought and traded pistols was just sending a message to Gun owners saying we will come kill you for any reason..or no reason just because we can as we are thugs doing our Master’s bidding aka Democrats.
What if I make an improvement like filing off a small burr? Aren’t I entitled to compensation for my time and expertise? Or if I sell it with an additional magazine — if the BTAFE even knows a magazine in this case isn’t referring to a periodical.
What guns? I never owned any guns.
Obviously for or own safety. Criminals always obey the laws. Like that illegal who was ventilated in Ohio when he pulled a gun on the cops.
how to finally defund and abolish unconstitutional agencies doing unconstitutional krap to the American public?
Unfortunately, the above statement is not universally true. I live in the Soviet of Washington. In my state, private transfers of personal firearms is severely limited to mostly “family members.”
The laws of the Soviet of Washington have pretty much destroyed the Washington Arms Collectors (WAC is an NRA affiliate gun collector and gun show sponsoring club). I have belonged for many years and the attendance and participation at such shows is a shadow of what it formally was. For a long time WAC screened members for criminal records and only allowed members to sell to members. Then with changes in State Law, WAC got selected FFL dealers to perform background checks on all firearms transfers for a very modest fee in exchange for WAC giving them a firearms transfer booth/table at the gun show.
One thing I would like to point out is that Al Capone was gained over tax evasion. Technically selling something at a profit is a short or long term capital gain if one is not a business (AKA selling a toaster). IRS Capital gains rules do not allow the cost basis to be adjusted for inflation or a host of other factors. Therefore, unless a private collector who “flips” a firearm for a “profit” reports the sale and capital gain on their taxes; they have committed a federal crime.
I think that the federal government is trying to make firearm ownership very difficult and is setting traps to make criminals out of solid citizens who responsibly use firearms or collect firearms.
The only positive aspect is that firearm sales are at record numbers with more and more new firearms owners. This trend will ultimately, put political pressure on ATF and politicians to stop the nonsense of trying to outlaw legal firearm ownership.
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