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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...

DOJ press release on April 7, 2025, included a review of Final Rule 2022R-17F, the definition of what it means to be “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms. From the atf.gov: “Today’s repeal of the Zero Tolerance Policy and the comprehensive review of stabilizing brace regulations and the definition of ‘engaged in the business’ marks a pivotal step toward restoring fairness and clarity in firearms regulation,” said Acting ATF Director Kash Patel. “We are committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure our policies are balanced, constitutional and protective of Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”The leadership of the Biden...

Aaron Horwath of Kenai, Alaska, was acquitted by a jury of his peers on September 27 on a federal charge of dealing in firearms without a license. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) charged the owner of Gator Guns Inc. last summer on the allegations that he was selling guns from his store despite the agency having revoked his Federal Firearms License (FFL) years earlier. The ATF revoked Horwath’s FFL in 2020 due to what the agency claims were “willful violations of federal firearms laws and regulations,” accusing him of failing to record hundreds of firearms sales...

In March of this year, Bryan Malinowski, the executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, was killed by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) during a pre-dawn raid of his home. It was an unwarranted and indefensible killing of a kind that should never, ever happen in a free country like the United States. Because we have a media that no longer serves in its traditional role as a government watchdog, this incident was not widely reported. Because too many members of Congress no longer take seriously their...

On May 19, 2024, United States District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk issued a temporary restraining order against the Biden administration, forbidding them from enforcing the parts of the ATF “final rule” having to do with a re-definition of “engaged in the business” as part of federal firearms law. From the order: CONCLUSION Defendants are TEMPORARILY RESTRAINED from enforcing the regulations — “Definition of ‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms” — published at 89 Fed. Reg. 28968 (April 19, 2024) (to be codified at 27 C.F.R. pt. 478) against Plaintiffs Texas, Jeffery Tormey, the Gun Owners of America,...

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”...

Congressman Dusty Johnson, (R) South Dakota, has introduced legislation to remove an infringement on Second Amendment rights currently existing as part of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) paperwork requirements. A person must list a physical address to purchase a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer. They cannot purchase a firearm if they list a Post Office Box or a Private Mail Box (PMB) address on the Form 4473. A second bill authorizes Tribal Identification to be used when purchasing firearms from a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder.People who do not have a permanent physical address...

A new proposed rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would increase what is required to obtain a federal firearms license (FFL) for gun sellers across the country -- an attempt to end what gun control advocates term "the gun show loophole." Justice Department officials told reporters that prior to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed into law last June, those "engaged in the business" of a firearms dealer were defined broadly. The definition that ATF is proposing is more specific in an effort to better regulate the market in accordance with the new federal...

State Representative Justin Humphrey from District 19 in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, has called for a thorough investigation into allegations of constitutional and civil rights violations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).The allegations were brought forward by 52-year-old high school history teacher, Baptist pastor, and part-time gun dealer, Russell Fincher. Mr. Fincher claims that ATF agents employed intimidation tactics and coercion to force him into surrendering his federal firearms license. (snip) The agents’ actions resembled extortion rather than a legitimate law enforcement search. Furthermore, one agent’s statement, “Tell your firearms buddies we are coming for them,” constituted...

Having failed to pass gun bans to curtail Americans’ purchases of firearms, the Biden administration appears now to be attempting to restrict the supply of guns, with a new “zero tolerance” policy at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that has put nearly 2,000 gun sellers out of business in the past two years, according to one lawsuit. Starting in 2021, the ATF implemented an aggressive agenda in its inspections of Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs), in many cases permanently revoking licenses over what defendants say are minor clerical errors. “This is an end-around gun ban, because you...

Under the Biden-Harris administration revocations of gun dealers’ Federal Firearm Licenses (FFLs) have increased a stunning 500%. Under previous administrations, the ATF revoked an average of 40 FFLs per year. But in the 11 months, since Biden has occupied the White House, the ATF has revoked 273 FFLs, and many more dealers are in the pipeline to lose their licenses and their livelihoods too. This shouldn’t come as any surprise. Biden announced last June that he was targeting “rogue gun dealers,” whom he blamed for skyrocketing violent crime rates in major cities that Democrats have historically controlled. The problem is...

Looking for recommendations or warnings on FFL providers in the Arlington/Alexandria Virginia area. PM if you would rather not post. Thank you.

During an interview with the NRA’s 1st Freedom, President Donald Trump said he would sign national reciprocity legislation for concealed carry if it reaches his desk. The outlet posed the question: Mr. President, each state’s driver’s license is honored across this great nation, yet a permit to carry a concealed gun — which, in contrast, is a right specifically protected in the U.S. Bill of Rights — is often not respected by other states. Will you support a national reciprocity act so that law-abiding gun owners can more easily travel with their freedom? Trump responded by making sure the focus...

Two teenagers go into a gun store. One is white. The other is black, and a Muslim. The white teen is advising the black teen on what to buy. Is it a "Straw Purchase"? Several stores have been sued for millions of dollars because they legally sold a gun to someone who later committed a crime. Gun retailers have been exhorted to be careful in who they sell to. They have been told to exercise judgment. They have been told that when in doubt, refuse to sell. The Reese family in New Mexico, had their lives ruined, and spent...

I posted an advert on Armslist for the last firearm I own. These are tough times for me, I am unemployed and had no reserve fund. Thankfully, I just consummated the sale so now I can rest easy financially. I got a message: "I live in TN but work on GA. .....Would you be willing to sell it to me? Also, can you take pictures and send them to me? Thanks." Well THAT would break the law! My response: "I'm afraid not. .....but the law in Georgia (and perhaps federally) is that in order to sell a firearm in a...

Another list of "thing not to do", this time in a gun store. Feel free to add your own "nos-nos" to the list...

In 1968 Congress passed the infamous Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968.  The act banned the sale of guns through the mail except to federally licensed dealers.  One purpose of the act was to weaken and defund the National Rifle Association.  A great deal of advertisement funding for the NRA magazine, The American Rifleman, came from ads for the mail order of firearms.The mail order of pistols had been regulated since 1927.  GCA 1968 banned mail order of rifles and shotguns, guns that were used in only a small percentage of crimes, and created a whole new class of...

Wisconsin Public Radio has the Joy Cardin Show  that invites guests to talk on subjects of the day.  On 5 Januray, 2016, the show was about Obama's potential executive orders to regulate guns through Federal Firearms License requirements, and others.  The guest that was invited to the show was Timothy Noah, a journalist from Politico.  Noah wrote a piece in Politico about executive orders.An activist from Hayward, Wisconsin calls in to the show.  He makes this comment:These regulations are not necessary and are just grandstanding by the President.  At one time in the Country, getting a Federal Firearms License,...

Ever had things go wrong with your FFL when purchasing a firearm and/or applying for your license? There are many stories of mishaps that we don't normally hear about, but the folks from these forums (AR15, 1911forum) threads had this to say: TexHeim: "I've had a dealer forget to have me fill out the 4473, but they had pissed me off so badly I didn’t remind them of that step." "I thought Taurus had sent me the wrong pistol as I was supposed to get a PT140 and they sent a PT111. Well I called Taurus and they said mine...

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) is expected to release a draft rule dealing with stolen firearms.  The rule is under review by the White House, which has 90 days before it is required to release it to the public for comment. No one knows what the rule will do or what purpose it would serve, other than to make already burdened gun dealers subject to more bureaucratic snares and tripwires.  Since this process started in 1992 in the Clinton era, the number of gun dealers has plunged from 248,000 in 1993 to a bit less...