Report cites ATF inconsistencies but leaves gun dealers at risk for revocation

Examiner ^ | 4/25/13 | David Codrea

[Nachum]

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has made a series of changes and improvements to its inspection processes for Federal Firearms Licensees since recommendations were made following a 2004 audit, but still has several areas where performance improvements are need, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General claimed in a follow-up review released Tuesday.

Among the issues cited, per the report, “ATF did not meet its goal of inspecting all FFLs on a cyclical basis, resulting in over 58 percent of FFLs not being inspected within five years; ATF did not track whether high-risk FFL inspections met annual operating plan priorities [and] ATF did not ensure that administrative actions were not unduly prolonged after cases moved to Division Counsels for review.”

[Nachum]

The list, Ping

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[NVDave]

There’s no need for a great number of FFL’s to be inspected “every ‘n’ years.”

There are FFL’s who don’t sell firearms. Gunsmiths, for example, who have guns on their A/D bound books, but they’re not selling new guns. The customer brings in their gun(s) for service, and if the customer doesn’t pick up their gun by the end of the business day, it has to go into the bound book as an acquisition. When the customer reclaims their gun after service, it goes out as a disposition. Very simple stuff, most guns aren’t transferred between people, but the ATF regs require an A/D bound book.

Then there are the small time dealers - who might not make a sale more than a couple times per year. Not a big deal. Inspect them once every five years. Same for C&R FFL’s.

Where DC gets these idiotic notions of “what HAS to be done” is beyond me.

[basil]

Just another way to spend our money-——and put more people on the gummit payroll......

[MachIV]

So if a gun owner brings a firearm into a gunsmith for service and he picks it up a week later or so when service is done, the owner has to do a 4473 and NICS check just to retrieve the firearm back? I know people who pawn firearms have to do this if they are the very few who are able to retrieve their gun from pawn dealers, but I did not konw this regarding gunsmiths.

[NVDave]

Allow me to explain fully.

If you drop off a gun you own to a gunsmith for repair, cleaning, etc - but NOT to be sold if he has a “for sale” or “for consignment” rack, and you come back after the end of the business day when you dropped it off, then the gunsmith (ie, the guy who holds the FFL) MUST enter it into his “bound book.” This is the record of all “acquisition/disposition” lines of guns that came into his business and left his business. If you’re curious what this book’s pages look like, just google up a “FFL bound book” and they’ll show you the entries... or you could look on the ATF website for the “bound book” format that they want to see.

If a week later, YOU (not your brother, wife, etc, but YOU, the same guy who dropped off the gun for repair) comes back to pick it up... you just pick it up. No 4473, no NICS, none of that stuff. The gunsmith (FFL holder) must enter it into his book as being “disposed” back to the original owner. The names, addresses, DL’s, etc - better match, or the ATF will write up a violation for the FFL holder.

BUT... if you ask your wife to pick up your rifle that YOU dropped off for work, regardless of when she comes in to pick up the rifle (same business day or later that week), then yes, a 4473 has to be completed, then a NICS s run.

At that point, your wife gets your hunting rifle, which she now “owns” because the ATF considered that action (you dropping off the rifle, someone else picking it up) a “transfer of ownership.” That’s what the FFL’s book shows: a gun came in to the business owned by one person, then it was transferred to another person who picked it up.

What happened in my bound book in the first case was:

a) you brought in your gun for repair. You didn’t come back before the end of the business day, so I have to enter your name/address/DL/etc into my bound book, along with your gun’s details. If you DID come back before the end of the business day to pick up your rifle, then guess what? You just settle up with the gunsmith and you leave. He doesn’t have to enter your rifle into the bound book at all. To my knowledge, ONLY gunsmiths can do this. A pawn shop has to run a NICS and 4473 if you dropped off your rifle for a pawn, then changed your mind the very same day. A retailer where you consigned your rifle for sale, then changed your mind would also have to run a 4473/NICS.

A gunsmith is a special little case, where if you drop off a gun for work, and you retrieve it the very same day (eg, you came in at 0800, dropped off a rifle for a scope mounting job, and then you stopped in on your way home from work to pick up the completed rifle), then the only paperwork is the invoice from the gunsmith for the work. As long as the *same person* is retrieving the gun as dropped it off, then there’s no 4473, no NICS, nothing.

b) in the second case (your wife picks up your rifle, either the same day or weeks later), then we need to run the full 4473, NICS (unless there’s a CCW exception, etc) and in the eyes of the ATF, she is now the “owner” of the rifle. If a forward trace is run on your gun (for whatever reason), then the gunsmith’s bound book shows the gun came in as yours, and left as your wife’s. A transfer took place, and the ATF needs to see the 4473 completed and a NICS run or a CCW# in the “disposition” line.