I'm a FFL holder. I'm one of those small shop guys that clinton was trying to run out of business. There's a lot of paperwork involved in getting one, you can print the forms off of the ATF website, no need to pay for one of those $20 "kits" out of shotgun news. You then have to get fingerprinted and send in the form with two pictures of yourself and a $200 fee which is good for three years. You also have to send the form to the local chief law enforcement officer, the county sheriff in my case. In about three or four months the local ATF agent will contact you and set up a time to come out and look at your proposed place of business. He's looking to make sure you have a secure place to store firearms and that you actually have a place of business. It can be out of your house if you have a dedicated shop, much like the locksmiths that work from their houses. He then interviewed me for about two hours going over all the laws and requirements. Most of his statements ended in "if you screw this up we'll put you in jail". In the end they approved me and I got my FFL. I'm sure a part of it was because I live in mississippi which is very rural and guns are a fact of life in every house. In a liberal state like new york I'd imagine it would be a lot tougher to get the FFL. Out here the county sheriff couldn't care less if I have a FFL, I've known the guy a long time and if he wanted a gun he'd probably come to me for it. In a state like New York there's no telling what the local police chief would say about, he'd probably complain about it. The ATF agent that interviewed me was a retired military officer and at the time I was a captain in the marine corps, I'm sure that may have helped as well since I obviously wasn't some criminal type.

I don't sell that many guns, it's just a sideline for me. I haven't had the ATF check me in the two years I've had the FFL but if they do I've always kept my books in good order so I shouldn't have any problems. Combine that with the fact that I haven't sold any stuff like AK-47's and MAC-10's, just a few beretta shotguns and a bunch of M70 supergrades. Not too many drug dealers using those in shootouts.