Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds Why FFL to FFL??

So I had to send a gun "FFL to FFL only" by request of the receiving FFL. I asked my guy about it and he doesn't understand the need as it is legal for anyone to ship to an FFL. Can anyone explain the logic/reason to me? Thanks.

To put it simply- some receiving dealers are a pain in the ass. Some may have to do with some state/ local regulations, but not likely. Some dealers have a chip on their shoulder about people buying guns out of state and using them just for the transfer. Best bet is to find a small business or home based ffl holder that is simply doing it as a service to the buyer. A simple transfer should never be over $25 total. Some gun stores here want $50-$75 for the transfer and a few want to charge sales tax on the purchase price. I have no respect for those stores and would drive 30 minutes extra to buy anything they sell somewhere else.

Gives them a more traceable path as to where they got the gun from in the event the history needs tracing.

People disappear, bound books don't.

Mike

The only thing I can think of is that maybe it takes some liability away from the receiving FFL.

So for instance if a gun was stolen they could essentially brush it off to the sending FFL as their problem?

That's just a quick guess.

The other being that maybe they've had problems with receiving proper ID to show who it was received by and just would rather not deal with that hassle?

Yep, Nothing Says It Must Go FFL To FFL. I Call ATF, And They Said. That It Must Be A Store, Or Dealer Policy.. As You Only Need One FFL. And That Being On The Receiving In...Lot People Want Make It Harder Than It Is...

A: They are ignorant of the law.
Just because they have a license, doesn't mean they have a clue.
B: It's their license and they can do what they generally want to.
If they want to be anal they can.

It's their license and they can make the rules they do business by, I've got no problem with that. There are lots of FFL holders out there and it's worth checking around. I found one who has no problem accepting guns from non-FFL's and he charges $15 to handle a transfer.

As for the sales tax part, Some states (Like WA)require the receiving FFL to collect sales tax on out of state transfers.
So that part can be a matter of law and not an FFL holder just being anal.

From my experience, it's somewhere between yours and KenMi's answers. I lean slightly in favor of yours.

But will they make a gay wedding cake?

I've always shipped through a dealer, guess it's a warm and fuzzy thing. Reckon some don't mind it, some do. It's their shop, they can do what they want.

Just bought a pistol from a gentleman in new York. Apparantly one from New York must unregister their pistol, which must be done through an FFL, and ship from that FFL. That was my understanding of what happened. Any residence of NY that can elaborate?

Planning a wedding are you?


I think FFL to FFL just helps with liability.

Excellent post. I feel the same way and can clearly relate..

That's an extra expense and you have to deal with a middle man, unnecessarily. Like others have said, they don't know the law and the buyer should go thru a different FFL...

I have a ffl in Colorado he is pretty good he charges $30 bucks never gives me hard time and gladly does the transfer its a easy $30 bucks in his pocket hell you think most would be happy to do it to make the $25-$30 buck's for 15 minute's of their time. isold a rifle to a fella in California he went to the gunshop he always goes to they gave him a wrath of [bleep] the rifle had to be shipped from a ffl (my ffl said he couldn't do it he was not on the list of approved FFL transfer dealers in CA) why didn't he buy a rifle from them I guess they don't realize left handed modle 70's are hard to come by. I got ahold of Mike Detorre (sp) on AR asking for help he recommended two shops fella went down their talked to them they said no problem all they wanted from was a copy of my DL in the box. So a lot of times they are pissed you didn't buy from them. I know of one shop in Wasilla that charges $65 to do transfers [bleep] that... SO I don't go into that shop anymore.

That is no longer true. Got a letter about a month or so back from the WA Dept of Revenue which stated that FFLs no longer were required to collect sales tax on transfers as due to the passage of I-594 the buyer is required to pay "use tax" on any out of state purchase handled by a WA FFL.

I own a gun shop,
You buying on the internet and transferring through my shop doesn't pay the bills. If you enjoy going to a local gun shop and browsing, then going on line to buy that gun for $50 cheaper, please don't cry or complain when the local gun shop goes out of business.
Saving $50 or $100 then paying $35 - $50 for shipping and $25-50 for transfer is a way to show it's cheaper to buy from the shop, if the price is too high, negotiate it, son't say "I can get this on the 'net for $75 less!!" Try saying, "Would you take $__ CASH, right now?" And have the cash in your pocket!

We charge for FFL transfers, used to be free for military/LE but people took advantage of our good nature. They'd transfer a gun in, get the gun and walk out, never bought anything, never spent a dime in the store - that does not pay the bills.

2 of us are retired military and my partner's son is LE.

Dealer to dealer - preferred, Individual must provide proof of ID and some guys forget or aren't going to include a copy of driver's license, etc, FFL is a number and shows acquisition and disposition.
I will accept from an individual, BUT no ID I hold the gun until it's provided.

Interesting note about the ID. Of all the guns I have shipped, the receiving dealer has only asked for ID 2 or 3 times max. I have a copy of my DL on my computer, and email it immediately if requested, or print it out and enclose it (only did that once).

As far as saving money, in many cases it is way more than 50-100 dollars, depending what is bought. The shops around here that charge the most for FFL transfers are also the shops that charge 90%+ MSRP. Many guns they are not even aware of, their distributor does not carry, and would be special order at best.

I highly doubt that states see "use tax" from many out of state buyers in most cases. That alone is another huge factor. It's up to the buyer, but with no real enforceable paper trail, it's not reality. So a buyer finds a gun online, many times with free shipping. Immediate purchase, no tax, and $25 to get it in their hands. Versus a special order at near MSRP, longer wait time and feeding their state general fund.

Michigan has a proposal next month to tack on another 1% in sales tax to "pay for roads". The way the knuckleheads wrote the proposal, only about 40% will actually go to roads, and God knows where the rest will go. It will be strongly defeated, but in the event it did pass, we would only see more business for UPS and FedEx. Sales tax is quite a bit more voluntary than income tax.

It might have something to do with their business insurance.
I'm not sure about it but could be.

Does not need to be receiving in all cases. At least, the way I understand, I can ship to FFL. He works on my gun and ship back to me (non FFL). My gun to FFL. My gun back to me from FFL.



The FFL I go to looks at it a bit differently. He says he is there all day and he knows I am going somewhere to do my transfer. If not to him, to someone else. I am spending a dime in your store. Your $$$ transfer fee could be looked at as a way to keep you in business, rather than putting you out of business. Money from my pocket to yours, even if that is the only business I do with you.