Background check charges

[CoalTrain49]

I agree with your thoughts on the subject. The offering items at great prices and then pile on a bunch of additional fees is a more modern way of doing things though. I guess it’s to get people that don’t do the math. Same if your eating out, give them a good deal on the food and stick it to them on the drinks…

In this economic environment it's hard to figure all of the costs involved to even quote a price. Some contractors won't even quote a finished price for a job anymore because their costs are fluctuating wildly. My neighbor and I just spent 35K for some logging we had done. The contractor quoted us a ballpark price with the understanding that it wasn't a firm price or a contract. I saw the invoice because I paid part of it. There was a substantial surcharge for fuel which at the time was unusually high. Dozers and excavators use a lot of fuel.

You example of a restaurant is a good one however.

 

[Rubone]

Background check is free here in NM, the stater requires a minimum $10 Transfer fee, some dealers charge up to $50. On new stuff from an FFL it is not added on. At least not with any dealers I do business with. My local go to is a flat $30.

 

[Gone Hiking]

In PA, the standard is $5 for the PICS check if you're buying from the LGS. One of the more recent guns I bought from an LGS in my travels, however, tacked on $10 for the PICS fee, which left a sour taste in my mouth. (Raise your price 5 bucks, but don't nickel and dime me.) I won't be back.

Person to person or online to person transfer fees, on the other hand, are all over the map, and are generally cheaper with tabletop FFLs and rural areas. You have to do your homework there as to whom you want to do business. You can find them for as little as $10 to $100 at the extremes. Locally, transfer fees run around $30-$40.

 

[dogtown tom]

Background check is free here in NM, the stater requires a minimum $10 Transfer fee, some dealers charge up to $50. On new stuff from an FFL it is not added on. At least not with any dealers I do business with. My local go to is a flat $30.

You have a cite for that?

 

[General Geoff]

It's a free market.

It is not a free market. The 1968 GCA and FFL system in place makes commercial and interstate gun sales a very heavily regulated market with all manner of government oversight. To say nothing of the various state laws which can make sales even more restricted and limited.

 

[dh1633pm]

My dealer charges $50 for pistol and $25 for everything else. Expensive in NY.

 

[hawg]

No background check fee here in MS. When I lived further south transfers were 10. Now I pay 35. I have seen them higher but I just turn around and walk out on those.

 

[Double_J]

The background check fee here in Florida is $5.00 and the local shops charge $45-50 for a transfer. They also do not give a discount if you transfer multiple firearms at once, i.e. a 3 pack of stripped lowers from Palmetto state armory, each lower is $45 plus a background check.

 

[dogtown tom]

The background check fee here in Florida is $5.00 and the local shops charge $45-50 for a transfer. They also do not give a discount if you transfer multiple firearms at once, i.e. a 3 pack of stripped lowers from Palmetto state armory, each lower is $45 plus a background check.

You need to find a new dealer for your transfers.

 

[AlexanderA]

Out of curiosity, I looked at the Gunbroker data base of FFL dealers willing to do transfers in my area. What surprised me was the wide variation in their fees. The cheapest I saw was $42 ($40 for the transfer, $2 for the background check). Others were much higher. I don't understand how the high fees are sustainable, in view of the competition.

 

[Double_J]

You need to find a new dealer for your transfers.

I have looked at almost every dealer within a 45 minute drive and they are all the same, except for one "kitchen table" dealer who has very limited hours. He is only open on Friday nights from 7:30 to 9:00 pm and Saturday mornings from 8:00 to 10:00 am. The local Academy Sports is who gets my business most of the time due to convenience and quality.

 

[SSN Vet]

It is not a free market. The 1968 GCA and FFL system in place makes commercial and interstate gun sales a very heavily regulated market with all manner of government oversight. To say nothing of the various state laws which can make sales even more restricted and limited.

This is a valid point... so I'll amend my comment to say "within the regulatory and legal framework, it's a free market"

To my knowledge, there are no gun shops that are registered charities, rather, they are businesses and they are in the game to make money... And in addition to all the other risks associated with running a business, gun shops have extra exposer to capricious regulatory enforcement, ambulance (herst) chasing lawyers, and the woke dispositions of the corporate left.... so I don't want to see them further hindered by gun owners complaining about charges and in so doing, implying that "somebody" (usually the gub'ment) aught to do something about it.

It is indeed a free market in that the customer has multiple choices and is free to take their business elsewhere. And the gun shop is free to lose all their customers and join the ranks of failed businesses.

 

[dogtown tom]

It is not a free market. The 1968 GCA and FFL system in place makes commercial and interstate gun sales a very heavily regulated market with all manner of government oversight. To say nothing of the various state laws which can make sales even more restricted and limited.

Sure as heck its a free market. Getting an FFL is pretty darn easy.
There is all manner of government oversight and state laws on many items, not just guns.
The oversight by ATF is quite simply making sure that licensees abide by ATF regs that mainly cover:
-accurately record the acquisition and disposition of firearms in their bound book.
-maintain a record of sale for dispositions to nonlicensees (Form 4473)
-report the multiple sale of handguns

And ................thats about it.
Compare that with the regulations on food, drugs and oh my gosh retail alcohol sales. You want Byzantine and complex laws open a bar.

 

[General Geoff]

Sure as heck its a free market. Getting an FFL is pretty darn easy.

If it was a free market, FFLs wouldn't exist. The only reason FFLs can charge transfer fees is because it is required by law to transfer a firearm through an FFL in many circumstances. That sort of regulatory gatekeeping is the antithesis of a free market.

Truly free markets are vanishingly rare in the developed world.

 

[dogtown tom]

If it was a free market, FFLs wouldn't exist. The only reason FFLs can charge transfer fees is because it is required by law to transfer a firearm through an FFL in many circumstances. That sort of regulatory gatekeeping is the antithesis of a free market.

Truly free markets are vanishingly rare in the developed world.

Yet the definition of "free market":
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any other external authority. Proponents of the free market as a normative ideal contrast it with a regulated market, in which a government intervenes in supply and demand by means of various methods such as taxes or regulations. In an idealized free market economy, prices for goods and services are set solely by the bids and offers of the participants.

Tell me where the US government determines the price of a firearm. The government doesn't tell S&W or Glock what to charge any more then the ATF tells me what I should charge as a transfer fee.

 

[General Geoff]

Tell me where the US government determines the price of a firearm.

Did you read your own bolded definition?

Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any other external authority.

I'd say the as-amended GCA and NFA are pretty damn prominent interventions by the government.

 

[AlexanderA]

There are stocking FFL gun dealers (that maintain an inventory), and then there are FFL dealers that have virtually no inventory, making their income through transfers. For this latter category, facilitating compliance with the regulations is the service that they are offering. So paradoxically, the "free market" for this business model depends on the government regulations for its very existence. If there is competition within this segment, it has to do only with (a) fees, and (b) convenience.

 

[12Bravo20]

Compare that with the regulations on food, drugs and oh my gosh retail alcohol sales. You want Byzantine and complex laws open a bar.

I can confirm that the ATF is a lot stricter when it comes to liquor licenses then they are with FFL's. Years ago I had my Type 2 Pawn Broker FFL and I worked at bars over the years. Part of my job at the last bar was making sure we maintained our federal, state and local liquor licenses. Compliance checks as a FFL was easier to go through versus liquor license inspections.

I have yet to run across any gun shop here in Missouri that charges for the background check since we are not a POC state and all checks go through NICS. And if any shop here is charging for the BGC, I won't shop there.

 

[kje54]

My LGS charges $35 for a transfer fee, $25 if you are current or former military, no background check fee.

 

[stonebuster]

That was my thought.
IF they incure additional fees associated with the check I'm OK with that. If it's just salesmen's time and a phone call ?? The cost of the phone, computer and sales staff is fixed whether I buy something or not.

That's the way it works at my LGS. If I buy from his inventory the price on the tag represents OTD price. Tax, transfer & background check is included in the listed price.

 

[General Geoff]

So paradoxically, the "free market" for this business model depends on the government regulations for its very existence.

Enactment of any onerous regulation on commerce often results in new, emergent markets for services that exist solely for compliance reasons. See also: the 10 billion dollar tax preparation industry.

 

[dogtown tom]

Did you read your own bolded definition?

I did. But I know you didn't get past the first line.
"The government" does not intervene in the pricing of firearms.

I'd say the as-amended GCA and NFA are pretty damn prominent interventions by the government.

Not for determining the price of the firearm. AGAIN, "the government" doesn't tell the firearms industry what to charge or have anything to do with the price set by the seller or the price paid by the buyer.

 

[usaral63]

If you're buying a gun we need to run a background check. The state of Florida charges us to run a background check, this fee is why FDLE changed the rules to have them run the b/r check rather than nics which is free.

As for the transfer charges, we need to log a gun into our inventory and then log it out for the receiving person. There's costs involved so there's charges involved.

And incidentally FDLE is currently being sued as a consequence of that fee.........check Florida Carry's site.

 

[General Geoff]

Not for determining the price of the firearm. AGAIN, "the government" doesn't tell the firearms industry what to charge or have anything to do with the price set by the seller or the price paid by the buyer.

Government regulation need not set specific pricing in order to adversely effect commercial retail prices.

The feds don't set pricing for transferable machine guns, but anyone with a sixth grade education can understand that the Hughes Amendment directly caused market values and prices to skyrocket. It is not a free market.

And neither is Title 1 firearms retail.

 

[dogtown tom]

Government regulation need not set specific pricing in order to adversely effect commercial retail prices.

The feds don't set pricing for transferable machine guns, but anyone with a sixth grade education can understand that the Hughes Amendment directly caused market values and prices to skyrocket. It is not a free market.

And neither is Title 1 firearms retail.

Tell us who sets the price of transferable machine guns. It aint the government.
And they don't do it for Title 1 guns either.

Using your logic, if a city has a law that says stores must close at 10pm.......it aint a free market because of government.

Thats laughable.