C&R Holders: Have you been visited by the BATF?

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Lone_Gunman

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I am considering getting the FFL 03 liscense, and it appears that the BATF can inspect your records once every twelve months. I want to comply with their requirements for record keeping, but do they actually come by to inspect?


Also, am I interpretting correctly that any firearm over 50 yrs old is automatically C&R eligible?

Would a Colt 1911 built in 1955 for example be a C&R gun?
 
I've had my license for around 20 years and have never been visited by ATF.

They can review your records once a year if they desire. The inspection can take place at either your home OR their local office, at your choice.

C&Rs are any gun 50 years old or older and/or any gun placed on the C&R list by the director of ATF because of its collectibility. So yes, a 1955 manufactured gun is now a C&R.
 
I have yet to read of any C&R holder that has ever been asked for this visit.

I'm sure it's happened, but I've never read one story about it anywhere.

And again, they have to call for an appointment and you can do it at their office, unlike a regular FFL.
 
Only for an interview before they approved my license. I had some weird aliases show up under my name and they wanted to talk to me in person.

I still don't know the whole story, but it is apparently sorted. I got my license less then a week after the interview, just as promised.
 
From another perspective: When I got my 01 FFL, the ATF agent told me that they were supposed to inspect every FFL at least once every 3 years. He basically said they were so far behind it was closer to once every 5 years, if that.

If they only inspect 01 FFLs every 5 years, you can bet that it will be a very long time before they start worrying too much about C&R records.
 
So far I have heard of 20 year (above post), 18 year and 16 year C&R holders all with no visits.
 
I've had my C&R license for six years. No visits. I received a telphone call from an agent in December, 2005. A shooting occurred in November in North Augusta, S.C.-committed by someone using a rifle chambered in 7.62X39. The agent wanted to know if I had sold any C&R rifles in that caliber. I told him I had not, he thanked me, and hung up. I have also been listed on the NFA registry for twenty years with no contact from the BATFE.
 
The ATF reserves the right to these inspections, not the promise they will do them. They can and will do inspections. It would seem they do not do them very often if at all.
 
I want to comply with their requirements for record keeping, but do they actually come by to inspect?
Click to expand...

Haven't been inspected myself. From what I've read about others' experiences with this is that you can meet them at their office and that the audit really isn't a big deal provided that you have kept your book up.
 
I had a type 01 "Dealer in Firearms" license, not a C&R, but I did receive a visit.

This was back in 1994 when a guy drove up while I was outside in the frontyard of my house (I was one of those despicable "kitchen-table" gun dealers much maligned by Clinton). He flashed his badge and said "I'm with the ATF and I need to check your records."

He sat at my kitchen table and looked over all of my form 4473's and then asked to see copies of my licenses - City Business license, Retail Sales Permit, and FFL - and then said "The only reason I'm here is because Anaheim, California is considered a high crime area by the ATF and we are checking everybody's license in Anaheim". He was very polite!.

After he looked at my records, I asked him if he wanted to look at my inventory in my gun safe and he said "No", and then he left. This left me feeling a little put out because I had carefully labeled all of my personal firearms "Not For Sale", per ATF guidelines, and he didn't even care!.

It was a strange coincidence that when I got my FFL again about 9 years later in an adjacent city, this same guy shows up with a rookie agent to do my interview.

I never received a visit the second time I had my FFL (I had it for 3 years).
 
Gunsnrovers said:
Only for an interview before they approved my license. I had some weird aliases show up under my name and they wanted to talk to me in person.

I still don't know the whole story, but it is apparently sorted. I got my license less then a week after the interview, just as promised.
Click to expand...

Do they call you "Tater Salad"? :D

My friend Charlie has yet to be visited or called upon except for his pre-license...
 
5 years, no call no visit.

5 years total combined. I let my first license lapse by about a month and had to go through the whole process again. In the end, I have yet to get a call or visit.
 
I had a gunsmith FFL back in the....

60's. I had to go to the eastern part of the world to play war. While I was over there, I changed my FFL address to my parents address. The ATF called to inspect me and my dad took the call. He told the ATF I had no business with a FFL and to cancel it, which they did. In the 80's I got my FFL again and on the second renewal, I was told by the ATF that since I did not have a store front, they were not going to renew my license, thanks slick.......I have had my C&R for over 3 years now, thanks a bunch guys for leading me into the poorhouse, and I have not been contacted yet........chris3
 
I know of one who was visited because he had bought something fifteen or twenty pistols all at once. He is/was a collector and had bought a collection from someone else, and somehow it got flaged that he was buying a large number of handguns at once. BATFE knocked nicely and asked to talk to him. He simply showed them his gun room with his collection and the BATFE guy understood. End of visit. (I believe that not all of the handguns he bought were C&R listed, So it may of just shown up from the multiple 4473's that he filled out). He has a room in his basement with about one of each of maybe 75% or more of everything S&W ever made. As in one of each of every variation of model 36, 41, registered, etc.
 
ball3006 said:
I changed my FFL address to my parents address. The ATF called to inspect me and my dad took the call. He told the ATF I had no business with a FFL and to cancel it, which they did.…
Click to expand...

How did you and your dad get along after that?

~G. Fink
 
In the past, the ATF conducted very, very few inspections of C&R license holders. However, about two years ago, the ATF conducted a series of compliance inspections of C&R holders in different regions across the country. Many people on the more C&R oriented gun boards reported having these inspections done. At the time, the C&R community wasn't sure if this was going to be an ongoing thing or if it was some special enforcement program.

About a year ago, the ATF published an article in the "ATF Newsletter" that they send to all FFL holders. They explained that the then recent C&R inspections were done to determine the overall rate of compliance of C&R holders with the regs and to identify any recurring problems with record keeping or violations of the regs. The ATF reported that most problems found were incomplete recording keeping and some C&R holders who were using the C&R in ways that were not consistent with the license (i.e. they were "engaged in the business" and not "collecting.")

Since then, the issue of inspections of C&R's seems to have died down. I haven't seen any recent reports of compliance inspections and the ATF hasn't said anything else about the matter in the newsletter.
 
I am considering getting the FFL 03 liscense, and it appears that the BATF can inspect your records once every twelve months. I want to comply with their requirements for record keeping, but do they actually come by to inspect?
NO.I had a licence for 6 years and I never heard from them.The internet reports about inspections usually come from people in Kali and New York or Mass.


Also, am I interpretting correctly that any firearm over 50 yrs old is automatically C&R eligible?

YES

Would a Colt 1911 built in 1955 for example be a C&R gun?

YES
____
 
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