Fewer gun dealers on the books in the U.S.

[NineseveN]

Orignal Link

Saturday, March 25, 2006
Fewer gun dealers on the books in the U.S.
Number has fallen 78% over past 10 years

SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON

In a little-noticed victory for gun-control advocates across the United States, the number of gun dealers in the nation has fallen 78 percent in the past 10 years as tens of thousands of home-based dealers surrendered their federal licenses.

The drop shows how the gun debate has moved from a national stage - where gun-control advocates lost congressional battles to ban assault weapons and to sue gun manufacturers - to local zoning boards that are creating a web of fees and regulations that indirectly restrict the sale of firearms.

"The gun-control agenda has evolved from the halls of Congress and the courts," said Andrew Arulanandam, the director of public affairs for the National Rifle Association (NRA). "Now we're seeing it evolve to the micro level in local municipalities."

What appears to be welcome news to gun opponents might just have driven gun sales off the books, as fewer personal gun sales are logged, vetted and tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

"Most of these guys (who are no longer licensed) were just home-based dealers who did gun shows on the weekends as a part-time job," said Mark Koscielski, who is fighting a zoning battle to hold on as the last remaining gun store in Minneapolis. "Now they revert to private collectors, so they're free to sell without federal background checks. They're private sales."

Once more numerous than gas stations, people who held the government's most basic gun-dealer license totaled nearly 250,000 in 1994. Last year, the number fell to fewer than 55,000, according to a recent report by the nonprofit Violence Policy Center, based in Washington.

"The sharp drop in gun dealers is one of the most important - and little noticed - victories in the effort to reduce firearms violence in America," said Marty Langley, a policy analyst for the Violence Policy Center.

Gun enthusiasts dispute that the number of gun dealers - or guns - has much to do with the number of gun deaths in America, which fell by almost 25 percent between 1993 and 2003, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the ATF, the number of guns in the United States was at a record high last year - 223 million firearms. Experts say that sales continue to grow in commercial gun stores.

 

[SOT]

According to the ATF, the number of guns in the United States was at a record high last year - 223 million firearms. Experts say that sales continue to grow in commercial gun stores.

Despite the BS about gun control, this is what really matters. While FFL numbers are down, the business is being handled by large retailers. Big retailers are taking a bigger share of the business, and small dealers are giving up. Not much different than Lowes and Home Depot helping to push small hardware stores out of the market. This has more to do with simple economics, than gun control and zoning laws.

 

[beerslurpy]

If it wasnt for teh FFL and import rules, most of the gun trade would be on the internet right now. Would be nice to just call up izhmash and order a crate of PKMs and RPG7s.

 

[NineseveN]

SOT, that's the impression I got from the information, it's just the economic trend of the nation with all markets and products. The spin makes it sound worse than it is, which is honestly a good thing...silly non-activist anti's think they're winning in areas such as this, where they're only being hurt in the long run. Economic effects for the average Joe aside, it's a lot easier to intimidate and sue a kicthen table gun dealer out of existence than it is to do that to Gander Mountain or Bass Pro shops...

 

[beerslurpy]

Well, numbers are the best liars if you use the wrong ones. Think of how much bread was produced in the ukraine but how few people ate.

 

[Baron Holbach4]

The article reflects the continuing expansion of the regulatory police state.

Another article on the same issue:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0314/p02s01-ussc.html

An excerpt:

"The [ATF] can conduct annual checks on any [federal firearms licensee (FFL)], and if in the course of one of these audits, ATF finds any discrepancy, it can literally move in to the place of business and set up shop and go over their records with a fine-toothed comb," says Arulanandam. "You add to that the regulation that any FFL is required to maintain a record of any transaction for 20 years. That's a requirement that even surpasses IRS standards."

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

"The sharp drop in gun dealers is one of the most important - and little noticed - victories in the effort to reduce firearms violence in America," said Marty Langley, a policy analyst for the Violence Policy Center.

And the reason VPC regards this as a victory is not because it makes anyone safer; but it sets the stage nicely for the next goal of regulating private sales just like FFLs are currently regulated (or worse).

That is the whole point of the gun show nonsense - stop gun owners from meeting and organizing in one place so they have less political power and get your nose in the tent for future private sales regulations at the same time.

If anything, eliminating all those FFLs made tracking and locating weapons a thousand times harder than it was before 1994. I sometimes think the VPC is a secret pro-RKBA organization... I mean how else would you have gotten police departments to dump thousands of modern semi-automatic weapons on the civilian firearms market in 1994 except by artificially inflating the value of those weapons through legislation while making it possible for police to buy new weapons at the uninflated price? Ban on high cap mags drives huge sales of concealable handguns and big bores...

I swear I am going to have to start watching VPC and buying stock in firearms manufacturers accordingly.

 

[SOT]

Baron H, Arulanandam and you, are greatly exaggerating the regulation of the industry. There are over 100K licensed FFLs in the US, and there are very few inpsectors employed by ATF. Those inspectors are also responsible for regulating the explosives, tobacco, and alcohol industry in addition to the FFLs. As a result it is extremely rare for an FFL to have an inspection every year, and some dealers go for decades without ever having an inspector check their records.