FFL inspection

[exbiologist]

FFL inspection

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I posted this on the legal thread, but this is a more active section, so I'm hoping to hear some advice sooner.
I'm "interviewing" with an ATF agent tomorrow, Jan 13 at 1:00 pm. I've been wringing my hands about what to expect. I'm going for a manufacturing license because they consider restocking and refinishing guns to sell for profit "manufacturing". The agent only told me he wanted to make sure I'm not selling off of a picnic bench in front of a day care center, and he's looking for some assurances of security. I have gun cabinet hidden behind a wall with an access panel, I'm not even sure if he wants to see it. I really have no idea what to expect.
If any of you have been through this before, please help! What are they going to ask me, look for, etc? Anything else I should know before my dreams are stamped out?

 

[madcratebuilder]

The ATF guys are not the monsters that some make them out to be. Give him honest answers and you should be fine. If not, the hacksaw well be in the second cake I send.

 

[exbiologist]

Thanks, it's just that everything so far has been much easier than I was led to believe it would be. I keep thinking that something's got to be wrong, but so far everyone I've talked to with the ATF has been really cool

 

[45ACPUSER]

You have to remember that there two sort of divisions....compliance and enforcement.

 

[krs]

You'll need to have a defined area where all business activity takes place, meaning that trooping the inspector throughout your house to show your computer in a den, your safe in a bedroom closet, and your shop a table in the garage probably won't convince him or her of your serious intentions.

They really only want to see how you intend to run your business and the people who come will be auditors, maybe with accounting or business degrees. BATF is a tax collecting agency and they want you to succeed so that you'll have plenty of federal excise tax to send them.

Before any activity begins you'll need to have any and all local licensing established. This means that you've applied for local business license and got it meeting any and all requirements they may have (this can be the hardest part), if a fire inspection is required it has to be done. If there are local parking requirements you meet those.

The BATF inspector will be likely to ask you to show that you are ready to start up and that means that all of the local stuff, whatever it is, is in place. They're going to be on your side so be friendly but not nervous.

I'm kinda' surprised to hear that they'll even proceed this far right now toward licensing a firearms manufacturer, but it's not the agents who worry over political climate. They just have a job to do with a checklist to follow.

 

[TIMC]

I have been there and had a home FFL for several years. One of the best things you can do is have your buisness ready to kick off. By that I mean your DBA certificate, a buisness bank account, sales tax certificate, an ample supply of all required ATF forms for doing transfers, and your bound books for logging firearms. This will show the interviewing agent you have done your homework and will really impress him/her.
Since your interview is tomorrow this advice does not help you a lot. Just be honest, direct, truthful and make eye contact. Good luck!

 

[exbiologist]

In case you didn't see my update on other threads, the inspector was totally cool. He said he couldn't see any reason why I wouldn't get it and now I only have to 4-6 weeks for processing. I told him I did not have the local business license because I wasn't going to need it if I didn't get approved first. He didn't care at all. He seemed impressed enough with my security, we are zoned agriculture out here, which double as commercial, but with fewer restrictions, so we are good there too. Now, I'm just waiting for a little Valentine's Day gift from the Feds.
Oh, but I have to pay an excise tax if I manufacture more than 50 firearms in a year.