New FFL in California?

[spencerhut]

My wife and I are seriously contemplating opening up a sporting goods & firearms store in California. We've spotted an underserved market and want to take advantage of the opportunity.

My question to the THR Community is this:
Just what is involved in opening up a gun store in California?
How hard do they make it on you?

 

[SoCalShooter]

Thats a tough one, the PRK is not gun friendly even though there are a lot of gun owners here.

We need more gun stores, also you wont be able to sell assault rifles here unless its to law enforcement plus its expensive to have an FFL here, my friends business is not so great for him selling anyways, but he does do well when he buys and sells on the internet or does selling for other people, he is also a gun smith and makes a significant amount of money there too. If you have an all around outdoor store "WITH" firearms you might do well.

I hope you do if you decide to open a store. Let us know where you are in the PRK.

http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/epp.php?PHPSESSID=f9608b9b3a0a6dda0f58ff783b50a88d

This is the link to the application.

Careful of the fees they throw a lot of them in there.

 

[spencerhut]

You are right; we do need more gun stores in California. That is why we are going to give it a shot, pun intended. There is a lot of knowledge on THR and we want to see what lessons are out there we can benefit from. We already figured this was going to cost well into the tens of thousands to just get started in retail. We know we're going to need to take out a loan to do this. Starting any business is risky. Starting a firearms business in California is just a tad bit riskier than most.

Bring on the lessons learned, please.

 

[exar]

Get a lawyer.

 

[Librarian]

Try Calguns.net - several FFL dealers hang out there, a few of those also post here.

Just as a general comment, in the more rural counties, away from LA and SF and Sac, it shouldn't be too bad. Inside the high-density counties it seems still to be possible, but there are increasingly frequent cases of opposition to granting business licenses. It's for the children, you see.

 

[spencerhut]

Posted on Calguns. I'm in a rural county, Madera.

I'm going to get a lawyer, good idea for any business. Anyone know lawyer in Madera county that would be a knowedgeable in the area of firearms sales / FFL and general business law?

 

[jlmurphy]

You will also have to deal with the Ca. DOJ, and each county has say in where FFL's can operate. Many small part time FFl's were eliminated through combined efforts of Fed. DOJ, Ca. DOJ, and local zoning regs. On the upside, every existing FFL has a larger share of the market. I applied for one in the late 90's and it was 6 mos before I heard anything, it would have been a sideline for my fabrication business, if I had really needed that license, I would have been in trouble, I estimate that a year's wait wouldn't have been a surprise. It almost seemed that Janet Reno and the Ca. DOJ didn't want to give out licenses!

 

[50 Freak]

Think of it this way. In the city of San Francisco with about 6 million residents (many of them gun owners...although they won't admit it).

There are only about 2 gun stores. Talk about a underserved market.

 

[Librarian]

Urk. The SF population - SF city and county - was only 3/4 million in 2000.

But there's still just one gun store inside the city limits, I believe.

Things are a teeny bit better in adjacent counties.

 

[crazed_ss]

We got a bunch of gun shops here

I try to get things from different shops just to show support.

 

[Can'thavenuthingood]

Business plan.

Make up a business plan, a real one, not one of those software fill in the blank templates. Its work and hours of research but its needed for decision making by yourself and investors.

Define your demographics.
Build it with an indoor range to serve your market.

How many employees? Need medical and workmens comp. (high cost)

Land aquisition and building costs are up there. Leasing has pitfalls too. Once your business is established and successful, what will the landlord demand for lease renewal?

Contact county and city planning commissions on a face to face meeting. You have to go through them to get city council approval. Bring money (non refundable).

Do you know any City Council members? Contact them individually and discuss your plans and get their input and ideas.

Contact FFL's a long ways away from your market to find out about problems they have had with the state.

Along with a pro gun attorney get an accountant or a really good bookkkeeper.

Contact the SBA office, http://www.sba.gov/ probably Fresno, for lots of good assistance and help. Might try SCORE http://www.score.org/

The NRA members council would be an asset for you.
http://www.nramemberscouncils.com/cgi-bin/haasmcshowwebpage.cgi?mc=fresno-madera

Put the word out in your area of your intentions. Best to find the opposition up front rather than wait until you have $75,000 invested to discover something that could have easily been taken care of on week 3 of your journey to wealth and fame.

Both of these have good resources.
The National Association of Firearms retailers http://www.nafr.org/
The National Association of Shooting Ranges http://www.rangeinfo.org/

I'd also contact Cal DOJ and see what guidelines they have available for setting up a new business.

Keep us posted on the progress, there are many investors out there with a few dollars to help a solid plan.

Good luck,

Vick

 

[Can'thavenuthingood]

How hard do they make it on you?

Thats kind of relative to YOU.

Its their chalk and their chalk board. Many of the gov types I've run into give me the feeling that I am intruding on them. I am merely an annoyance they have to put up with on their path to world conquest. They have the control through documentation.

Documents are passed from one desk to another from one agency to another agency. Insure the document with your name has the aura of a happy face on it.

How do you approach them? Demanding and intimidating will make it harder on you. They will almost always have to do research and check the books. Some formal docs have a set time frame for completion both by them and you. If you fail to perform you are out the money and lost time. If they fail to perform you are out the lost money and time. They have no consequences to missteps or failures.

A business plan will put all this in a proper timeline sequence. There are too many things to keep track of and you cannot miss any one item.

Vick

 

[spencerhut]

THANKS Vic! Excellent post, a lot of good information. The wife and I are working on the business plan. Since I happen to project manage for a living, I'm starting to schedule everything out on a project plan as well.

We know some of the city, county and law enforcement as well.
My uncle is one of the small number of home business FFL holders left in the state - I'll be consulting him.
Have a really good accountant already.
Indoor range - on the wish list

I'll keep everyone posted as we make progress.