DogtownTom's Steps to getting an 01FFL in Texas:
1. Check with your city and county to see if home based business are allowed or not. Deed restrictions or homeowners association rules may prohibit home business as well. If you rent your home then read your lease contract to see if home business is allowed. Usually city & county websites will have this info on their website. Print out a copy of those rules and keep them. If all is okay with a home based business then...
2. Decide what kind of business structure you want to have: corporation, LLC, partnership (if you have a partner) or sole proprietorship. There are advantages to each kind: sole proprietor is the easiest, corporation or LLC may give you certain legal protections. Once you decide...
3. Go to the county courthouse and apply for an assumed name (DBA). Do this before you incorporate or form a partnership because the name you want may be taken. If you’ve already done this for your other business you could just use that name. Now that you have a name for your business...
4. Go to the IRS website and get a Federal EIN # for Federal tax purposes. Then...
5. Go to
http://www.state.tx.us/portal/tol/en/bus/home and apply for your Texas Sales Tax & Use Certificate- this will be required. BTW, there is no sales tax paid on transfer fees- only on firearms you sell. You do not collect Texas Sales Tax on guns the customer buys and has shipped to you.
6. Decide what your “business hours” will be. These are not necessarily hours that you are open to the public, but hours you plan to devote time and attention to your business. My real job is teaching- so I put my “business hours” as M-F 5-10p. ATF wants to see that you are actually going to be in the business of dealing firearms. You can always change those hours later if needed.
7. Complete the Form 7 Application for Federal Firearms License. It doesn’t carbon copy, so you’ll have plenty of writing to do. It is actually three identical forms. Keep a copy for yourself, send a copy to the chief law enforcement officer of your city or county- and put a sticky note on it that says “For Files Only- No Action Needed”. Along with the Form 7, ATF will have sent fingerprint cards. Go to any law enforcement agency and tell them you need “prints for file” or “prints for Federal background check”. They should not charge you. Use ONLY the ATF fingerprint cards. Get two passport size photos taken. Mail this last Form 7 to ATF along with the app fee of $200, fingerprint cards and passport photos. I sent mine Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. How long you wait for the FTF interview with ATF depends on the volume of FFL applicants. While you are waiting...
8. Go to
www.atf.gov and start reading EVERYTHING. I started with the “FAQ’s”, but keep in mind they are not the actual law, just a quick reference. I applied in June ’08 after school was out and spent at least an hour a day reading something on the ATF site. At some point, an ATF Industry Operations Investigator will call to set up an appointment for your interview. The interview will be at your “licensed premises” (your home). Odds are, he will already know if your home is legal for a home based business, but show him the proof you got in #1 above. Then...
9. At the interview, the IOI will review your application for accuracy and briefly review the various forms. It shouldn’t take more than an hour. He may ask about safes, alarms, etc. NONE of which are required- but it would make ATF very happy if you have a safe and alarm system. “Secure storage” has to do with gun locks for customer guns. Federal law requires every FFL to have gunlocks available for every firearm that they transfer. Almost all new guns come with a lock. Free locks are often given away at gun shows or you can buy them for as little as $1 each. After the interview...
10. He should have given you an idea whether you will get approved. The app will be reviewed by his supervisor before being approved. You should get your actual license in three to six weeks. Once it arrives...
11.Do NOT sign the license- leave it blank! Take it to Kinko’s and make LOTS of copies. I highly recommend signing one copy and having Kinko’s scan it both as a .jpg file and as a .pdf file. You can then email that FFL rather than faxing it. Faxed FFL’s often come out unreadable, not to mention it cost me nothing to email a copy, while faxing costs me paper and a big phone bill.
12. Immediately register with the FBI NICS
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/nics.htm You can’t transfer guns until you do. I registered with NICS at 7pm, at 9:30am the next morning they called to tell me I was active. After that...
13.Order your 4473’s from ATF, along with Multiple Sale of Handgun forms, Youth Gun Safety brochures and other forms you might need. ATF may have sent some when you get your license, but more is better. There is no official “bound book” and there are several different ones out there- I buy mine from Brownells because they are cheap. Order at least a pack of three. Put them in a three ring binder. Then...
14. Go to GunBroker, Auction Arms, GunsAmerica, etc and list yourself in the “Find an FFL” directory. After that things like business cards and the like to spread the word about your new FFL.
15. Although not required I highly recommend getting insurance. Collectables Insurance
http://www.collectinsure.com/index.html has a firearm dealer policy that protects your inventory, when you ship customers guns and your guns on the table at gun shows. I also have my personal guns insured through them. Very easy to deal with.
16. AR15.com has an FFL forum that has good information and is worth a visit.
Whatever you do………don’t buy one of those “Get your FFL Kits” off the internet. They don’t tell you anything I didn’t write above.
