by I have held a Curios and Relics FFL since the 1990s and was due to renew it for another 3-year period. I sent in my renewal application on October 17th and received my new license on November 2nd. To be quite frank, I was amazed that ATF’s Federal Firearms Licensing Center turned this renewal around so quickly.
I have criticized the ATF strongly over Project Gunwalker and the agency’s management. However, I believe in giving kudos where they are due and the Federal Firearms Licensing Center turned my renewal application around in record time.
On a side note, if you have an interest in older military firearms or in historic firearms, you really should investigate getting a Curios and Relics FFL. It costs $30 for a 3-year period and allows you to receive eligible firearms directly. The golden days of being a cruffler may be fading but there are still some good deals to be had. Moreover, companies like Midway USA and Brownells will give you a dealer discount on purchases which pays for the C&R FFL if you order just a few things. It is something to think about.
Grafs gives a significant discount to 03 holders, more than midway or brownells.
C&R FFLs are nearly worthless in NJ – you still can't receive firearms through the mail due to the NJ requirements on firearms transfer, and having one does not get you out of the requirement to justify the acquisition of more than one handgun a month on each such acquisition attempt
Doesn't getting a FFL of any type result in your waiving your 4th Amendment right against "unreasonable searches and seizures" by the ATF? I.e. they can waltz in at any time for any reason, kill your kitten (a real case), sufficiently brutalize your wife such that she miscarries (another real case), etc.?
I guess the ATF has gotten better since we've stopped hearing about these sorts of atrocities (perhaps the Waco debacle which they started had an effect), but my start in fighting gun control was reading in the early-mid-70s an article on their "jack booted thug" posture towards citizens with a multitude of specific atrocities (e.g. "entrapping" a FFL by pretending to be Mob members and threatening his family, something the courts had no trouble with (well, he was black…)), something that prior to the FOP of '86 had a real chance of seriously suppressing gun ownership/the gun culture.
(This came about after tariffs on sugar wiped out moonshine as an industry and rather than shrink they redirected those Revenuers to "enforcing" the new GCA of '68.)
@hga
C&R holders are rarely inspected. They can opt for an inspection at home or a local ATF office, at their choosing. And no more than once per year. The only time I've heard of it is when the ATF is training new people and they use the C&R's as easy practice.
01 FFL's can be inspected any time they are open for business, no warning needed.
@PT: I forgot to add Grafs which also gives a discount.
@Ian: I think California is another state that having a C&R FFL is of minimal help.
@hga: I've never been inspected since 1996. As PT said, you have the option to go to a local office or at home.