Anyone else had an FFL application stalled, slow walked, tabled..etc for no reason???

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DubsModel29

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Applied for my FFL license May 5th of last year. Finally had my field interview scheduled for July 15th. A couple days before, the interviewer called me up and cancelled. He said he'd be in touch to reschedule. Didn't here back from him until Sept and completed the interview Sept 15th. He/they (there was 2 of them) was very impressed with how prepared I was. Small commercial space (Not home based), DBA, city business license, business checking account and on and on. Interview went fantastic. Both agents were very cool. He said I should hear something in 30 to 45 days at the latest. It's now Jan 25th and I have neither been approved OR denied. It's supposed to take 60 days from start to finish. I have bugged the daylights out of them and they just keep blowing me off saying "You are still under review". There is nothing to review. I appears this may be a policy to try and get FFL applicates to give up thus indirectly implementing gun control and 2A restrictions.

I'm curious if anyone else has had a similar experience??? I've talked to one other guy that has a buddy that applied back in July and it's nothing but crickets. :mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
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Don't know where you are located and what the legal atmosphere is towards firearms. Maybe try to get in contact with your federal house representative and outline your timeline as you have described it here. Be polite, direct and ask if they can help get some answers, since you cannot get any answers from the BATFE.
 
Very sorry to hear this. Annoying at the least. I can share that my long time ffl01 (Brick and Mortar) renewed his ffl01 many months ago. It has been at least 2 mos past the expiration date of his now expired ffl01. They did provide a Letter of Authorization that permits him to continue business. Perhaps this is a more widespread issue.
 
mckenney99 said:
Don't know where you are located and what the legal atmosphere is towards firearms. Maybe try to get in contact with your federal house representative and outline your timeline as you have described it here. Be polite, direct and ask if they can help get some answers, since you cannot get any answers from the BATFE.
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I am in Oregon which is about as blue/liberal as you can get but we have, at least, "had" pretty decent 2A access. Of course you always have great access until you don't. We have had quite the 2A legal battles going on recently. On a federal level, last fall the ATF really tightened down on guys side hustling firearms. They changed a lot of the terms which would require you to need an FFL. I met those terms which is why I applied. I came to them, they didn't approach me which I think is going to start happening more and more. I do think it's time to ratchet this up but reaching out to anyone in my state government would probably be a waste of time. Our current reps and senators would love nothing more than to ban all guns. Thanks!
 
I'm in a very different geography, Kentucky.

My application was something like 2-3 months from paperwork submitted to license in hand in 2022.

Someone else I know locally took slightly longer, maybe 4 months, and received his license in December.

If you don't believe your elected federal reps can be of any help, then you may want to see if the NSSF, FPC, GOA or other groups are interested in helping. Alternatively, find a lawyer who specializes in firearms industry work, and see if they have any suggestions on a path forward.
 
Living in New York I did not know what to expect when getting my FFL. The photos and fingerprinting and references for app took awhile. But after turning in application I had interview within 2 months then my license about a month after that. The ATF agent was very nice and actually quit helpful. It was clear he was NOT there to try and deny permit. He was there to make sure I understood the process and answer my questions. Overall it was a very pleasant experience. This was 2 yrs ago.
 
NewLiberty said:
I'm in a very different geography, Kentucky.

My application was something like 2-3 months from paperwork submitted to license in hand in 2022.

Someone else I know locally took slightly longer, maybe 4 months, and received his license in December.

If you don't believe your elected federal reps can be of any help, then you may want to see if the NSSF, FPC, GOA or other groups are interested in helping. Alternatively, find a lawyer who specializes in firearms industry work, and see if they have any suggestions on a path forward.
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Just curious if yours is home based or in a commercial setting?
 
Bald1 said:
Living in New York I did not know what to expect when getting my FFL. The photos and fingerprinting and references for app took awhile. But after turning in application I had interview within 2 months then my license about a month after that. The ATF agent was very nice and actually quit helpful. It was clear he was NOT there to try and deny permit. He was there to make sure I understood the process and answer my questions. Overall it was a very pleasant experience. This was 2 yrs ago.
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Both of my interviewers were awesome. I thought it was actually a fun process and we were together for a good three hours. They led me to believe that I would be an FFL in no time because I had all the boxes checked, but they did say it gets passed to a higher up that makes the final decision. I actually got a hold of one of the supervisors and emailed them. I didn’t tell him that I already had an application in, I just merely created a scenario and asked if this would require a license. He gave me a very detailed email back stating that those activities would require a license. Then I replied, and said that I had applied about seven months ago, and would like to know what’s taking so long. He then contacted the interviewer and had the interviewer call me to tell me that it was still under review. He didn’t even have the balls to reply back at that point.
 
One of the biggest delays can be the Zoning laws where the business is located.
You mentioned you have a City Business License.
Does that City allow a Firearms related business within their boundry.
If so perhaps it may have to be approved by that Cities Zoning Board with a vote. The vote not coming untill a certain public comment period (60 or 90 day ?) .

Just all guesses. But local politics can but the stop to businesses they don't want in 'their' city (or town, etc)

Fire Safety, Insurance, Handicap accessiblity, Security measures,,these are all subjects that may have stalled at a local level for one reason or another that the ATF is waiting to hear back from the City on.
 
2152hq said:
One of the biggest delays can be the Zoning laws where the business is located.
You mentioned you have a City Business License.
Does that City allow a Firearms related business within their boundry.
If so perhaps it may have to be approved by that Cities Zoning Board with a vote. The vote not coming untill a certain public comment period (60 or 90 day ?) .

Just all guesses. But local politics can but the stop to businesses they don't want in 'their' city (or town, etc)

Fire Safety, Insurance, Handicap accessiblity, Security measures,,these are all subjects that may have stalled at a local level for one reason or another that the ATF is waiting to hear back from the City on.
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That is a great point, but all of those boxes were already checked before the interview took place. The interviewer check to make sure I was in a commercial setting zoned to allow firearms and I am. He even went so far as to check to make sure I was not within a certain distance from a school zone, and I checked that box as well. When I applied for the business license, I had to disclose the nature of the business and I did. I was approved for the business license with full disclosure that it would be firearms related.

Even if there was a problem with any of those, I should be contacted and notified. They are intentionally avoiding me. I have called the office several times and all I get back is “You are still under review” which means they actually don’t have a good reason for the delay. If there was truly a problem, then I should be denied, but I am neither.
 
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Maybe (hopefully) you are just the victim of a backlog. Maybe the agency personnel are just spread too thin. Hope it’s resolved quickly. It sounds like you’ve got some money tied up in this endeavor.
 
Remember that the U.S.G runs on the theory of, “if you can’t baffle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your B.S."

Sounds like you are running into a case of the above. Best of luck..
 
Wow, things have changed. I got my FFL back in 1993. A friend had an auto shop so I used his address and listed him on the application. Back then, "informal partnerships" were considered OK.

I sent in the paperwork. No interview. Just got the license in the mail a couple months later.

Twenty years later, my friend retired, his partner sold the shop, and I moved to a different state. So I transferred the license to my new home and got the updated license a month or so later.

Then the phone call came. An ATF inspector wanted to come chat with me. Now the idea of an "informal partnership" confused the heck out of them and they weren't happy that there was no formal partnership agreement. Also, they dug into my borough's business rules and discovered that any money making venture in the borough requires payment of a $300 per year "business opportunity tax" and ATF wouldn't let me keep my license unless I was paying that tax.

At that point, I decided that it just wasn't worth it. I didn't want to start doing transfers out of my house. Also, paying $300 a year to make a couple grand just sucked the fun out of it. So I transferred what little inventory I had to me and surrendered my FFL.
 
I have a feeling that from this point forward, it's going to become increasingly more difficult to get an FFL. You don't have to control the guns to have gun control. You can also come after the ammo and dealers. I guess 2022 was a record year for FFL revocations. Go figure.....
 
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DubsModel29 said:
You can also come after the ammo and dealers. I guess 2022 was a record year for FFL revocations. Go figure.....
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From what I understand, any paperwork glitch is now grounds for revocation.

I was told during an audit that "Yes" and "No" had to be spelled out but it was just "Go and sin no more." That was during Clinton.

At the risk of running off topic, I'm not a big fan of the E-4473. With a paper 4473, the requirement was that the purchaser had to fill it out. So any lies were in his handwriting. Now, I see clerks doing the e-4473 for the customer so a valid defense might be "I told him 'yes' but he must have checked 'no.'"
 
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