Advice/Input Sought Regarding a Dealer

[JTA]

I recently bought a gun for my father and had it shipped to an FFL dealer near his house. I have used this dealer in the past and have not experienced problems in these past dealings. I told the dealer that the gun was for my father, and he would coming to do the transfer 4473 paperwork. I have contacted my father and found out that he has yet to get the dealer to arrange for a time for the transfer. Even worse, the dealer now seems elusive and is not responding to phone calls or emails. This FFL is a man who runs his business through his home. I do not want to have my father show up at his house unannounced; however, I am running out of options for reaching him. I would like to know what recourse is available to my or my father. Who should I have my father contact if this dealer continues to not respond? Your input would be much appreciated.

 

[Retired LTC USAR]

I would have the sending FFL try and contact the receiving FFL and see what is going on. If that doesnot help, I would have you father go to the "business" and set a date/time to get the gun. If e is not home, have him leave a letter. If still no resolution, I would send him a certified letter. Last resort would be to contact the BATFE for their assistance.

Sounds like the gun went to some other individual.

 

[Ogandydancer]

Someone had once told me it was illegal to run a gun shop out of your home. I was going to try to get FFL until I heard that but, I could be mstaken. If you can't get any action any other way I would check him out with BATFE.

 

[Andy Griffith]

It is not illegal to run an FFL out of a home. It is legal to have "business hours" and do business without a storefront or showroom, and it is legal to conduct all business by mail and phone with no face-to-face sales, as I recently found this out the hard way.

However, if the dealer in question agreed to it beforehand, and is now avoiding contact and has the piece, I'd be going to knock on his door and see what the problem may be.

 

[Steave]

It certainly isn't illegal to operate a FFL from your home, in the past, the vast majority of FFL's we're in homes. There are many local ordinances that prohibit home based businesses and ATF will confirm that there isn't such and ordinance before issuing the FFL; they did not start doing this until 1994 or so.

Regarding the dealer, if you have used him in the past without any problems, I would not get too terribly worried, folks character usually will not change overnight. Perhaps he has been out of town, has health issues, etc.

 

[JTA]

Thanks to all for the responses. I had a UPS tracking number from the dealer where I bought the gun and who shipped it to my father. According to the UPS number, the gun is in the dealer's possession. I am not a fan of showing up to someone's home unannounced (and I know my father is certainly not); however, it may have to come to this. This dealer near my father has been hard to get in contact with in the past; however, this latest issue seems inordinately long for him to remain unreachable. As Steave said, I hope for this to be all a large misunderstanding or situation where the dealer has had other matters interfere with his business.