FFL for Personal Use

It’s quite likely that most of us, given the chance to work in a gun store, would also, if given the chance, blow much of our paycheck getting new and cool guns. Some people actually do that, but you don’t have to go to work for an FFL and trade your paycheck for cool guns every two weeks. Did you know if you have an FFL, you can still use an FFL for personal use?

That’s right, not only can you get an FFL and sell guns from your home as a part time business opportunity, but you can use your FFL for personal use as well. That means buying guns for yourself at actual dealer cost and simply adding them to your collection, and being able to take advantage of dealer opportunities to get uncommon or rare guns when they come onto the market. Want to know more? Well, keep reading!

Getting the Most from your FFL

Some people think they can just get an FFL, sell a few guns by appointment over their kitchen table, and hook up their friends and family with guns at a discount price, while getting a few each year for themselves at cost. Unfortunately, as pleasant as that thought is, it is also pretty much not possible.

You see, the ATF requires a few things from FFL holders. One of them being that you are actually making a legitimate attempt to conduct actual business. That means selling guns to people, not buying them for yourself and close friends or family. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use your FFL for personal use. In fact that is perfectly fine as long as you follow some basic, common sense steps.

In fact, personal use of your FFL is one of the few real perks you can enjoy in this heavily regulated industry, and we’ll show you how in a minute.

How to Not Use Your FFL

If we are going to show you how to use your FFL for personal use, we need to show you how not to use your FFL first, so you understand what will get you in trouble with the ATF.

Before you even get an FFL, you have to sit down with an ATF examiner and demonstrate understanding of applicable laws and regulations that pertain to your type of business and the state/city you are operating in. But you also have to demonstrate that you are going to be in the actual business of selling firearms.

What is the actual business of selling firearms? Well, you have to be making a real effort to operate a business for profit. There is no hard and fast policy. For instance, the ATF does not require you sell a certain number of guns each year. You do have to maintain scheduled business hours, but that can be as little as one afternoon a week. There is no law requiring you operate a full time business, but since an FFL (other than an 03 Curio and Relics license) is a commercial license, you are expected to be in actual business.

Because so many people were abusing that idea, the ATF has gotten really good at quizzing people about how they intend to use their FFL.  So if you are planning to get an FFL, it’s a really good idea to not talk about how you plan to use your FFL for personal use. And if you already have an FFL, you need to be focusing on running a business first, not building up your personal collection.

How to Use Your FFL For Personal Use

So here’s how you do it – remember, your books are wide open for ATF inspection, and if they see you’ve been getting more guns for yourself than your business, they probably won’t be renewing your license.

First off, go ahead and buy the gun. Now that you’ve got it, you own it. You simply have to log it in your Bound Book and then mark it as disposed to yourself. That’s it. No 4473, no extra paperwork, and you are good to go.

If you keep it stored with firearms for sale, it should be marked not for sale, but as a general rule you really don’t want to mix personally owned firearms with your inventory unless you simply cannot help it.

Should you choose to sell it later, simply list it in your Bound Book as you would any other firearm you’ve taken into inventory, and sell it as normal.

Pretty simple isn’t it? Literally just order the gun you want and log it in and then out of your inventory while enjoying savings up to 30 percent or even more off retail. What a great way to build your own gun collection, while also running a profitable and fun business!

NFA Items For Personal Use?

How would you legally like to build an own a machine gun? Or even any other NFA item? Or to buy and use post 1986 machine guns? Ever since the registry for new machine guns was closed in 1986, the only way to get a machine gun is to buy an increasingly rarer NFA registered machine gun, or to get an 07 FFL and 03 SOT and make your own.

What’s this you say? Yes! Even in states that ban private machine gun ownership, it is possible to legally make and buy machine guns if you have the proper Federal licenses.  And as an added bonus, the government market for machine guns and other NFA items can be quite lucrative. Some people even make a good living renting machine guns for range use, or experimenting with new designs and configurations for government sales.

As with regular guns, the same obvious statement applies. You aren’t getting your FFL just to play with cool toys, you are in commercial business, and need to be making an honest effort to sale or otherwise monetize your manufacturing efforts.

But only an idiot would fail to not have some fun along the way and enjoy the ability to make and acquire NFA devices this way.

An 03 SOT and 07 FFL isn’t for everyone. There are some obvious heavy regulations that go with them, and once you give up your licenses or don’t renew them, all post May 86 machine guns you have cannot be retained – they must be destroyed or sold to another 03 SOT or government agency. But if you are willing to put in the work to make a business around NFA items, it can be financially and personally quite rewarding – and fun!

Tips For Private Use of an FFL 

Remember, we showed you how you can use your FFL for private use. It is perfectly legal and one hundred percent acceptable as long as it is incidental to the actual business of selling guns.

Lots of people still get in trouble with the ATF for the private use of an FFL. Common reasons include lots of transfers to obvious relatives or to the FFL holder, or showing lots of transfers to yourself, but not a lot of retail transactions.

When you use your FFL for private use, be sure to tag the gun not for sale if you keep it mixed in with inventory or in the same safe as inventory. One good reason for the private use of an FFL is to purchase demo guns to show to prospective customers. You may not want to keep a lot of expensive guns inventory, but if you have one in your collection that you can show as a demo, that is a very good reason for the personal use of an FFL. Plus it may be a tax deduction!

In other words, when you use your FFL for personal use make it a demonstrable part of your business when you can, or if nothing else, it is still fine to get guns for private use with your FFL as long as it isn’t the main reason you have it.

Ready to Get Your FFL?

Great! Along with commercial sales, the private use of an FFL is a great perk to have. Let’s get you started!

FFL123 has been in business for nearly 2 decades helping people just like you get the FFL they want and deserve. We have thousands of satisfied and successful customers all over the country doing everything from part time sales in their homes, to manufacturing NFA items in machine shops, and pretty much anything else in between.

FFL123 gives their customers a unique set of support tools that no other FFL license program offers.

• Ongoing support even after you get your license!
• Industry insider tips, tricks and knowledge!
• A hand curated list of distributors who will work with FFL’s of any size!
• Ongoing reports on the latest legal and regulatory issues!
• A 150% money back guarantee- you’ll get your FFL or we’ll lose money on the deal!
• And much, much more!

What are you waiting for? 2020 promises to be a battleground year for our gun rights and civil liberties, and you can take extraordinary steps in these extraordinary times to protect your gun rights and gun collection by getting an FFL. Click here to get started, and we can’t wait to see when you get your FFL too!