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FFL A&D Book – ATF Requirements

An FFL A&D Book is an extremely important part of an FFL business. Don’t let the name fool you, though, as the ATF allows the book to be digital.

Aside from the actual Federal Firearms License, the Acquisitions and Dispositions book, otherwise known as the A&D book, is one of the most important parts of a successful (and legal) business for FFL license holders. The license and the book go together better than peanut butter and jelly. They’re more than just BFFs. They like each other more than flies like … well, OK, I think you get the point.

What is an FFL A&D Book?

It is the book where every single firearm that is acquired and disposed of by the FFL holder is recorded. No exceptions. Period. Information that the book must include is:

  • the manufacturer or importer,
  • model,
  • serial number,
  • type of firearm,
  • caliber or gauge,
  • date received,
  • name and address or name and FFL of the person or company from whom you received the firearm,
  • date of disposition,
  • name of person or company to whom it went,
  • address or FFL of the person or company to whom it was transferred, and
  • the 4473 number.

It was, and sometimes still is, frequent practice to use a paper book and manually input all of the entries into the A&D book. However, as dealers are bringing in larger quantities of orders and everything else has gone digital, the ATF has decided that a digital version of the A&D book is acceptable – if it follows a preset list of guidelines. (Kind of rare that the ATF isn’t completely behind the times with this one!)

Guidelines

The guidelines can be found in ATF Ruling 2008-2. The main synopsis is:

  • The data must be entered into a system in which changes are tracked. If a change is made, the changed data needs to be entered in as a new entry.
  • The system must be searchable by date or by serial number.
  • The system must have a reliable memory backup that prevents the data from being deleted accidentally or other system failures.

The exact ruling can be found here:: http://www.atf.gov/files/regulations-rulings/rulings/atf-rulings/atf-ruling-2008-2.pdf

The ATF generally doesn’t approve of using Microsoft Excel or similar products for a digital A&D book because it doesn’t fit their requirements for tracking data changes. However, FFL123 had a program created that utilizes Excel’s easy-to-use features but also has a feature to track changes that cannot be edited. In our Class 3 FFL sister company, Silencer Central, we utilize Dropbox, which is an online program that saves the files in the “cloud,” so even if the main computer crashes, the information is still saved. We utilize this type of A&D book format for all our locations – and we have a lot of locations! Be sure to remember to print a backup copy of your A&D records every six months, as the ATF will want to see this backup during any compliance inspection they may perform.

Sample FFL123’s exclusive digital A&D book

To see a sample of FFL123’s exclusive digital A&D book click this link here.

Get Your A&D Book Software Today!

FFL123 is here to help you along every step of the way to getting your own FFL license. This software we had created for our business is just one example of tools and best practices we provide our customers based on our real-world experience. The full version of the software program is free to all of our  FFL123 customers.

For more information of keeping FFL records or the first steps to getting your license, join FFL123.com today!

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