No Deal

The Drop in Federally Licensed Firearms Dealers in America

Even with a national drop of 74 percent in the number of gun dealers, FFLs are still a key supplier of guns to criminals. As noted earlier, 56 percent of FFLs still operate out of residential premises. Thirty-one percent of FFLs had not sold a single firearm in the previous year, a disturbingly high percentage for a class of people who purport to be "engaged in the business" of selling firearms.

While at first glance it may seem that an FFL holder who does not sell any firearms is not a threat to public safety, it must be remembered that this reflects only sales reported to ATF. Many sales by kitchen-table dealers take place "off the books" without the licensee logging the guns into their firearms acquisition book or confirming the identity of the purchaser as required by law.

Kitchen-table dealers remain a source for criminal gun traffickers. In the June 2000 study Following the Gun, ATF analyzed a random sample of their FFL trafficking investigations and found that 23 percent of the investigations were of kitchen-table dealers. The only earlier trafficking study to look at the role of kitchen-table dealers was 1990's Project Detroit, detailed earlier, which found that 31 percent of the dealers involved in supplying guns to criminals were kitchen-table dealers. Because Project Detroit was a local study it is difficult to compare its results to those of ATF's most recent analysis. However, it is clear from both studies that kitchen-table dealers play a key role in making firearms available to criminals.

Tthe Violence Policy Center recommends the following actions:

• All federally licensed firearms dealers should be required to operate from a storefront business, not a residence. Licenses should be limited to businesses devoted primarily to the sale of firearms. Gun shops should be conspicuously identified to the public as such.
  
  
• ATF should have the authority to suspend a dealer's license or assess civil penalties�in addition to revocation authority�when a dealer violates the law.
  
  
• ATF's ability to inspect a licensee's premises to ensure compliance with recordkeeping and other requirements should be expanded from once a year to at least four times per year.
  
  
• The loophole which allows dealers to divert firearms from their business inventory to their "personal collections" and then sell those guns without performing the Brady background check should be eliminated.
  
  
• Dealers should be required to safely and securely store their inventory of firearms.

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 All contents � 2002 Violence Policy Center