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Posted: 3/3/2007 7:19:09 PM EDT
| To be a class II manufacturer do you need a "store" and business hours? I have been reading Bardwell's NFA FAQ's and cannot find any reference to this. I was thinking of becoming one (FFL/SOT) someday and giving demos/selling weapons to law enforcement as an excuse to have a few machine guns. Seems if it were easy there would be alot of people that do it. Is is worth it to be a manufacturer? Thanks for your input. |
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If you want to owe a few machine guns buy them and forget about being a class II or class III dealer. If you want to try and make money at building or selling class III weapons then go ahead. It isn't cheap and can/will get expensive if you want the weapons for yourself. I wouldn't bother trying to sell class III stuff to LE unless it is for their own use. You won't make any money at it. The license isn't the expensive part. The other fees/taxes are. It can cost you between $2000-$3000 per year depending on if you have to have a building, your local laws and a few other things. That doesn't include any machinery or anything to produce class II weapons. If you are thinking about doing this see if someone in your area is a class II and stop by their shop and see what they say about it. I have thought about doing it but made a deal with a local FFL and class II dealer. That fits my budget and current class II/class III habit. |
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We are 07FFL/02SOT holders. There were quite a few hoops and expenses we had to commit to before we even submitted the application. It's like a catch-22 when feeling out the application. You need a place that is going to be zoned for manufacturing and a lease but the least we could commit to a lease was 12 months. If the ATF did not approve us, we were still on the hook for 12 months. The place had to be zone for manufacturing, the landlord had to be interviewed by ATF, insurance, business license, LLC, state license, etc. None of that includes the tools of the trade because again.. you are a manufacturer. Once you get the FFL, then it's another $500 for the yearly 02 SOT that expires on the last day of June. So, if you get approved now and you want to manufacture MG's, then you will have to renew in a couple of months and pay it all over again. Also, your examiner has the authority to turn down your application. Our examiner "suggested" that in addition to our safe we should have an alarms system. We agreed but advised him that if he did approve us, we would then get the alarm because we didn't want to commit to another expense without being 100% sure. He agreed with our opinion and we did send him proof of the alarm system once we were approved. These are just some of the major things that I mentioned but there are MANY more little things that we encountered along the way. thanks, Ron |
No you do not need a "store". Colt, HK, FN, Glock, etc., do not have stores. All have business hours during which they conduct their business. Most major MFGs have courted every reasonable sized PD in the country. Unless you are the next Gaston Glock, the probability of someone with no experience making firearms all of a sudden making one and selling it to PDs is low, but Glock did it so it is not impossible. |
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