Don't forget the 1994 changes, to include ATF insistence on compliance with local zoning regulations (a 10th Amendment violation?) and more detailed descriptions of the business premises. There was a concerted campaign under the Clinton administration to discourage or drive out of business so-called kitchen-table FFLs and anyone else they could intimidate into dropping their license.
The biggest drop was 1994-1997, IIRC, the three year licensing cycle after the new requirements and fee increase. IMHO that also lead to many of the former FFLs doing the gun show circuit. Had the ATF let them retain their FFLs, the record-keeping requirement (and NICS checks) would cover a significantly higher percentage of gun show transfers. I attended a meeting with ATF and other gun show promoters in Denver in 1995 where ATF proposed a gun show promoters license and a gun show vendors license -- proposals that never went anywhere in the post-1994 Republican-dominated Congress. Joe W > IMHO, the single major reason for the hugh drop in the 1990's was the > clarified and more objective definition of "dealer" in the NRA-backed > 1986 Volkmer-McClure Act. Prior to that, ATF had great success in > convicting (and/or threatening) people who sold any more than two (2) > firearms in a year. Any gun seller might fit under the "loose" > definition in the 1968 Gun Control Act. > > ATF's advice to anyone who inquired was "get an FFL, it's only $5" > and a hugh number of persons who never were "real" dealers got a FFL > (and had to keep records, etc.). So pre-1993, the vast majority of > FFL's were held by ordinary non-dealers. When the fee increased by 40 > times AND there was no further threat that a few sales from a personal > collection would lead to a federal felony conviction, most FFL holders > saw no need to continue their licenses. > > They never really needed one and they certainly didn't now. So they > dropped out of the system. That probably accounts for over 95% of the > non-renewals. > > _______________________________________________ > To post, send message to [email protected] > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof > > Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as > private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are > posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or > wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
