I'm a RKBA supporter and Democrat. Ask me anything about the recent Obama announcement.

[Lee-Lee]

36. Usually the first step of the BATFE if they think someone is crossing the line

Is to knock on the door, say they have seen they sell a lot of guns, and then explain the law and hand them an FFL application packet.

They want people in compliance.

However at the same time in the 90's Congress passed a law stating that a person with an FFL must comply with all laws for a full fledged business- so a home based FFL would not be approved if a person lived in a place where the zoning prohibited a business even of most home based business is allowed. Enforcement of that provision had left a lot of people who like to buy and sell and who would comply with FFL regulations in a catch-22 where they are required to get an FFL but denied one because of an absurd interpretation of zoning laws by the BATFE.

So a scenario end sup like this- Joe is retired and buys and sells a few guns a month at the flea market along with all kinds of other stuff. He knows he needs an FFL, so he applies. The home he lives in is zoned residential and since that is the address of record for his license he gets denied his FFL- even though he had no intent of selling guns from that location. So he just keeps skirting the edge of the law when he would like to be in compliance big is denied the chance.

The start of that zoning law enforcement really drove down the number of FFl's in the 90's and I am sure a lot of them still sold guns now and then- there were consequences of that change to the law that the backers of it probably didn't grasp- and as a result the very bill that put background checks into play pushed more outside the checks.