We are a firearms refinishing business located in Arizona. We don't stock firearms for sale but do a few transfers for friends. Our FFL is primarily for gunsmithing and shipping/receiving. The initial inspection of the business premises was about twenty years ago and went without a hitch. In 2010, we got our first ever annual inspection. It also went without a hitch except for a couple of minor paperwork mistakes and one semi major issue: Our company is a Limited Liabilty Company. (LLC) Our FFL at that time did not show the LLC in the name section so I had to get a new FFL with the correct business name.
Since that was our first ever compliance inspection, I asked numerous questions of the ATF Inspector. One of those was: Is the format that I'm using in our Bound Book correct? The info, the columms, the way I'm doing it, etc? Not a problem says the Inspector. All of the info is here and understandable. He did not ask for copies of 4473's, not did he make copies of the Bound Book, etc. It was just a simple check of the paperwork, check the premises for security and check the Bound Book against the firearms in the shop getting refinished. I filed the paperwork for a new FFL with our proper company name and that was it.
Skip to May, 2013: I get an unannounced compliance inspection. We'll call her Alice. She pretty much shuts us down for the entire day. We are a firearms refinishing business. That means chemicals, smells, vapors, etc. She has allergies! I can't even smoke in my own shop. Now at this point, I'm still going out of my way to be nice to her so I comply with her requests. She makes copies of every single 4473 and every page of my Bound Book since 2010. She brought in her own copy machine! After pretty much all day, she gives me the report: I have hundreds of errors in my paperwork! I'm stunned!
It turns out the errors are a very few minor things on my 4473's (No ethnicity!) and hundreds in my Bound Book. The format is wrong because it's missing a columm for type of firearm. (Rifle/pistol, etc) She tells me I have to re-write the entire Bound Book back to 2010....by hand since we don't do a computerized Bound Book. I explain that the Inspector in 2010 approved that format. She tells me that he was from out of State and they do things differently in other States. She tells me she will be back next week for a follow-up inspection and leaves...with copies of all my 4473's and my entire Bound Book back to 2010.
I spend days re-writing the entire Bound Book but I get it completed. She shows up, looks at it and states that it's all wrong and has to be done over again. Apparently, even though we don't do sales...only transfers for a few freinds...all gunsmithing transfers have to be in one book and the permanent transfers in a seperate book. It's all wrong! Furthermore, I can NOT have my personal firearms in the business shop for cleaning, etc. Yeah, I got dinged for that to.
Besides owning/operating Mac's Shootin' Irons, I work in law enforcement, almost three decades now. Over the years, I've developed different "personalities" for different situations. Submissive (I'm getting my @&& chewed on by a supervisor), professionally polite (Dealing with the public. Don't give them anything to use against you) to what I call my Officer Attitude. (You ARE going to do what I tell you to do). Up to this point in dealing with Alice the ATF Compliance Inspector, I have been in a mix of submissive and professionally polite.
When she told me that I had to do the entire Bound Book over...by hand...again, I snapped and went directly to Officer Attitude. I stepped close to her and said "NO! I demand a meeting with your supervisor. You are abusing your authority. Tell your boss to call me". She practically ran out of my shop. A week later, I have a meeting with the area ATF supervisor.
He explains the intent of the Compliance Inspections. It's not to punish you for mistakes, it's to help you not make mistakes in the future. They're not interested in fixing past mistakes
but stop making the same ones. I ask then why did I have to re-write my entire Bound Book? He says Huh? I see the embarrased red start to creep up Alice the Inspector's neck. I say why do I have to re-write the entire book
again? He says "What are you talking about"? I explain what Alice the Inspector has required me to do. He tells her that they'll discuss that later. He tells me that I don't have to do the books over, just start new ones from that date forward and save the old ones. I ask about having my personal firearms in the shop for cleaning, etc. He says "Yes. Why not?" I tell him that Alice the Inspector dinged me on that too. He tells her they'll have a private meeting about it all later. The red is all of the way up her cheeks now.
Yeah, I got it all in writing.
What I got from all of this, is that Alice the Compliance Inspector was in fact abusing her authority and making me do stuff that I didn't have to do. My impression from her was that she was afraid of firearms and had zero firearms handling knowledge. During the course of her "inspection" she handled several firearms without clearing and muzzle swept me at least four times. I knew they were all unloaded but she didn't. No, ATF never returned the copies that they made of my 4473's or my Bound Books. I'm pretty sure I will get another inspection next year. I
hope it's Alice the Compliance Inspector. I know she'll be after my blood but I plan on business as usual. That means I will smoke in my own shop, I wll refinish firearms and I will play my 60's and 70's rock and roll music. If she has to work in the carport because of her allergies, I'll supply her with an extension cord for her copy machine! Keep yer powder dry, Mac.
Mac's Shootin' Irons
