Start with the licensee who is not a licensed importer — a dealer, a manufacturer, or a collector. No person other than a licensed importer may engage in the BUSINESS of importing firearms or ammunition. It follows — and § 478.113 says so explicitly — that a licensee who is not a licensed importer may bring in a firearm or ammunition only where the Director issues a permit authorizing that importation. Barrels are stricter still: no barrel for a handgun that is not generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes may be imported by ANY person, and a licensee who is not an importer needs a permit for any firearm barrel. The application is the same ATF Form 6 — Part I, in triplicate, and it asks for the applicant’s license number and expiration date, the country of origin, the foreign seller and foreign shipper, and a full description of the goods down to the manufacturer and type.

For a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, a separate permit exists. The Director MAY issue a permit authorizing importation to the place of residence of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces who is on active duty outside the United States, or who has been within the 60 days immediately preceding the intended importation — provided the firearm or ammunition is generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes and is intended for that member’s PERSONAL use. That application is ATF Form 6 — Part II, also in triplicate, and it requires the member to certify that transporting, receiving, or possessing the goods would violate no provision of the Act and no state law or local ordinance where they live. Note what the permit is not: it is discretionary, it is limited to sporting-purpose goods, and it is personal rather than commercial.

Then there is the reader who is bringing back something that was already theirs — a category that needs no permit at all, because nothing is really being introduced into the country. Firearms and ammunition may be brought in by any person who can establish TO THE SATISFACTION OF CUSTOMS that the same person previously took them out. The proof is the point: Customs Form 4457 completed before departure at a customhouse or an office of a Director of Industry Operations, or a bill of sale or other commercial document showing the transfer to that person in the United States. Government importations are similarly exempt — goods imported by or for the United States, or any state, or any department, agency, or political subdivision of either, are released from customs custody on the appropriate showing.