Quick Reference

Minimum age to hold a license

The applicant must be 21 years of age or over.

New dealer license

A dealer in anything other than destructive devices.

Renewal of that dealer license

The only place in the schedule where renewing costs less than starting.

Dealer in destructive devices

Manufacturer or importer of ordinary firearms

Collector of curios and relics

To correct a deficient application

From the date of the notification, before the application is treated as abandoned.

How long a license runs

Unless terminated sooner — the three years is a ceiling, not a guarantee.

Before moving the business

The amended application is filed not less than 30 days PRIOR to the removal.

After a change of trade name

The license goes in for endorsement within 30 days AFTER the change — the opposite direction to a removal.

To notify a change of control

Runs even where control changed indirectly, or in another corporation entirely.

To claim the right of succession

From the date the successor began carrying on the business, not from the death.

To liquidate former licensee inventory

Or such additional period as the Director approves for good cause.

To request a hearing

From receipt of the notice — and service is complete when it reaches the address on file.

Minimum notice of the hearing date

The notification is made no less than 10 days in advance of the date set.

To petition for judicial review

After receipt of the final notice, in the district court.

NICS delay: wait before proceeding

Business days — days on which State offices are open, not calendar days.

The under-21 extended period

Business days in all, where NICS says within the first three that cause exists for further investigation. Applies through September 30, 2032.

Rifles, shotguns, and their ammunition

Handguns and their ammunition

Anything other than a shotgun or rifle sits in the higher tier.

Maximum age of a State permit

One of four conditions a permit must meet to take a transfer outside the check.

Delay before shipping to a buyer who did not appear

Following receipt of the return receipt from the chief law enforcement officer.

Minimum marking depth

Measured from the flat surface of the metal, not from the peaks of the impression.

Minimum print size

For the serial number and any license number used with it.

To identify a completed weapon

Or prior to disposition if that comes sooner — non-NFA weapons.

ARMOR PIERCING label letters

Block letters, on the exterior surface carrying the caliber or gauge.

The governmental-or-export legend

FOR GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES OR EXPORTATION ONLY, in block lettering on that same surface.

Coloring coverage on the projectile

The point completely, plus at least half the portion visible in the cartridge case.

To record an acquisition

By close of the next business day following the purchase or acquisition — the tighter of the two clocks.

To record a disposition

Following the transaction.

Personal collection holding period

From the date the firearm was transferred out of business inventory, and only where that transfer was recorded.

When paper Forms 4473 may move to a warehouse

The separate warehouse is then part of the business premises for that purpose.

Retention of the multiple sale report

After the date of the sale or other disposition.

Outer limit for a tracing response

Immediately is the standard; the answer is given orally inside the window.

The multiple-sale window

Two or more pistols or revolvers at one time or during any five consecutive business days.

To file the multiple sale report

By close of business on the day the disposition occurs — the tightest of this chapter’s reporting deadlines.

To report a theft or loss

From DISCOVERY, not from the event itself.

To record the theft or loss

As a disposition entry in the bound record, following discovery.

Service-member permit window

Active duty outside the United States within the 60 days immediately preceding the intended importation.

Curio or relic by age

Manufactured at least 50 years before the current date. Replicas are excluded.

Class 1 — importer of firearms

Class 2 — manufacturer of firearms

Class 3 — dealer in firearms

When the special tax falls due

Every year, and on or before the date the taxable business commences. It does not prorate.

Making or transfer tax

For a machine gun or a destructive device.

Making or transfer tax

For any firearm that is not a machine gun or destructive device.

The machine gun cutoff

A machine gun lawfully possessed before that date may continue to be possessed by the person it is registered to, and may be transferred.

False statement in an application

Or by a non-licensee as to information required in a licensee record. Up to 5 years imprisonment.

Licensee false statement in a record

Up to 1 year imprisonment — the lighter of the two limbs.

To commence forfeiture proceedings

From the seizure. This clock runs on the Government, not on the owner.

To deliver records after closing

Absolute discontinuance: to the ATF Out-of-Business Records Center or any ATF office in the division.