The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives sent guidance to federal firearms licensees outlining how industry members can conduct transactions in a compliant manner that will satisfy social distancing orders.
Retailers with federal firearms licenses reached out to the ATF requesting the guidance on whether they could confirm a customer’s identity and permit as well as process his or her documents through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, accept payment, and deliver firearms or ammunition to customers in settings that kept both the dealer and customer safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
“An FFL may carry out the requested activities through a drive-up or walk-up window or doorway where the customer is on the licensee’s property on the exterior of the brick-and-mortar structure at the address listed on the license,” Curtis Gilbert, the ATF’s acting assistant director of enforcement programs and services, wrote in a Friday letter.
Gilbert continued, “An FFL may also carry out the requested activities from a temporary table or booth located in a parking lot or other exterior location on the licensee’s property at the address listed on the license, but any such activities must occur in a location where the licensee has the authority to permit ATF’s entry for inspection purposes.”
He noted that whether the FFL has the authority to permit such entry and whether a location constitutes the dealer’s property are likely to be fact-specific inquiries.
“An FFL carrying out the requested activities from an exterior table or booth should maintain its inventory and records securely in the interior of the brick-and-mortar structure and ensure that the records of each firearms transaction are stored in the interior,” he added.
Gilbert emphasized that an FFL “may not carry out the requested activities from a nearby space that is not located on the licensee’s property at the address listed on the license, unless such activities are at a qualified in-state gun show or event … but may conduct non-over-the-counter firearm sales to unlicensed in-state residents who are exempt from NICS requirements in accordance with federal statute.”
The move marks another victory for gun rights activists during the coronavirus pandemic. In late March, the Department of Homeland Security sent out guidance naming the gun industry as “essential critical infrastructure” amid stay-at-home orders triggered by the COVID-19 crisis.
The Brady Campaign, a longtime gun control organization, condemned the guidance from the ATF, calling it “unsafe and indulgent.”
“We have repeatedly seen the Trump Administration put gun industry profits over people throughout the COVID-19 response, notably by designating gun stores as ‘essential critical infrastructure.’ The latest guidance from ATF to gun stores continues this alarming trend,” Brady President Kris Brown said. “This guidance circumvents established safety procedures and long-standing protocols with the sole purpose of indulging the gun industry. Its provisions are patently unsafe.”
National Shooting Sports Foundation President Larry Keene tweeted in response to the Brady Campaign criticizing the idea of drive-thru gun purchases.
“.@BradyBuzz All laws & regs apply w/ Brady background check What’s the problem? U opposed DHS ‘critical’ industry designation U wld only be happy if stores closed,” he wrote.
