[fastpat]

Another bit of evidence that the Bush'ists aren't the friends of gun owners is this continuation of the Clinton policy of forcing FFL holders out of business via the activities of BATFAE thugs. This has been going on for all of Bush's time in office unabated. Further, a similar group of stocking dealers helped pass the anti-self defense Gun Control Act of 1968 which has formed the basis for nearly all inroads against our rights. These dealers need to feel some heat, then maybe they'll see the light.

From: Firearms Coalition Alerts List
Date: Monday, March 27, 2006, 1:03:27 PM
Subject: [Fcalerts-list] Increase in FFL fees and hassle = fewer gun dealers


Please reply to feedback at FirearmsCoalition.org (using appropriate email format).

Decades-Old Chickens Come Home To Roost

The Violence Policy Committee is reporting what they term a "little noticed victory" for gun prohibitionists in a 78% drop in the number gun dealers over the past decade. According to a VPC press release, which has been picked up by several mainstream news outlets (ttp://tinyurl.com/jlg2a), the number of Type 1 Federal Firearms License holders dropped from 245,628 in 1994 to 54,902 in 2005.

The drop in the number of licensees is a direct result of Clinton-era policies that included raising the fee for a Type 1 license from $30 to $200 coupled with concentrated "enforcement" (read "auditing") of provisions of the '60 Gun Control Act.

Neal Knox wrote of a deeper root cause of the reduction in the number of dealers more than two decades ago. At that time a group of storefront dealers and distributors, banded together to call themselves the "National Alliance of Stocking Gun Dealers." Their stated purpose was to drive what they termed "basement bandits" (home and hobbyist dealers) out of business. Those "basement bandits" included kitchen table dealers, but also gunsmiths and hobbyists who wanted to avoid running afoul of the /still/ vaguely defined GCA '68 prohibition on "engaging in the business" of gun trade, and local clubs that maintained an FFL in order to buy from distributors.

Today, we see the results of those dealers' protectionism.

When gun owners fail to defend all other gun owners -- and that includes gun dealers -- the result is fratricide.

================================================== ====================

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 26, 1984)

A major gun distributor who is one of the main supporters of the "National Alliance of Stocking Gun Dealers" is attempting to get on national television programs to condemn the /lack/ of Federal gun regulations.

Publisher Andy Molchan has written in "American Firearms Industry Magazine" that the "National Alliance is a protest group ... saying 'We are NOT going to die easily. And if we do die, we are going to
take a lot of people with us.'"

By that attitude, the "National Alliance" isn't just threatening the smaller or non-stocking dealer, what they're doing may amount to murder-suicide of the interests of themselves and their customers. If they succeed in changing the Gun Control Act, it's unlikely to have any significant positive effects upon their businesses, but it will almost certainly result in even-tighter controls upon firearms users.

The distributors and dealers in the NASGD, like most of those in the gun business, are barely surviving financially. The industry's troubles are due to both the general economic downturn and the lessened numbers of firearms buyers. However, the NASGD is blaming "unfair competition" from small dealers operating out of their homes (whom they call "basement bandits") as well as individuals who obtain Federal dealer licenses to conduct their hobby, and are able to buy wholesale instead of buying from a local dealer.

But as most in the industry will admit, the real problem is the over-supply of guns and ammunition, which has caused manufacturers and importers to "dump" their excess products at below-normal prices in order to survive themselves.

While dealers have undoubtedly lost some sales to low-overhead or no-overhead licensees, I would wager they've lost many times as much to the big discount chains that handle guns as a loss-leader, in order to get hunters into their stores. Those discount chains often sell the most-popular models at prices below what the dealer's supplier can buy them.

But since the dealers and distributors can't successfully fight the outfits that are bigger that themselves, a few are picking a fight with the guys that are smaller -- and we're all getting sprayed with the wild shots.

I'm beginning to run into the effects of their campaign on Capitol Hill. A Senator's aide recently asked me "What can we do about basement bandits?" Another told me: "I thought you gun people wanted fewer Federal gun laws, but I just talked with a gun distributor who wants more."

The immediate object of the NASGD is to reduce the number of FFL's issued, which is the same thing Handgun Control Inc. attempted in a court case a few years ago. Any time my friends want the same thing that my enemies want, it's time to re-evaluate that friendship.