Photo by: Joshuashearn
President Obama’s announcement on Wednesday of new gun control measures in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting has focused new attention on the people whose sales of guns are covered by the national instant background check system: Federal Firearms License holders.
People and businesses with FFLs can sell and buy guns in ways the rest of us can’t; they can, for instance, ship a gun across state lines. There are 125,000 FFLs nationwide this month—about half are gun collectors, 40 percent are dealers, 5 percent are pawnbrokers who deal in guns and 5 percent are gun manufacturers.
According to a presentation the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made to a gun industry event last year, its agents made 13,000 inspections in 2012—meaning one in 10 FFLs was actually checked out. Thirty-one percent of those inspections led either to a finding that the FFL had violated rules, a warning about practices or the revocation of the license.
Use the query form below to find out about firearms dealers in New York State—including the 22 in New York City. Note that in ATF parlance, “destructive device” refers to explosives. (To learn about FFLs in other states, click here.)
