If you’re planning on running your own business in the firearms industry at some point in the future, you’re going to need to deal with the ATF at some point. And when you do, you’re going to want to ensure you’re up to date with all your FFL paperwork. Some of that paperwork is going to be the subject of today’s post. Our friend and SDI grad Caleb Downing explains how to fill out your A&D Book to stay ATF-compliant during an FFL transfer in this edition of SDI Grad Advice.
What is an A&D Book?
While maintaining your FFL paperwork may seem like a daunting task, Caleb stresses filling out your A&D book for a transfer isn’t that difficult. He stresses that if you stay simple, do it the same every time, and do it right, you’ll be good.
First off, what is an A&D book? First off, “A&D” stands for “Acquisitions and Disposition book.” Essentially, an A&D book keeps track of every time you bring a new gun into your shop or transfer a firearm out. Never, ever leave your A&D book sitting around. It’s an important piece of your shop’s records. Guard it with your life!
Receiving a Firearm
When you receive a firearm into your shop, you’ll get some paperwork with it. It’ll contain data like:
- Where the gun is coming from.
- What the physical firearm is.
- Its serial number—double-check to make sure it matches.
- Its price.
- FFL info of the business that’s sending you the gun—make sure it has the shop’s license number and ensure that their license isn’t expired.
If you’re receiving a firearm to transfer directly to another person (say someone bought a gun on Gunbroker and had it transferred to your store), you’ll also receive the recipient’s name and address.
Recording a Firearm Acquisition in Your A&D Book
After you verify that the paperwork you received is in order, it’s time to record the FFL transfer into your A&D book You’ll need to fill out information including:
- Transaction number
- Firearm manufacturer
- Serial number – write the serial number on the gun itself, don’t just copy the number over from the paperwork the previous FFL sent
- Type – pistol, rifle, shotgun, receiver, or “other”
- Caliber or gauge
- Date
- Who you received the gun from—business name and FFL number
Once you fill all that info into your A&D book, you’ll want to write the transaction number from your book back onto the paperwork you received from the gun’s sender.
Recording a Firearm Disposal in Your A&D Book
Like we mentioned earlier, you’ll need to record every time a firearm leaves your shop into your A&D book too. Here’s the information you’ll need to document every time a gun exits your store:
- Date.
- Transferee’s name and address.
- Transferee’s date of birth and driver’s license number.
- NICS background check number from a Form 4473. If the item leaving your store is an NFA item (like a short-barreled rifle), you won’t need any of this info—the customer’s tax stamp is their background check. A current concealed carry permit removes the need for a background check, too. DO NOT LET THE FIREARM LEAVE YOUR SHOP WITHOUT RECEIVING AND RECORDING THIS INFORMATION.
- Repair invoice number—Caleb uses the same number as his Transaction Number from an acquisition.
That’s all the information you’ll really need to write down. However, Caleb also had some tips for extra info and redundancies for “CYA” purposes.
- A photocopy of their driver’s license
- Printed results of the transferee’s NICS background check
Keep this info on a separate piece of paper and mark it with the transaction/repair invoice number. Then, keep the extra info along with your copy of the 4473 and all the paperwork you received along with the firearm for your records.
Congrats! At this point, your job is done. Give the firearm and receipt to the purchaser and tell them to have a nice day!
Choose SDI to Grow Your Gun Knowledge
Much like how the expanding gasses from smokeless powder propels a bullet forward, so too does amplifying your knowledge base set your future in motion. If you love firearms and want to learn more about them, check out the full list of available programs we have at SDI.
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