18 U.S.C. 923: FFL Types, Application, and Renewal

Anyone who imports, manufactures, or deals in firearms or ammunition as a business must hold a Federal Firearms License (FFL) issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under 18 U.S.C. § 923. The federal firearms license requirements cover who needs one, which of the license types applies, what fee you pay, what records you keep, and what happens if you fall short. Fees run from $30 for a collector to $3,000 for businesses handling destructive devices, and every license expires after three years.¹

Who Needs a Federal Firearms License

The trigger is not whether you sell a firearm. It is whether you are “engaged in the business” of dealing, manufacturing, or importing firearms or ammunition.² Someone who occasionally sells a firearm from a personal collection is not a dealer. Once the activity looks commercial, the license requirement applies, and operating without one is a federal crime.

The 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act broadened the dealer definition, and the ATF followed with a final rule listing factors that presume you are engaged in the business: repetitive buying and reselling for profit, advertising inventory, and selling firearms shortly after acquiring them. The rule also clarified that “predominantly earn a profit” turns on intent, not on whether you actually made money.³ Genuine personal-collection sales and auction sales were carved out.

In May 2024, a federal district court in Texas preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the rule against the plaintiffs in that case. The ATF states it is complying with the order, but the injunction reaches only the named plaintiffs.³ If you sell firearms with any regularity, the safe assumption is that you need a license.

Types of Licenses and Their Fees

The ATF organizes licenses around three activities — dealing, manufacturing, and importing — plus separate categories for destructive devices, collectors, and ammunition-only makers.

Dealers and Pawnbrokers

A Type 01 FFL covers dealing in firearms other than destructive devices, and includes gunsmiths who take possession of firearms for repair. It costs $200 to apply and $90 to renew every three years. A Type 02 covers pawnbrokers who accept firearms as collateral, at the same rates. A Type 09 covers dealing in destructive devices, at $3,000 for both the application and each renewal.¹

Dealers screen buyers. Every retail sale requires ATF Form 4473 and a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).⁴ You cannot transfer a firearm to anyone in a prohibited category — including anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, anyone subject to certain domestic violence restraining orders, anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, and unlawful drug users, among others.⁵

Manufacturers

A Type 07 FFL covers manufacturing firearms other than destructive devices, at $150 to apply and $150 to renew. A Type 10 covers destructive devices and armor-piercing ammunition at $3,000 each cycle. A Type 06, at $30 for both application and renewal, covers manufacturers who produce only ammunition for standard firearms.⁶

Budget separately for the federal excise tax on sales. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau collects 10% of the sale price for pistols and revolvers and 11% for all other firearms, shells, and cartridges.⁷ Manufacturers whose products fall on the U.S. Munitions List also register with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, whether they export or not.⁸

Importers

A Type 08 FFL covers importing standard firearms and ammunition at $150 to apply and $150 to renew. A Type 11 covers destructive devices and armor-piercing ammunition at $3,000 each cycle.¹ Imported firearms must meet federal “sporting purposes” criteria, and each imported firearm must be marked with the country of origin, the importer’s name, and the importer’s city and state.⁹

Collectors

A Type 03 FFL lets an individual collect curios and relics — firearms at least 50 years old, museum-certified, or recognized for historical significance. The fee is $30 for both application and renewal.¹ A Type 03 does not authorize dealing; it lets the collector acquire curios and relics in interstate commerce without going through a dealer.

Applying for the License

You start with ATF Form 7 (or Form 7CR for collectors). Mail the completed form to the ATF’s Federal Firearms Licensing Center with the fee, a photograph, and a fingerprint card for each responsible person on the application.¹⁰ Collector applicants are exempt from the photograph and fingerprint requirement.

The ATF runs an FBI background check and assigns an Industry Operations Investigator (IOI) to the file. The IOI typically visits your proposed business premises in person, verifies zoning compliance, checks operational readiness, and walks through federal, state, and local requirements with you.¹¹

To be approved, the applicant must be at least 21, must not have willfully violated federal firearms law, must not have made false statements on the application, and must certify that the business is not prohibited by state or local law at the proposed location.² Zoning is where a surprising number of applications die. A personally qualified applicant proposing a residential address or another location where local ordinance prohibits firearms sales will not get a license.

Renewing Every Three Years

Every FFL is valid for three years. To renew, file ATF Form 8 Part II before the license expires. Miss the deadline and the license terminates; you have to start over with a fresh Form 7 application.¹² Renewal fees are lower than initial fees for most license types — $90 versus $200 for a Type 01 dealer, for instance.

Records You Have to Keep

Every licensee maintains records of every firearm acquired and every firearm disposed of, kept at the licensed premises in the form the ATF prescribes.² In practice, that is an Acquisition and Disposition (A&D) log — a bound book or an ATF-approved electronic system — capturing make, model, caliber, serial number, and transfer details.

For each retail sale to an individual, you complete Form 4473 and run a NICS check before transferring the firearm.¹³ Failure to run the check and failure to properly complete Form 4473 sit at the top of the ATF’s list of violations that affect public safety.¹⁴

Form 4473 records must be retained until you go out of business, not for a set number of years. Paper forms older than 20 years may be moved to a separate warehouse, but they remain subject to ATF inspection.¹⁵ When you close, all records go to the ATF’s National Tracing Center within 30 days.²

Sell two or more handguns to the same unlicensed buyer within five consecutive business days and you file a multiple-sale report with the ATF and the appropriate state or local law enforcement agency by the close of business on the day of the sale.²

Reporting Theft and Loss

If a firearm goes missing — stolen or simply unaccounted for — you report it to both the ATF and local law enforcement within 48 hours of discovery. The report must be made by phone and in writing on ATF Form 3310.11. Call local police first, then the ATF’s Stolen Firearms Program at 1-888-930-9275, and mail the original form to the National Tracing Center.¹⁶

The clock starts on discovery, not on the loss itself. Regular physical inventories matter for that reason; the ATF recommends at least one thorough count per year reconciled against your A&D log.¹⁷

Security at the Licensed Premises

Federal law does not mandate a specific vault or alarm system, but 18 U.S.C. § 923 authorizes the ATF to revoke the license of any dealer who fails to have secure gun storage or safety devices available where firearms are sold to the public.² The ATF’s guidance goes further, recommending locked display cases during business hours, removal of firearms from display after hours into a gun vault, alarm systems with cellular backup, and tamper-resistant surveillance.¹⁷

ATF Inspections

The ATF can inspect your inventory and records without a warrant. For routine compliance checks, the statute limits inspections to once every 12 months.² That cap does not apply when the ATF is tracing a specific firearm tied to a criminal investigation or pursuing a broader criminal inquiry involving someone other than the licensee; in those situations, the ATF can inspect at any time.

Investigators review A&D logs, examine Form 4473s, and compare records against physical inventory. Discrepancies between the books and the shelf are treated seriously. Depending on the pattern and severity, the ATF may issue warning letters, require corrective action, or open revocation proceedings.

Denial and Revocation

The ATF can deny an application if the applicant has willfully violated federal firearms law, made false statements on the application, lacks premises for the business, or cannot certify state and local compliance at the location.² Zoning drives a meaningful share of denials.¹¹

Once you hold a license, the ATF can revoke it for willful violations of federal firearms law or regulations, and specifically for willfully transferring armor-piercing ammunition or failing to make secure gun storage or safety devices available where firearms are sold to unlicensed buyers.² The word “willfully” carries weight; an isolated clerical error will not usually trigger revocation on its own, but a pattern of carelessness can read as willful to an investigator.

Appealing a Denial or Revocation

A denial or notice of revocation comes with a written statement of the specific grounds. You can request a hearing, which the ATF must hold at a location convenient to you.² For a revocation, requesting the hearing automatically stays the effective date, so your license stays active until the hearing is resolved.

If the hearing goes against you, you have 60 days to file a petition for judicial review in the U.S. district court where you live or have your principal place of business. The court reviews the matter fresh and can consider evidence the administrative hearing did not, and if it finds the ATF was not authorized to deny or revoke, it orders the decision reversed.²

One protection worth knowing. If the ATF brings criminal charges and you are acquitted or the case is dropped (other than by a government motion before trial), the ATF is permanently barred from using those same facts to deny or revoke a license. The agency also cannot start revocation proceedings on those facts more than one year after the indictment was filed.²

Criminal Penalties

Penalties sit in 18 U.S.C. § 924. The general penalty for willfully violating any provision of the firearms chapter — including falsifying records, lying on a license application, or knowingly importing firearms in violation of federal law — is up to five years in prison, a fine, or both.¹⁸

Harsher penalties apply to specific offenses. Knowingly selling a firearm to a prohibited person, transferring a firearm with knowledge it will be used in a violent crime, or selling a handgun to a juvenile knowing the juvenile intends to use it in a crime of violence each carry up to 10 years. Shipping or transporting a firearm across state lines with knowledge it will be used in a serious crime carries the same 10-year maximum.¹⁸

A conviction permanently bars you from holding an FFL. And for licensees who stay on the right side of the criminal line, even minor violations get noted, and repeated compliance issues build a record that makes future revocation far more likely.

1
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal Firearms Licenses
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 923 – Licensing
3
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Final Rule: Definition of Engaged in the Business as a Dealer in Firearms
4
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF Form 4473 – Firearms Transaction Record
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
6
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Fact Sheet – Federal Firearms and Explosives Licenses by Types
7
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Firearms and Ammunition Taxes and Tax Exemptions
8
Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Registration
9
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Import Firearms, Ammunition, and Defense Articles
10
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Form 7/7CR Instructions – Application for Federal Firearms License
11
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Apply for a License
12
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Current Licensees – How to Renew a Federal Firearms License
13
eCFR. 28 CFR 25.6 – Accessing Records in the System
14
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal Firearms Licensee Quick Reference and Best Practices Guide
15
eCFR. 27 CFR 478.129 – Record Retention
16
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Report Firearms Theft or Loss
17
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Learn About Firearms Safety and Security
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties