Criminal Background Check Form For Vendors (Only Required If In: Fill & Download for Free

California’s Current Regulations on Ammunition SalesCalifornia requires a background check on every ammunition purchase as of July of 2019.[1][1][1][1] This means that you can only purchase through a licensed ammunition vendor (typically FFLs). You cannot purchase by mail. You cannot import ammunition across state lines (no visiting Cabela’s in Reno and bringing ammunition in). The background check requires that I fill out a form and give the vendor some form of identification (driver’s license, passport, etc.).California’s RationaleI was fuzzy on the purpose of this set of regulations, so I found this from the League of Women Voters of California:The Problem: Bullets are an essential—and deadly—component of guns, but sales of this lethal product are entirely unregulated. Dangerous individuals can currently have unlimited quantities of ammunition delivered to their door, as if ordering a pizza, with no questions asked. A study found that just 10 Los Angeles retail outlets had sold over 10,000 rounds of ammunition to convicted felons and other illegal purchasers in just two months. In the wrong hands, every one of those bullets posed a significant threat to public safety in our state.Prop 63 will help prevent ammunition from falling into dangerous hands by requiring individuals to pass a background check to buy this lethal product and by requiring sellers to obtain a standard business license to submit records of ammunition sales to law enforcement. To purchase ammunition, individuals will simply need to apply once every four years for a background check authorization using their driver’s license or other ID card number. Once they pass the background check, they will present their ID when purchasing ammunition; the seller will punch their number into a computer database, which will instantly notify the seller that the buyer has passed a background check to buy ammunition. The California Police Chiefs Association has stated that “requiring all ammunition vendors to obtain a license to sell ammunition and ammunition purchasers to submit to background checks . . . will effectively limit criminal access to the fuel that drives gun violence.” Prop 63 will also ensure that law enforcement can use ammunition sale records to more effectively solve and prevent gun crimes.[2][2][2][2]Critique of the Rationale as StatedThe rationale for the law is flawed on many levels. It took a lot of digging to find the study to which they had alluded. Persistence paid off. “The criminal purchase of firearm ammunition“ offered a lot of facts and figures. There was a lot of puffery as well, like claims that an unloaded firearm was as dangerous as any other blunt object. Still, they did supply that criminals have purchased a lot of ammunition. 10,000 rounds! Except… criminals didn’t seem to purchase an amount that was out of the norm for any other purchaser, couldn’t be proved to have purchased for criminal intent, and only represented the smallest fraction of overall ammunition purchased in that area. 10,000 rounds may sound like a lot, but I literally have 10,000 rounds sitting in a locker in just one caliber (.22lr). If you’re in a room full of gun owners, they’ll explain why that isn’t a lot.Critique of the ProcessThe process itself isn’t very difficult. It requires a bit of a wait. If I walk into my local sporting goods store (Big 5, as an example), I have to wait for the right employee to be willing to help me. The state claims that the process takes only 5 minutes, but in the four times I’ve bothered buying ammunition since the process began, it has never taken me less than 10 minutes. Once it took an hour because other people are also trying to buy ammunition.The $1 fee the state charges isn’t so terrible. Unfortunately, a lot of vendors have started charging their own fees because they have to receive, record, and store ammunition. A local place charges ¢5 per round. That adds up. If you buy a brick of .22lr (500 rounds is a pretty common unit for that caliber), you’re looking at $25.The greatest problem with this process is that it is built on a bad database. A friend of mine bought a shotgun 20 years ago. He went to a store to buy ammunition for it and was turned away because he wasn’t in the database because he hadn’t bought a gun recently. As of April 2020, nearly 200,000 people were improperly denied the constitutional right to purchase ammunition, but fewer than 200 prohibited people were caught.What is California doing?California is in the business of clamping down on Second Amendment rights in a way that is clearly unconstitutional. Waiting periods for people who already have guns, “assault weapon” bans, and ammunition checks have one purpose:To make it too difficult for you to exercise your Second Amendment rights.None of these laws have stopped crime. You might stop criminals from buying ammunition in stores, but they will go outside of normal sources and get ammunition all the same. Criminality isn’t the purpose. Instead, the purpose was as the League of Women Voters stated:…sales of this lethal product are entirely unregulated.That’s it. They want to regulate it because they believe that regulating it will stop criminality. They feel like it should be more regulated, regardless of if that regulation will make any difference.This is another example of “Gun control isn’t about guns; it is about control.”Footnotes[1] Ammunition Purchase Authorization Program[1] Ammunition Purchase Authorization Program[1] Ammunition Purchase Authorization Program[1] Ammunition Purchase Authorization Program[2] Prop 63 - Safety for All Act[2] Prop 63 - Safety for All Act[2] Prop 63 - Safety for All Act[2] Prop 63 - Safety for All Act

In a word: “Yes”.Every vendor at a gun show is an FFL, or ‘Federal Firearms Licensee’ of one category or another. By and large, the majority of booths setup at a gun show are repeat vendors and regulars whom follow the Gun Show on a circuit around a geographical region. These are business entities and they will not risk their businesses and livelihoods by NOT doing a standard background check as required by Federal law.Let me give you an example from personal experience: I frequent the Nation’s Gun Show here in Virginia at the Dulles Expo center when it comes around every 3–4 months or so. As a hobby, I assemble and build firearms for personal use. I also collect M1 Carbines - the grandfather of today’s modern sporting rifles such as the Mini-14 and yes, the AR-15. These would be the rifles your grandfathers and great grand father’s carried in WWII.Anywho, there’s a particular vendor I like to frequent to pick one of these up each time the show comes around (I think I have 3–4 of them now in my safe) - Indian River Collectibles LLC. While I can get these rifles for less then they are selling them for, often from other vendors at the same show, the quality and customer service they offer more than make up the difference.This particular vendor comes to this Gun Show from Florida where they are based out of. Every time I decide to purchase a new rifle from them when the show comes around I have to fill out a standard ATF Form 4473 (Form 4473 - Wikipedia ) as part of the standard background check process. As he cannot sell directly to me coming from another state (he operates legally out of Florida, I live in Virginia), he then walks with me over to another vendor who is an FFL based out of Virginia and transfers control of the rifle and paperwork to them. A transfer I pay a fee for on top of the cost of the rifle (which I pay for now) and mind you, we’re still in the same room as everyone else.Now at Vendor #2, I fill out Virginia’s form… whose number I forget off the top of my head, but it is largely asking the same general information as the federal background check form (for reasons that are beyond me…) and once done, he goes online to submit my information to VA and the Federal level via the ATF’s NICS system: National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)I should note that this Federal background check system by law can only be accessed by holders of an FFL.At this point, the waiting game begins. He holds onto my Driver’s License, the firearm and paperwork and writes down my phone number. Generally this process is pretty quick and within an hour (usually less) they get a response from the federal government on if the transfer is blocked or not. I usually spend such wandering the convention floor looking for interesting tat and stuff to buy. There’s usually a vendor that sells beef jerky I like to purchase from so that’s a favorite of mine to visit while waiting. It’s a good time to get lunch.Somewhere between 10 minutes and an hour into this process, I get a ping on my phone telling me to return to the 2nd vendor’s booth. I return, and find out the results of the background check - the same background check I’d go through if I went to a gun store. Generally this is an Approve - and I can finish up any last lingering paperwork and then walk out with my (unloaded) ‘new’ rifle.It can happen, but sometimes a Wait or Deny is issued to some people. I’ve had to wait before, and that’s usually because the ATF’s system is having technical troubles. I either hang around or make arrangements to go retrieve my new rifle once the show is over from the local FFL later when the approval does come in, or the mandatory 3 day max hold clears.Never been Denied. If I was ever Denied, I’d have alot bigger problems than trying to purchase a firearm - my very job and livelihood would likely to be gone as even more stringent requirements are there for it and I’d likely be looking at the possibility of jail time. Firearm denial would be the last of my worries then.As to why I like these? The M1 Carbine is a nice light-weight historical carbine. It shoots well, is easy to train new shooters with and is a very robust and safe platform. Little recoil compared to other rounds in common use today.As to the complete fabrication and myth that you can but a gun at a gun show without going through a background check? No vendor or booth will do this. Period.The only exemption to this are Private sales (IE: a general attendee to another attendee) - not with a vendor, and that’s between one person to another and can happen anywhere as long as it is between individuals whom are residents in the same state. Most shows don’t allow private transfers to occur on property unless it is through an FFL and thus goes through a background check. The Federal Government has NO purview or power over such sales unless they cross state lines. The individuals in question have to be reasonably sure the person they’re selling to is not a criminal or apt to commit criminal acts. Most of us private owners will insist on seeing a Concealed Carry Permit before making such a sale as we cannot access the NICS system… and barring that will generally require that we do the transfer through an FFL at a gun shop as we don’t want to be held liable for the other person.

I live in CA, a state with universal background checks. The last firearm I purchased was from a private seller so he and I went to a FFL, the seller showed his DL and they took his information and I showed my DL, my car registration to show my proof of address, my firearms safety certificate, and filled out the Federal form 4473. That form is fairly long and one has to read it carefully because it is easy to misread it. I have old eyes and even with glasses I can misread the small print. I did make a couple of mistakes that were caught by the FFL so I had to correct the mistakes and initial. I had to write my legal name the same way each and every time. What a pain for those of us saddled with a Jr. especial when Sr. is prohibit and I do not want to be confused with him because that starts a who SHTF situation where the state sends the DOJ-APPS team (armed prohibited person team) to my door to bust it down and collect my guns using SWAT tactics. I am a teacher and that would result in a legal mess and get my credential pulled for awhile. The state has made these types of mistakes several times and after the person spends hundreds of thousands on legal fees, the state does not even say sorry and you will be lucky to get your guns back because you will find that they were “accidentally” destroyed. You are not compensated.Then I pay the $25 fee for the background check and the $10 fee the FFL is allowed to charge for conducting the background check. The FFL has to store the firearm. The FFL loses money on the transaction in the employee costs and storage costs. The state set the FFL charge nearly 30 years ago but will not raise it because it would be unpopular. FFLs are required to do the private party transfers (PPT) as a requirement to be a FFL in the state. When the state first proposed the law, CA FFLs backed it because it would get gun people into their stores and they might buy other things. Now it is a PITA.I wait 10 days and then pick it up if the state does not screw up. They screw up a lot and if they cannot complete the check I have to wait up to 30 days. If they cannot finish the check in 30 days the tell the store the check is undetermined and then the FFL has the choice of releasing to me or not. It is up to them.If I fail they do a background check on the seller and if he passes the gun goes back to him, if he fails the gun is handed over to the local police to be destroyed.The whole issue is the only people that can use the Federal system are those with a FFL. Back when the original AWB was passed, there were major changes in the rules to what was required to have a FFL. Many people who had a FFL license were hobbyists and had them so they could buy guns out of state or sell guns to friends as a side business. I knew a lot of guys who used this to help put their kids through college.These people were put out of business. These people had to go through extensive background checks and in many places had to be approved by the local police chief or Sheriff. They could be inspected by the ATF at any time. Now they are still collectors but they cannot be legally inspected at any time. In many states they buy and sell without background checks because they buy from private parties.CA does its own background check, the FFL does not do it. It checks the NICS system as well as its own data bases except when it gets overwhelmed or its systems are down or who knows what else. I may skip the NICS system. CA does what it wants. So sometimes it misses things in the Federal system because somebody moved here.That brings up another issue. Many states and other government agencies do not like to share information. The Texas church shooter last year had a DV conviction that made him a prohibited person. The military did not share that with the FBI data base so he passed his background check. His spree shooting started as a DV incident. Background checks do not work if the information is not there. The Georgia church shooter, he had a drug conviction that made him prohibited, yet the court in the state it happened did not share that information with the FBI so he passed his background check.My dad had a few DV conviction back in the day (the reason my mom divorced him) and they did not catch up to him until the old records that were in files in the courthouse basement were finally computerize after a new courthouse was built and the old courthouse basement records were computerized to save space. All of a sudden he became a prohibited person and lost his guns. I am glad, he was still abusing he live in GF and she took it. She still lives with him and will not do anything about the abuse.I just love the supposed gun show loophole. I have been to several gun shows and have tried to use the gun show loophole to buy guns and have not been able to. Many gun shows now require all sales go through a background check even when it is not legally required. But the loophole myth started when news reporters would go to gun shows and record people buying guns without background checks. What they neglected to report that these were in states where private parties are legally able to buy and sell guns without background checks. Again, the federal background check system can only be accessed by a person with a FFL. Private parties cannot access it. A few years ago NV passed Measure 1 that required private parties to run a background check before selling. The FBI stated that private parties could not use their system. Their are privacy issues because anybody could say they are running a background check and then use the information for wrong reasons. So the AG for NV stated the measure was unenforceable and therefore void.States can use the NICS system and that is how states like CA can require UBC.Now here is the issue, UBC will not stop mass shootings. It is a feel good measure. It allows politicians to say we did something in response to mass shootings so reelect me. And when the mass shootings continue, then the next restriction comes, then the next restriction comes, and none of them will stop mass shootings. All they do is restrict guns from the law abiding gun owners and the criminally minded still get their guns and still commit criminal acts. We live in an age of technology where it is even easier to acquire guns and even build your own guns. The information is all over the Internet. To stop that we would have to violate the 1A and censor the Internet. That would not stop it because there are high tech ways around that. Just look at Britain and what they did to P.T. Luty when he published his book on the Expedient Homemade Machine Pistol here in the US and even through he did not violate their laws they imprisoned him as a terrorist and banned his book. It can be found all over the Internet as it is now part of the public domain but Britain does its best to block UK IP address from viewing it. It does not work according to some of my UK gun friends.You see, there is a human tendency to rebel against government overreach. In America, we have a history of this as this is how our country and government started. We have a history of not trusting government, including our own and when they pass too many laws or laws we find unreasonable, we just ignore them. Again, the best example of this is Prohibition. It was an utter failure and ushered in organized crime and the first real wave of mass gun violence. We seem to forget that mass shootings were extremely common then. We ignore those records because they were considered to be criminals doing what criminals do best and when they were caught they were put down and forgotten. Nobody tried to analyze why they did what they did. Much of that stopped after prohibition was repealed. The reason for the criminal empires collapsed, supplying alcohol to those who wanted it, which was the majority of Americans. More alcohol per capita was consumed during that time than before or after.So, what is happening in CA with all these really strict gun laws. A lot of otherwise law abiding gun owners are saying screw it. We are being painted as criminals. They see the headlines of people trying to follow the gun laws getting arrested and spending hundreds of thousands on legal fees to either clear their name or still get convicted. They see criminals get arrested on AW possession and then let off on probation or with no consequences because the prisons are overcrowded.Well if we are going to be treated like criminals lets act like criminals and buy our guns like criminals do. I know of many, especially the older guys who buy and sell guns through private sales without bothering to go through a FFL and avoid the sometimes 2 to 3 hour hassle at the gun store. In more rural areas of CA it can be a 2 hour drive to the local gun store. Screw that. The price of gas here is already near the highest in the country. Most of the time the buyer and sellers know each other well.I have a particular relative that became so frustrated with CA gun laws that he no longer buys his guns in CA. He was born in CA long before background checks. He used to buy cash and carry. Handguns have always had waiting periods but back in the day most gun stores ignored them, especially in rural areas and that is where he grew up. So he tells an out of state relative what he wants, he drives there on a vacation, buys it from them in a private sale which is a federal felony and drives it back to CA which is a CA felony. He does not register it with the state. He has been doing this for over 30 years.He knows if he gets caught the Feds will very likely not prosecute him. He is not selling them and statistics prove him right. He is so old CA will not likely prosecute him because they would have to put him in a medical facility and his care would cost too much. He knows, he is a retired firefighter and has friends in the DAs office, the police department, the Sheriff’s department, the Highway patrol, and they still talk regularly. They would just take the gun and tell him not to do it again.In my county, the violent crime rate is so high, the DA does not have time to deal with non-violent crimes so if someone is caught with an unregistered gun they brought from out of state, it is confiscated and there is no prosecution. The jail is so full that if they did get jail time they would be released due to over crowding on the first day.Now we have ammo background checks to buy ammo. I have a FFL03, a federal collectors license to collect curios and relics, generally guns that are 50 years or older. I also have a CA certificate of eligibility, which is an annual background check I go through. I can buy ammo from out of state and have it sent to me or drive it into state myself without a background check. I cannot buy ammo in CA unless I pay a fee and undergo a CA background check when picking up the ammo at the CA ammo vendor. What a mess. I live a two hour drive from NV, so I buy all my ammo in NV or buy it online and have it sent to NV so I do not have to pay CA sales tax on internet sales. I am a rebel.While in NV buying ammo, I meet several other CA residents buying ammo in NV and driving it back to CA. They are also buying the greater than 10 round magazines that are illegal in CA and driving them back. They are also buying all the products banned for sale in CA, paint strippers, certain gas cans, and much more. The CA LE cannot search cars at the border for ammo without a warrant an they cannot get a warrant for a crime that is an infraction for a first offense. And there are many exemptions so it is impossible to enforce. I did forget to mention that along with that ammo are cigarettes bought from Indian Smoke shops along the border to avoid the high CA tobacco taxes.Oh, CA now requires prior permission before someone makes a homemade gun. Tell me, how is that going to be enforced. Criminals are still committing crimes with homemade guns and increasingly more criminals are being caught with them because they are easier to make and obtain than guns purchased on the black market. It avoids the possibility of buying a gun during a sting operation. Again, directions are online, and it can be done with a drill press or other simple tools from Harbor freight or Home Depot.So, do not implement background checks and expect that they will make anyone safer. Criminals will be criminals. Gun people already know how to get around them and if they wanted to commit crimes using guns, there would be a war in the streets and thousands of people dying every day. Most of the people I know who own guns have at least 10 because we are collectors. We have a couple for home defense and a couple for concealed carry. We might have a couple for hunting, because you do not hunt for moose using the same rifle you use for hunting deer.Hunting with handguns is becoming popular because you have to use real skill and get close to your prey. It takes a very high power handgun and one not suitable for home defense.Then there are range toys, guns that are fun to shoot. I have a few that I take out maybe once or twice a year. I go shooting every two weeks and have too many range toys to shoot every range trip. I have some that are of historical significance and some that are of collector’s value that never get shot because it would greatly reduce their value.I have a couple for SHTF. I have a stockpile of food and water to last a month, I live in Earthquake country and an area that can flood. I have earthquake and flood insurance. I have fire extinguishers. In my city, there have been a couple of incidents of civil unrest and a gun has deterred looters from coming down my street. I never had to fire a shot, just the presence of guns from a few neighbors made the looters decide they had a better place to be.I do not fantasize about civil war, or defeating a tyrannical government. If that every comes, we are in a bad way and life as we know it in the US will change forever. We will be in danger of losing what is most precious, our Constitution and form of Government. Even our Constitution allows a hard reset and history shows that generally results in mass chaos and death and destruction for years to come. We are better off figuring out how to come together and finding common ground while maintaining everyone’s Constitutional Rights.Remember, the majority of mass shooters of recent history passed their background checks. So more background checks will not solve that problem. The statistics show that very few deaths are caused by so-called assault weapons. A ban on them will have no affect, just like the original ban had no affect. CA has had an AW ban for nearly 25 years and it has not had an effect because the term AW is meaningless. In fact all the CA AW ban has done is increase the number of gun related companies as human creativity has figured out ways to redesign the rifle to comply with the ban of certain features, reintroduce technologies that are well over 100 years old that allow reloading even faster than changing a magazine, so than even a fixed, 10 round magazine can be reloaded and fired faster than emptying a 30 round magazine rifle. I have watched people do it. I have one of those magazine loaders for my pistol magazines and I can load a pistol magazine in a second now with little effort. This is technology that is almost 150 years old.Ban all you want, creativity and technology will always find a solution to created a solution. This is the law of unintended consequences. Prohibition showed that. Ban alcohol and it became more popular and introduced organized crime and the popularity of the tommy gun and showed how effective it was in mass shootings which became an every day event. The first gun control law did not ban machine guns, just taxed it.