Memorandum on Gun Dealer Licensing

Memorandum for the Secretary of the Treasury

A major problem facing the Nation today is the ease with which criminals, the mentally deranged, and even children can acquire firearms. The gruesome consequences of this ready availability of guns is found in the senseless violence occurring throughout the country with numbing regularity. While there is not one solution to the plague of gun-related violence, there is more than sufficient evidence indicating that a major part of the problem involves the present system of gun dealer licensing, which encourages a flourishing criminal market in guns.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 established a licensing system for persons engaged in businesses of manufacturing, importing, and dealing in firearms. These licensees are allowed to ship firearms in interstate commerce among themselves, and are required to abide by State laws and local ordinances in their sale of firearms to non-licensees. They are also prohibited from selling firearms to felons, certain other classes of persons, and generally to out of state persons. This Act also established a comprehensive record-keeping system and authorized the Secretary to conduct inspections to ensure compliance with the Act. The statutory qualifications for a licensee are that the applicant is at least 21 years of age, is not a felon or other person prohibited from possessing firearms, has not willfully violated the Gun Control Act, and has premises from which he intends to conduct business. The license fee for a basic dealer's license is only $ 10 a year.

The minimal qualification standards of the statute, coupled with policies of neglect and opposition to legitimate regulatory efforts by past Administrations, leave us with a situation where in some ways we have made it easier to get a license to sell guns than it is to get and keep a driver's license. Today there are in excess of 287,000 Federal firearms licensees, and a great number of these persons probably should not be licensed. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) estimates that only about 30 percent of these are bona fide storefront gun dealers. ATF estimates that probably 40 percent of the licensees conduct no business at all, and are simply persons who use the license to obtain the benefits of trading interstate and buying guns at wholesale. The remaining 30 percent of licensees engage in a limited level of business, typically out of private residences. While the Federal statute creates no minimum level of business activity to qualify for a license, many of the licensees in this category operate in violation of State and local licensing, taxing, and other business-related laws. Since the overall purpose of the Gun Control Act was to assist State and local gun control efforts, at the very least we need to coordinate the Federal licensing process with the appropriate State and local agencies.

This Administration is committed to doing more to prevent this criminal market in illegal guns from continuing to flourish. Since all new firearms used in crime have at some point passed through the legitimate distribution system, Federal firearms licenses represent the first line of defense in our efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Accordingly, you have informed me that you will direct the Department of the Treasury and ATF to take whatever steps are necessary, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure compliance with present licensing requirements, such as:

(a) improving the thoroughness and effectiveness of background checks in screening dealer license applicants;

(b) revising the application process to require the applicant to supply all information relevant to establishing qualification for a license, and to require more reliable forms of identification of the applicant, such as fingerprinting, to assist in identifying an applicant's criminal or other disqualifying history;

(c) making the "premises" requirement of the statute more meaningful by increasing field checks and the use of other procedures to verify compliance;

(d) increasing the scrutiny of licensees' multiple handgun sales reports and providing automated access to multiple sales report information by serial number for firearms trace purposes;

(e) requiring dealers to obtain more reliable identification from purchasers;

(f) reviewing sanctioning policies to determine the feasibility and desirability of adding the option of license suspension for certain violations;

(g) expanding the use of cooperative agreements with State and local law enforcement agencies to address licensing and trafficking problems;

(h) expanding ATF's capabilities to utilize effectively the firearms transaction records of out-of-business licensees for tracing purposes through the use of automation and other technology.

Acting pursuant to your statutory authority, you shall make such determinations and issue orders, regulations and rulings, as appropriate, to achieve the objectives stated in this memorandum.

I further direct that you initiate these actions as soon as possible and report your progress implementing these and other measures consistent with the foregoing to me within 90 days and annually thereafter.

All Executive agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, cooperate with and assist you in carrying out the objectives of this memorandum. You shall consult with the Attorney General, the Director of National Drug Control Policy, and other Executive agencies as necessary to coordinate and implement the objective of this memorandum. To the maximum extent possible, the Attorney General, through the Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, will expand support to State and local agencies working with ATF on joint projects relating to licensing and trafficking in firearms. Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to require actions contrary to applicable provisions of the law. You are hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

THE WHITE HOUSE,

Washington, August 11, 1993.