The hardest part of the C&R licensing process probably occurs after having filled out the application form and sent it in. This is the Waiting Part.
It will take several weeks to get your C&R License in the mail As of June 1998, the average wait seems to have been 4-6 weeks as the BATF gets all the paperwork to the right place and does your background check. Interestingly enough, the Dallas address to which you send the app and money only handles the money. Having deftly plucked the bucks out of your envelope, they forward the application on to the Licensing Section in Atlanta where the actual processing takes place. Should you have a question about the application after having mailed, the BATF office to contact is Atlanta, NOT Dallas.
What will happen next is you will get a copy of the license in the mail.
Several days (10-14) later you will receive a thick packet including a blue-book
of gunlaws for all 50 states (form ATF P 5300.5 - Firearms State Laws and Published Ordinances), a copy of the ''yellow book'' of federal firearms law (form ATF P 5300.4 - Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide) and copies of several forms which you will seldom use.
The forms include theft or loss reports, Brady intent forms, the yellow 4473s for rifle sales and (of course) a forms requisition form.
What you will NOT get is a copy of the C&R list. You might as well go ahead and call BATF Form Requisitions section during the interim waiting period (in Maryland, I believe. Maybe DC proper. Check BATF website for phone
nr) and ask for form ATF P 5300.11- Firearms Curio or Relics List.
If you do this during the waiting period, you will probably receive the grey 58-page booklet
about the same time your other info packet arrives. The C&R list is also published in the Publications section of the Firearms core area on BATF's website. It is also downloadable in .pdf format if you have AdobeAcrobat or AdobeReader to translate it out.I also hope to add this list to my site here as the site grows (keep comin' back!)
Aso during the waiting period, you might get an idea of suppliers from whom you are likely to want to purchase so that you are prepared to mail out file copies of your license as soon as you receive it. Doing this can save you several days of ''in-the-mail'' time as dealers await a copy of your license before they can ship to you.
Last item (albeit important one). When you receive your original license in the mail DO NOT sign the original copy.
Dealers are required to have a ''signed in ink copy'' of your license before they can ship to you. Therefore, make many photocopies (color or black & white doesn't matter -- I use b&w because that is what I have access to) and sign the photocopies.
When I send a license copy to a dealer, I generally sign in blue ink and mark ''Hold For File'' in red ink so that (a) it is obvious this is a ''signed in ink copy'' and (b) they are reminded I am likely to do business with them again so they should treat me nice. Even when ordering ammunition from someone for the first time, I generally send license copy rather than one of the ''declaration forms''. That way they have the license should I order a firearm from them in the future.
-kirbyTheOG
June 1998
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