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Questions for FFL dealers especially in NY
woodsrunner
Member Posts: 5,378 ✭✭
Guys here's my situation.
According to my new doctor, if I don't change jobs in the next few years, I'm going to have some serious health problems.
I own a home in a small town zoned for dual use residential/comercial. Within six lots of me I have a restaraunt/tavern, a post office, a town truck garage and two small home based businesses. Most of my neighbors are locals and rural minded types, outdoorsmen, hunters, boaters, and a bigtime trapper.
On my property is an old large carriage barn.
The owner of our local gunshop retired almost 2 years ago. Twenty years ago my father was a competitor of his. back then the town was too small to support 2 shops and dad had the poorer location and fewer years in business. Since our local guys closing I have been approached at least a dozen times by people wanting me to find them stuff. I usually pick up what they need online and sell it to them for what I'm paying for it, with no profit, I'm paying retail. I have people asking me on a weekly basis if I would consider restarting my dads old business.
I've been collecting and fixing my own guns since I was 16 and I am 39 now.
I've contacted a few manufacturers of firearms related products. I can get some product lines to get started. If I do this, I'm going to start slow without the FFL, selling accessories not guns. Primarily at gunshows and through internet sales. When I get some capitol built up I will go for the ffl dealers and gunsmith lisences. That will give me time to remodel the barn and I won't have to go too far into debt getting started. I'll keep working other jobs until it pays enough to survive on, or until it provides enough income that I can work a different field that may pay less.
Give me good reasons why I shouldn't go for this.
Should I go sole proprietor or LLC?? Can I start out sole proprietor and incorporate at a later date?
I also reload, is the ammunition loading lisence worth it?
With a lathe and drill press I could possibly get some secondary ops work from a few small machine shops I know. I could occasionally fall back on this if need be. Would rather not do it exclusively due to the health problems though.
I'm also considering selling this house and buying one on the main road out of town, On the edge of town. That place has a variance for a retail store on it and has a building on it for that purpose. It also has seven acres of land so less possibilty of run ins with future neighbors, and room for better parking. It would also get alot more drive by trafic. I can lease this property with an option to buy it and rent my house out in the begining. It's owned by a friends mother who is a widow.
It's something I have been seriously considering for some time now. Until my recent health problems, it didn't seem worth the hassles. Now staying in a machine shop job seems the bigger hassle.
Your thoughts and advice would be appreciated.
Woods
Edited by - woodsrunner on 10/31/2002 02:57:14
According to my new doctor, if I don't change jobs in the next few years, I'm going to have some serious health problems.
I own a home in a small town zoned for dual use residential/comercial. Within six lots of me I have a restaraunt/tavern, a post office, a town truck garage and two small home based businesses. Most of my neighbors are locals and rural minded types, outdoorsmen, hunters, boaters, and a bigtime trapper.
On my property is an old large carriage barn.
The owner of our local gunshop retired almost 2 years ago. Twenty years ago my father was a competitor of his. back then the town was too small to support 2 shops and dad had the poorer location and fewer years in business. Since our local guys closing I have been approached at least a dozen times by people wanting me to find them stuff. I usually pick up what they need online and sell it to them for what I'm paying for it, with no profit, I'm paying retail. I have people asking me on a weekly basis if I would consider restarting my dads old business.
I've been collecting and fixing my own guns since I was 16 and I am 39 now.
I've contacted a few manufacturers of firearms related products. I can get some product lines to get started. If I do this, I'm going to start slow without the FFL, selling accessories not guns. Primarily at gunshows and through internet sales. When I get some capitol built up I will go for the ffl dealers and gunsmith lisences. That will give me time to remodel the barn and I won't have to go too far into debt getting started. I'll keep working other jobs until it pays enough to survive on, or until it provides enough income that I can work a different field that may pay less.
Give me good reasons why I shouldn't go for this.
Should I go sole proprietor or LLC?? Can I start out sole proprietor and incorporate at a later date?
I also reload, is the ammunition loading lisence worth it?
With a lathe and drill press I could possibly get some secondary ops work from a few small machine shops I know. I could occasionally fall back on this if need be. Would rather not do it exclusively due to the health problems though.
I'm also considering selling this house and buying one on the main road out of town, On the edge of town. That place has a variance for a retail store on it and has a building on it for that purpose. It also has seven acres of land so less possibilty of run ins with future neighbors, and room for better parking. It would also get alot more drive by trafic. I can lease this property with an option to buy it and rent my house out in the begining. It's owned by a friends mother who is a widow.
It's something I have been seriously considering for some time now. Until my recent health problems, it didn't seem worth the hassles. Now staying in a machine shop job seems the bigger hassle.
Your thoughts and advice would be appreciated.
Woods
Edited by - woodsrunner on 10/31/2002 02:57:14
Comments
NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, operate as a sole proprietorship. LLC or S Corp give you the exact same tax benefits but they serve as a level of liability protection and make it harder to attach your personal assets in the event of a lawsuit or financial problems. Regardless of whether or not you think you can afford it, get business liability insurance (especially in this industry!).
If you current house has appreciated significantly, look at the tax advantages of selling your home instead of renting it out. You can take up to $250,000 ($500K if married) in gains TAX FREE if you sell it. If you rent it out you lose the ability to take the gains tax free, so if you rent it and later sell it you may end up paying taxes on the difference in value between the price you paid and the price you sell it for.
Thanks for your input. I've been leaning towards the LLC anyways. I was only considering the sole proprietor for the first year or so. As soon as I was selling guns or running an actual store, I knew I'd need to be incorporated.
The problem with my house is I've only owned it for three years. While I have quite a bit of sweat equity in it, it's not enough to sell the place yet. I've also considered leasing the other property with the option to buy it, then subleasing the house out, until I was able to sell this place. Like I said, I could also stay right where I am. The only potential problems are parking and it's a dead end street. The dead end street part isn't that bad because I'm only a couple doors from the post office. People would eventually find me. I still think I'd rather have the visability of the main road location. Also the other property is only half a mile from the old gunshop on the same road. Alot of people still go looking for him, they would be driving right by the other property if I go that route.
All advice will be listened to. Anybody else?
Woods
I had a shop for 8 years in NY state sold under FFL for 6 of them years. Gave up the FFL and sold only blackpowder guns and shooting and reloading accessories, ie. dies, scopes...you get the idea.
I sold a man a blackpowder pistol and told him that he cannot own the pistol if he has the means to fire it with-out a ny state pistol permit. I refuse to sell him powder, bullets or caps. He went to k-mart and bought what he needed to fire said pistol........
the dumb bast##d got caught at the range with it and NO permit.
long story short....after serving 14 months in jail he sued me for lost wages due to the fact that "I failed to tell him of the legal mumbo-jumbo" well I won in court as the judge didn't believe him. I could have lost my home and most of what I own due to this jerk.....he was looking for 1/4 million in punitive damages besides the lost wages...
I won but it cost me 10 grand in legal fees
so Now if I even sell lemonade on the roadside I'll have a LLC for that extra bit of protection..
it should take ONLY one shot!!