[dogtown tom]

Chaz88 My college shooting club has recently formed and while the administration has not out right blocked progress they do seam to be passively obstructing us with more foot dragging and scrutiny than is warranted or given to other clubs.

The most resent problem came up when we wanted to buy rifles and shotguns for club use. The administration did not bother to research the law but called the ATF. The ATF told them it would be against the law to let anyone use the guns unless they had gone through a background check first.

My understanding of the relevant law does not support what the ATF said. I am looking for some well reasoned explanations from some of TFL's legal experts to help refute what the ATF told them and clarify the issue for the college administration.

Thank you, Chaz

Often, people will ask a question of ATF in a manner that gets them the response they want.

Odds are, your college asked "uh, can our gun club buy guns and shoot them?"

ATF's CORRECT response was most likely "All firearm purchases from a licensed dealer require a 4473 and NICS background check"

What your college heard was "you have to have a background check to shoot guns".

Most certainly, a corporation, company, association, partnership or other business entity may acquire firearms from a licensed dealer.....says so right on the Form 4473:http://www.atf.gov/forms/download/atf-f-4473-1.pdf
The Form 4473 instructions address this on Page 3 of 6, Section A

As always, ATF verbal opinions are worth the paper they are written on.....a knowledgeable Industry Operations Investigator will most commonly just refer you to the applicable citation from the US Code.