[911JB]

I work at a gun shop. I am also in the final stages of receiving my own type 1 FFL. Originally I wanted to go through my home for my business, but that was out because of zoning. I then used the address if the gun shop, with permission, and filed for my FFL. There are multiple pages of questions to answer. You must supply a 2 inch x 3 inch photo as well as supply 2 sets of finger prints that must be taken by the local LEO. All that info gets mailed in and then you wait. It took me 2 months to get the call back.
Then I scheduled a time so the federal inspector could come to the place I will be conducting business and had about a 3 hour talk about regs and procedures. As well as answer questions about security and any future intentions for Internet sales, ammo sales, reloading supply sales and a few other things. After that interview is complete he has to double check with local zoning and file his paperwork with his office so they can go over it once again. Then you wait again for up to 4 weeks. The hole process takes up to 3 months. So yes I would agree with the jumping through hoops terms you used. The fee for a type 1 FFL is $200.00 every 3 years.
As far as charging for transfers. I don't think $25.00 is out of line at all. After all you must keep those 4473's for a minimum of 20 years, or until you close the business. That's a lot of filing and paper storage responsibility for 25 bucks. Most of the guys are raising the transfer fees because of the Internet sales. The dealers are getting tired of loosing sales because of them.The usual mark up on a new gun at a shop is about 75 bucks. Well when people bypass them and just order them on line they only get the transfer fee. So that is why they are jacking up the price of transfer fees. I envision a day that all brick and mortar dealers will be charging $75.00 for Internet transfer fees. It is the only way they will be able to keep the lights on and make a living.