Re: New Addition: 500 AL 28" AC barrel, engraving, wood, etc
I understand that line of thinking, but here's the thing.
When the Brady Bill was enacted, it required the buyer to have a background check when buying a gun from a dealer.
So, the Fed's have to provide the service.
It is done through the FBI NICS call center. Besides the FBI call center employee's that dealers almost always go through for approvals, there are also ATF liason's they can ask to be transferred to if there are any questions or problems too.
So the background checks are paid for in taxes we pay anyway and if I remember correctly, some of the FET tax the manufacturers have to pay when they make a new gun that is passed on to the consumer in higher cost is used as well.
But an individual state can supercede that requirement by mandating that the state police (or other designated entity) do the background check instead.
The state can charge a nominal fee that they use to pay the people doing the check and for other things they have to pay for. Computers, power, internet, etc.
I was an FFL for many years, so I have a lot of knowlege about the how's and why's of a lot of things. This is just one of them.
If the FFL has the option to call NICS, instead of a state entity, there is no charge for the background check, but to cover their time and paperwork, the dealer themselves can charge a transfer fee for their time and paperwork storage and things.
I always charged a transfer because there really is a lot that goes on behind the scenes, but for a good customer, sometimes I'd drop a transfer near their Bday or Christmas or wedding gift or graduation or whatever but I wasn't required to go through a state program either so I wasn't out anything and a good deed often goes a long way.
People will never forget if you wrong them, and they usually won't forget when you do something good for them either.