First of all , I want to say I like both you guys , so this is not an attack on either of you . But I have to say you are both wrong on these posts .As you know I am an outsider from New Hampshire looking in . We dont have these bullchit laws up here . So this is how I see these new laws and fees and how you are both wrong .
Grouse : You said the $2.50 fee that the gun shops are "allowed " to charge wont cover their expenses . Sorry , but the real law says that the $2.50 fee for ammo and $9 fee for gun purchase backround checks is NOT being charged by the gun shop . It is being charged by the State ! The gun shop gets ZERO for the extra work of the sale and record keeping of ammo purchases. There should not be ANY extra fees charged by the shop for gun purchases since they are required to keep those records by law anyway regardless if its for the State Police or the ATF . This article spells out the State fees
https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/new-york/gun-dealers-wait-nys-new-gun-ammo-background-check-policies/71-737136fa-4fd5-4faa-85f1-68d1f680b8f9
DirtTime : After reading what I wrote to Grouse , I ask you to , since the gun shop is NOT being compensated for the backround checks , do you think that they deserve some kind of compensation for their work ? Just think as a business owner for a second about this scenario . Before you could walk in put a box of ammo on the counter and pay for it and leave . Now you will walk in , put your ammo on the counter , you have to fill out a form , the clerk has to enter your info or call it in. You have no idea if its going to be delayed or instant response by the system . So if you are delayed ( which I expect a ton of them will ) what happens to the ammo ? The clerk has to take it and put it aside somewhere for possibly 3 days. Just like a delay with a gun purchase. So now what. You have a room full of ammo boxes with slips on them keeping track of who it is for when they get the green light for the sale. On top of that , they have to keep perfect records of who is buying what and when they bought it. Dont forget , these are not higher margin gun sales. It would take at least 20 to 30 boxes of ammo sales to make the same amount of money as selling ONE new mid priced to above average priced firearm. I was told the profit margin on those is 20 to 30 percent and ammo is 10 to 15 percent . So instead of the paperwork for one sale , now they have to deal with 20 times the paperwork for the same money, and possibly handle that box of ammo TWICE if there is a delay . So what does it realistically cost that shop to do all these ammo sales . Lets say on a busy day they sell 50 boxes of ammo to 50 different guys . If it only takes 5 minutes extra to file all this bullchit for each sale , it would take someone 4 to 5 hours to enter all the info on a comp plus file the paperwork in a cabinet . That clerk could of been doing something more useful , like stocking shelves or talking with customers wanting to buy a new gun. Last I remember you have to keep the paper copies for everything that involves a backround check forever. A busy store is going to need additions to store all those new file cabinets for all this bullchit paperwork .
I have bought a few guns on Gunbroker and had it shipped to FFL dealers here in NH . The fees they charged to do the transfers has been 20-30 dollars per gun . But if any shop tells me they are going to charge a fee of 30 dollars for a box of ammo , I would walk out and never to return . To cover the cost to do this paperwork for the shop is about 2 dollars based on the 5 hours of clerk filing time . I can see a shop charging either 2 bucks a box or 5 bucks a transaction if you are buying at least 3 boxes at a time. If you bought 5 boxes or more they might not charge a fee at all . Who knows . It is still all chaos right now.