The one thing that inspectors love is FFL record books full of well kept, accurate records.
It makes their job easy! Inspectors who find violations have to go through the entire process of investigating and reporting them. They have to make tough decisions about how to handle the situation. Like a TSA agent who finds something suspicious in your luggage – now they have to pull you aside go through all the trouble of an enhanced inspection. They don’t want to deal with that, and neither do you.
For ATF inspectors, the number one violation, year after year, is the failure to timely record acquisitions and dispositions.
So how do you become friends with your ATF inspector?
Keep your FFL bound book up to date and accurate. What’s the best (and easiest) way to do that? Automate it. Automating your bound book will help keep you on time and on track.
A computerized system allows for automations like barcode scanning, saved contacts and other information that you can use to auto-fill forms without copy errors, and even syncing transactions between any parties who both use the system.
Now, when a buyer purchases multiple items you can populate all the required information for each item using the data entered for the first. It’s a time saver at the front counter as well as in the stockroom where you can scan acquisitions into the system or import bulk entries from a file.
Beyond that, electronic records are easier to review and validate than ordinary written ones. Cloud based FFL record books keep your entries organized, accurate, and entirely legible.
No one likes an audit but the potential is always there.
That’s just the nature of the firearms business. The longer you operate and the larger you get, the more likely it becomes. When an audit eventually happens, being prepared will help the process go smoothly (and keep the auditor much happier).
When the time comes, a system like FastBound can quickly and easily print records on demand, onto standard printer paper. No more lost files, no smeared, torn, or damaged books, and no more, “I swear I left it right over here.” Misplaced or just plain missing records are a major issue for auditors. But when your FFL bound book is so easy to maintain, and can’t be physically lost, your audit risk goes way down – and the agent’s opinion of you and your operation goes way up.
FastBound actually goes a step beyond just automation by actively alerting you to potential issues at the time of entry, so you can identify and correct them before an audit happens, or avoid them entirely.
Beyond that, FastBound customers are fully covered by FFLGuard’s ATF ProtectionPlan Plus™, which is a guaranteed legal defense against ATF if they initiate administrative action for violations related to our software. So not only does FastBound provide the fast, accurate bound books you need to stay in the ATF’s good graces, it protects you even if you aren’t. Try FastBound today for free!
