FFL Dealer Difficulty Renewing COE Resulting In Transfer Delay

[mister_philip]

Fellow Calgunners,

I'm reaching out on here in hopes someone can provide some insight or possibly guidance.

I purchased a few firearms around Black Friday and had them shipped to a 'kitchen table' FFL I've done business with in the past.

The guy is a little disorganized, but ultimately pretty nice (and cheap).

My last firearm reached him in mid-December and we initiated the transfer soon thereafter.

About 8 days into the transfer I called to verify that I could come by on the 10th day when the waiting period expired and I was informed there was a problem with his eligibility with CA DOJ.

His story is that his Certificate of Eligibility lapsed and he is having difficulty renewing it.

He states that you can only renew it online.

He claims he has been working with the state's support center trying to get everything worked out.

The last item of verification the state requested was supposedly sent last week.

I haven't heard anything from the FFL this week.

I am going to call him tomorrow to check in (I'm checking in on a weekly basis now).

Has anyone heard about FFL dealers in California having difficulty renewing their COE's? Any tips I can send him?

If I decide to go through another FFL, does the current FFL need to ship my firearms back to the vendor or can he transfer them to another local FFL I find?

Those are my questions for now.

I've been waiting for almost two months to get this done and although I haven't had any immediate plans for the firearms I am getting sick of it.


Thanks!

[weaselfire]

Any dealer who doesn't provide the proper paperwork and documentation in renewing a COE will have problems.

Jeff

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[dvs762]

COE renewal is thru CFARS now. he may have not uploaded his ID with his renewal which would have meant it wasnt processed.

The last item of verification the state requested was supposedly sent last week

likely his ID he forgot to upload.

the FFL can ship your stuff to another FFL but Im not sure if his COE trouble will prevent him from doing so. Ive never let mine lapse. We get a notice far ahead of the Exp. date to make sure we renew it on time.

[SkyHawk]

Has anyone heard about FFL dealers in California having difficulty renewing their COE's? Any tips I can send him?

YES - see this thread:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1583473

IIRC, Bass Pro in the Bay Area was also down for a couple weeks last month.

The only tip I can provide is DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. RENEW 60 DAYS IN ADVANCE OF EXPIRATION.

[ugimports]

YES - see this thread:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1583473

IIRC, Bass Pro in the Bay Area was also down for a couple weeks last month.

The only tip I can provide is DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. RENEW 60 DAYS IN ADVANCE OF EXPIRATION.

That last bit doesn't seem to go with:

The guy is a little disorganized, but ultimately pretty nice (and cheap).

that's probably why he waited until the last minute..

[mister_philip]

Bumping this as I am still trying to get an answer if the CA based FFL holding my firearms in limbo can transfer my firearms to another FFL to complete the transfer without a Certificate of Eligibility. I've basically been waiting two months and I'm sick of this guy's problem being my problem. Please help as I've been more than understanding/patient during this whole process.

[ugimports]

He cannot do any business without a COE. This means he cannot generate the paperwork needed to get the CFLC Firearm Shipment Approval Number. Unless the DOJ gives some kind of waiver in writing that allows him to do business you're hosed.

[kemasa]

He cannot do any business without a COE. This means he cannot generate the paperwork needed to get the CFLC Firearm Shipment Approval Number. Unless the DOJ gives some kind of waiver in writing that allows him to do business you're hosed.

He could ship the firearms out of state, then have that FFL ship the firearms back in, but there is still the issue of doing business without all the required licenses/permits, but at least the CFLC would not be an issue.

[ugimports]

He could ship the firearms out of state, then have that FFL ship the firearms back in, but there is still the issue of doing business without all the required licenses/permits, but at least the CFLC would not be an issue.

True, that's an option.

[mister_philip]

Thanks for the responses.

And besides the above link to the other thread where folks are having trouble renewing their COE there isn't any advice I can pass him?

I.e. we are just at the mercy of the slothful bureaucracy?

[kemasa]

The question is what is the actual issue. It shouldn't be difficult to renew, so it sounds like something strange is going on.

[mister_philip]

I don't know what the actual issue is other than 3 weeks ago he said he sent the last piece of information to them they required. He says they are notoriously slow and blames whatever support center the state has setup to assist people getting their COEs.

At this point I want to know what my options are to get my firearms into the hands of an FFL who can actually process a lawful transfer in CA.

Can he ship the firearms back to the vendor?

Other users have chimed in that since he doesn't have his COE he can only transfer to a FFL who is out of state.

Is there someone with the state I can call?

Please help as this has been going for just about two months.. it's a joke in my opinion.

[ugimports]

I don't know what the actual issue is other than 3 weeks ago he said he sent the last piece of information to them they required. He says they are notoriously slow and blames whatever support center the state has setup to assist people getting their COEs.

I don't know what this means. My wife had a problem renewing her COE initially, but 2-3 days AFTER she provided the updated docs they needed she was renewed. I have no idea what he is sending or not sending them. Also, she didn't have to send any "paper" documents. The only documents that she had to provided were uploaded to the COE/CFARS website.

At this point I want to know what my options are to get my firearms into the hands of an FFL who can actually process a lawful transfer in CA.

Can he ship the firearms back to the vendor?

Questionable if he is not considered "valid" for CA DOJ. ATF / federally he's probably in the clear.

Other users have chimed in that since he doesn't have his COE he can only transfer to a FFL who is out of state.

Is there someone with the state I can call?

I don't know who you could call. He should be making calls to his DOJ rep to resolve this issue for you. He should be checking with CA DOJ on what he can do to help you fix this. Since he's in the clear federally he can still log out the firearm from his bound book and ship. It's possible CA DOJ will not care if he does that. However, he has to find out or do it anyway if he doesn't care at this point.

Please help as this has been going for just about two months.. it's a joke in my opinion.

Now you know why it was cheap.