Understanding Critical Threats to Gun Shops and How to Protect Your Store

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Operating a firearm shop is no easy task and shouldn’t be taken lightly. For those in the firearm industry, it’s important to be aware of, and prepared for, the most critical threats to gun stores and pawn shops that sell firearms.

There are several different safety steps you can implement to keep you and your store safe, both from government regulations and paperwork issues, as well as immediate threats, such as break-ins. Learn how E4473 plays a role in protecting your business from these potential issues.

Keep your shop safe with E4473

One of the biggest threats to firearms sellers is customers manually completing the necessary paperwork. When you use paper versions of Form 4473 - done by hand and stored in a file cabinet - the risk is too high for that paperwork to get lost, damaged in a potential fire, and/or simply take up too much physical space. Moreover, with a high possibility of human error, paper forms leave your gun store vulnerable to potential fines by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for a store’s inability to adhere to standard ATF regulations.

With the E4473 app, it’s out with the old, paper-based forms and in with our all-inclusive digital application that simplifies - and protects - the lives of both firearm retailers and customers alike. Eliminating any room for error, E4473 is 100% ATF-compliant guaranteed, offers easy-entry NICS submissions, and provides bulletproof data security.

Perfect for pawn shops, small gun shops, e-commerce firearm stores, and large retailers alike, you’re protected at every step. If the ATF should ever audit your business, Bravo’s customer support team will stand by you before, during, and after the audit.

Other potential threats to firearm retailers

In early May 2021, President Joe Biden called for federal gun safety regulation measures. Two bills to strengthen background checks for those purchasing firearms have recently passed in the House of Representatives. Despite these new developments, The Washington Post predicts Congress will not pass new national legislation, but only time will tell if the current president’s efforts will further complicate things for firearm retailers and owners.

How else to keep your store safe

A more immediate threat to gun and pawn shops are physical break-ins. Burglaries remain a serious cause for concern for firearm retailers. To best protect your store, 24/7 surveillance, security arms, and other such related devices are imperative to keeping your wares safe and sound and saving you the time, hassle, and money lost.

According to The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), criminals specifically look for stores with a “lack of adequate perimeter and site security measures,” like fences and exterior lighting. They also target buildings with little to no security considerations, such as “smash-resistant doors, gates, glass, security grills and gates, exposed perimeter walls, and easy roof access.”

Both inside and outside of your building, you must also consider the following:

  • Types of locks
  • Alarm systems
  • Lack of and/or outdated security cameras and/or systems
  • Inferior firearms storage inside your store, including lack of highly secure cases, safes, cable locks, and storage rooms

While physical protection, like alarms and cameras, are of the utmost importance, you must also determine where your weak points are, or as the NSSF refers to it, “a site-specific threat analysis and vulnerability assessment,” in addition to what you and you and your team will do on the off chance that a break-in occurs. Both you and your team members will be grateful after having developed a “crisis response action plan,” should you find yourself in this situation.

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If you haven’t signed up for an E4473 demo yet, contact us today! Let us show you how to protect your store and make your customers happy with E4473.

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