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Articles>Is Your FFL Next On a Criminal’s Hit List?

Is Your FFL Next On a Criminal’s Hit List?

By John Bocker, NSSF Security Consultant Team Member

Being an FFL comes with some angst, especially when you lock up each evening and head home leaving your firearms protected by gates, alarms, cameras and … .Wait a minute. Did I just say “protected by cameras and alarms?”Today’s brazen firearms thieves are not deterred by cameras and alarms. If they were, the frequency of FFL burglaries we’re seeing now wouldn’t be happening. As I explained for a group during a recent Operation Secure Store workshop hosted jointly by NSSF and ATF, alarms and cameras only tell you how and when a burglary occurred. This is certainly critical to your overall security strategy, but today’s criminals are wearing hoodies and ski masks to avoid recognition by camera surveillance system and are in and out of your premises in under two minutes—and that’s sometimes long before your alarm company notifies you or the police of a break-in.

Cameras and alarms don’t actually protect and prevent criminal thefts. But what does?

Short of removing all your firearms from cases and racks each evening—which is time-consuming and can damage inventory—what cost-effective strategies can you consider for ramping up your security program?

What steps should you take now to create the “feel-good” shopping experience that fulfills your customer’s emotional needs and keeps them coming back?

As an FFL, you have a responsibility to do everything you can to strengthen your security and present yourself as a hard target to criminals. Hopefully, this list will help you assess your current security program and offer suggestions for improvements you can make.

NSSF’s Store Security Audit team is standing by to assist you with any physical or operational security or safety issue you may have including design, planning, training, and crisis management. All NSSF members are encouraged to take advantage of our onsite Risk & Security Assessment.

John Bocker is an NSSF Security Consultant Team Member and the Managing Director at JB Group, LLC, based in Denver, Colorado. JB Group is a business security and strategy consulting organization specializing in ATF FFL compliance and protecting FFLs against unexpected losses resulting from burglary, robbery, and internal control failures. Have a question regarding this article? Contact John at (720) 514-0609.