THE PLAYBOOK BEHIND FFLGUARD.
The law tells you what you CAN do.
The LPGs help you decide what you SHOULD do.
Knowing the law is only the beginning.
An FFL can comply with a regulation and still make a decision that attracts ATF attention, creates litigation risk, or becomes difficult to explain months or years later.
That’s why FFLGuard created the Law Plus Guidelines, or LPGs. They’re the practical operating playbook behind the program, helping clients build sound practices and make decisions they can defend.
We don’t just defend clients after something goes wrong. We help put them in a defensible position before anything goes wrong.
The Law Is the Floor. The LPGs Set the FFLGuard Standard.
Federal and state law establish the minimum requirements for operating your business.
The LPGs go further.
They reflect what our firearms attorneys, former ATF professionals, Subject Matter Experts, and Attorney Advisory Group have learned from decades of inspections, investigations, administrative proceedings, litigation, and work with FFL businesses.
The goal is to make everyday decisions clearer. The LPGs help answer the practical question that regulations alone often can’t:
“What should I do?”
“Can I?” vs. “Should I?”
Something may be legally permitted and still be a bad idea.
“Can I?”
The law answers whether a transaction or action is allowed and what legal requirements apply.
“Should I?”
The LPGs help you consider the next questions:
- Does this create unnecessary risk?
- Is there something about the transaction that doesn’t look right?
- Would an extra precaution make the decision easier to defend later?
- Should we document something differently?
- Should we walk away?
That’s where experience matters. And that’s where Law PLUS begins.
Your Defense Starts Before You Need One.
A strong defense should begin long before you receive an ATF notice. It starts with how you run your business:
- How you train employees
- How you document transactions
- How you handle questionable situations
- How you respond to warning signs
- How your decisions will hold up when reviewed by an ATF official, judge, or jury
The LPGs help build that foundation. Counsel, compliance professionals, and Subject Matter Experts work with you to establish sound practices and a culture of compliance before a problem develops.
The goal is to avoid needing a defense at all.
But if an inspection, investigation, administrative proceeding, or lawsuit occurs, our attorneys aren’t meeting you for the first time and trying to piece together how your business operated.
There are already standards. There is already a relationship. And there is already a team.
THAT’S COMPLIANCE POWERED BY COUNSEL.
100 Points. Aim for 85.
The LPG system has 100 available points. The objective is to maintain at least 85.
We expect clients to demonstrate that they’re following the standards developed to help protect their businesses.
Maintaining the required LPG score is also tied to eligibility for certain included legal-defense benefits under the applicable FFLGuard plan. That connection is intentional: prevention helps establish the foundation for defense.
What If You Fall Below 85?
The objective is to identify what needs improvement and help you fix it.
The LPGs aren’t designed as a “gotcha.” They’re designed to help your business improve.
We help you identify gaps, understand what needs to change, and work toward meeting the required standard.
The Law Is the Floor. The LPGs Set the FFLGuard Standard.
Firearms laws, ATF policies, litigation trends, technology, and industry practices change. The LPGs evolve with them.
Our National Coordinating Counsel, Subject Matter Experts, and Attorney Advisory Group bring their experience to the program. The AAG helps guide its legal and regulatory standards, while individual members contribute specialized knowledge when particular issues arise.
What we learn from one matter can improve the guidance we provide to every client.
ONE CLIENT LEARNS SOMETHING.
THE ENTIRE FFLGuard FAMILY GETS SMARTER.
The LPGs Are How We Prevent.
The entire FFLGuard model comes down to three words:
PREVENT. RESPOND. DEFEND.
The LPGs sit at the front of that system. They help us prevent problems.
If something happens anyway, the team is already there to RESPOND. And when necessary, we’re prepared to DEFEND.
But that defense didn’t begin when the problem appeared.
It started with prevention. It started with the LPGs. It started before a defense was ever needed.
THAT’S COMPLIANCE POWERED BY COUNSEL.
But a Playbook Is Only as Good as the People Behind It.
The LPGs were built from decades of firearms-law experience, ATF experience, and work with Federal Firearms Licensees across the country.
Behind those standards are the people who developed them, put them into practice, and stand behind our clients.
So the natural next question is: