The Clinton administration wants to reduce sharply the number of gun dealers in the nation by increasing dealer licensing fees, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen said Monday.
"It makes no sense at all to have over 250,000 dealers in guns today and to have a very minimum payment where you have people even operating out of their kitchens," Bentsen said in an interview with The Associated Press."There is no way for us to be able to supervise them and see that they're abiding by the regulations," he said.
Bentsen gave no figure for how high the federal fee, now set at $10 a year, would be raised, but he said the goal was to reduce the number of dealers to a manageable level.
Bentsen said the department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was studying the issue and was expected to make recommendations to him early next year.