ATF / BATFE

June 5, 2009

Form 4 Approval Times Appear to be Decreasing

Prior to November, the time to approve a Form 4 was less than 8 weeks. After November 20th, the number of people purchasing NFA items significantly increased and as a result the time to receive an approval on their ATF Form 4 or Form 1 increased to more than 6 months at their peak (26+ weeks).

Good news as I have recently heard from several of our clients that the Approval process is beginning to shorten. Last week I heard from a client who stated that his NFA Firearms Trust approval time was between 4 and 5 months.

May 26, 2009

BATFE and Seizure From Invalid NFA Trust

by David M. Goldman

Last week there was an issue where an individual was contacted by the ATF in an effort to seize his Title II firearms because of an irregularity with his Trust. A Gun Trust Lawyer® reviewed, amended, and restated the trust in question, creating a valid and enforceable trust that deals with the unique issues of NFA Firearms ownership, transfer, and possession. The BATFE had a justifiable reason to pursue the forfeiture action and the original reports on the subguns forum were accurate. After discussions with the BATFE and presentation of a valid Trust the BATFE decided to cease and desist their forfeiture action at this time and the individual is no longer in jeopardy of having his items seized, being arrested, or being fined. The BATFE and individual have requested that the details not be disclosed. The BATFE does not want to jeopardize similar ongoing investigations involving invalid trusts. We can state that the issues involved with this action have been covered elsewhere on this website.

If you created a trust with Quicken or Legal Zoom, you should follow Legal Zoom’s and Intuit’s advice and have your trust reviewed by an attorney to avoid potential problems. The creators of these programs did not anticipate that individuals would be using the documents in situations that could result in criminal liability.

You may choose to have the trust reviewed to determine if the trust is valid, or reviewed to see if there are issues with the NFA that are not dealt with in your trust, but either way it is important to have your trust reviewed by someone who is familiar with estate planning as well as the NFA.

May 22, 2009

BATFE seeks to seize NFA firearms from an Invalid Quicken Trust

by David M. Goldman

Joshua Prince alerted me to a blog post on a developing situation he ran across on Subguns where an individual used Quicken to attempt to create a trust for NFA purposes. Unfortunately the BATFE has now decided that his Quicken trust was invalid and is seeking to seize his MAC-11 and Silencer. He could also be subject to a prison sentence of 10 years and $250,000 in fines.

This is a very unfortunate situation that could cost the individual severely. Its important to remember that just because the ATF approves your transfer, it does not mean that you are legally in possession. This is the second situation involving invalid trusts and the ATF that we have seen this month. It looks like the ATF is beginning to look more closely at the trust documents they are receiving.

If you created a trust for NFA purchases in Quicken, Legal Zoom, or used another generic trust that was not reviewed before by a lawyer before submitting it to the BATFE, you should contact a NFA trust attorney to review your trust for validity. If you need help finding a local NFA Trust Lawyer we can help. We work with attorneys in more than 40 states including Florida Gun Trust Lawyer®s and South Carolina NFA lawyers to help review and create valid NFA trusts.

January 8, 2009

Gun Sales Up 24% in December: Shortage of Form 4473

by David M. Goldman

The FBI Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported a 24% increase in December over last year. Over 1.5 Million checks was an increase of 42% over November and the highest number of checks in history.

As a result in the unprecedented demand for the ATF Forms 4473 (5300.9) part I which was revised in August 2008 is running low on inventory. To address this shortage ATF has posted a notice on its Web site authorizing a temporary measure of allowing FFL’s to photocopy form 4473 in its entirety.

Of course, an option is to use the electronic form, E-4473, available from the ATF.gov Web site.

November 19, 2008

Leonard Elliott’s Story of an ATF Raid on His Gun Store

by David M. Goldman

Leonard Elliot’s store was raided by the ATF almost 3 years ago. After a 3 day trial he and his father were found not guilty on all counts.

JPFO has an audio interview with Leonard Elliott about his ordeal. To listen to this interview click the following link leonard-elliott.mp3 target=new

July 14, 2008

ATF COMMENT ON HELLER DECISION

by David M. Goldman

ATF Acting Director ATF Michael J. Sullivan released the following statement on the recent Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia et. al. v. Heller: “ATF is pleased with the Supreme Court’s ruling recognizing that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms, including for private purposes unrelated to militia operations. The court’s ruling is in accordance with the text of the Second Amendment, historical practice, and the Attorney General’s 2001 guidance on the scope of the Second Amendment, and is consistent with the bureau’s understanding of the scope of the Second Amendment. The Bureau also is pleased that the court appropriately made clear that nothing in [the] ruling casts doubt on the constitutionality of ‘longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.’ In addition, the court appropriately recognized that the ‘carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons,’ such as machine guns, is not protected by the amendment. The bureau is studying the decision, but expects that it will not affect its continued enforcement of all existing federal firearms laws.”

July 8, 2008

Valid Reasons for NFA trust in other State

by David M. Goldman

Generally when creating a NFA trust, one must look to the laws of their state and how they affect the right to own a class III firearm.

What happens if you live in New York or any state where some Class III firearms are banned but plan to use and keep them in another state where they are legal? Can you a resident of a state where the item is banned purchase, store, and use the items in a state where its legal.

According to the ATF, an individual can purchase an item restricted by the NFA that is not permitted in the state of residence of the trustee, when the trust will be located, and item will be only used and maintained in states where it is legal.

July 5, 2008

What should I do if I am in possession of an Akins Accelerator?

by David M. Goldman

What should I do if I am in possession of an Akins Accelerator?

You should immediately remove the spring from the Akins Accelerator. This spring should be mailed (with the certification described below) to the Chief, Firearms Technology Branch, 244 Needy Road, Martinsburg, WV 25405. You should be sure to include your name and address with the spring so that ATF can account for all the devices which have been sold. The following certification should be completed, signed, and returned with the spring.

Certification

July 4, 2008

Lost of Stolen NFA Registration Documents

by David M. Goldman

I got a question from someone to day about what to do if their Class 3 registration papers are lost. I found the answer on the ATF website under the NFA Handbook in Chapter 3.

Section 3.5 Lost or stolen registration documents. A person possessing a firearm registered as required by the NFA must retain proof of registration, that is, the registration form showing registration of the firearm to the person, which must be made available to ATF upon request.53 If a registrant discovers that a Form 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6A, or 10 is stolen, lost or destroyed, the registrant must immediately report the theft, loss, or destruction in writing to the NFA Branch.54 The report must contain the details of the situation. ATF will issue a duplicate copy of the registration document as the circumstances warrant.

If you need to contact a local ATF field office follow this link for the AFT field division contact information.

July 2, 2008

Owning NFA Firearms with a Dealer’s license

by David M. Goldman

Some NFA firearms collectors, who are not engaged in any firearms business, have been known to acquire a GCA license to deal in firearms and pay the NFA special tax to acquire NFA firearms for their personal firearms collections. This is not a wise thing to do and violates the National Firearms Act.

Most individual acquire NFA firearms for the following reasons:

(1) to acquire firearms from non-licensee residing out-of-state;
(2) to circumvent requirements imposed on individuals to provide their fingerprints and photographs in order to receive NFA firearms and law enforcement certifications authorizing their receipt of such firearms;
(3) to purchase and use items that they are not legally able to obtain as an individual; and
(4) to avoid NFA transfer tax on firearms they receive from FFL’s/SOT’s.

Warning: These transactions violate the NFA and can only lead to trouble for the individual. In these instances, the individual has committed Federal felonies by falsely stating on a license application and special tax return that the collector intends to conduct a firearms business. Any NFA firearms received tax free by the collector are subject to transfer tax and the collector’s receipt of the firearms tax free violated the NFA. As held in ATF Ruling 76-22, these transfers are unlawful and the firearms received are subject to seizure and forfeiture.

If you hold NFA restricted firearms that are of a personal use in nature, under a business license, you should consider creating a NFA Firearms Trust to hold the title to these items to avoid being in violation of the National Firearms Act.