The New York Times is reporting that Nearly two years into his term, President Obama on Monday finally chose a director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Mr. Obama will submit the name of Andrew Taver, the special agent in charge of the bureau’s Chicago field division, to the Senate for consideration.
Mr. Taver may face a confirmation fight as it will require Senate confirmation.
Generally we are hearing that it is taking 3-5 months from the time you submit your ATF forms for approval. A local gun store Shooters of Jacksonville told me they have two agents assigned because of the number of transfers they do. They stated that this means that ATF Form 4 applications that they sent in are processed faster than at other locations. While I do not know if this is true, I can state, that a recent Form 4 I submitted through Shooters only took 75 days from the date I signed it, until receiving the approved Form 4.
If you want to check on the status of your Form 4 or Form 1, you will need your serial number and to contact ATF.
National Firearms Act Branch,
Last week, I got an email and spoke to an individual (who was an attorney) who had been incorrectly advised by TSA that it was OK to carry a silencer on a plane. The problem occurred when he tried to follow TSA’s advise. A silencer is defined as a firearm and should not be taken in one’s carry on luggage. Luckily this individual was not charged with a crime and only ended up being inconvenienced and missing his flight.
After contacting the FBI, BATFE, and Dallas police (none of whom had a definitive answer) the Dallas police and DFW police said the suppressor should be turned over to TSA who eventually returned it to the owner.
Others have reported that TSA does not understand that Silencers are firearms and have not allowed them to put them in locked containers as other firearms.
Lately we have seen such odd denials from the ATF.
Recently we have begun hearing that the ATF is no longer requiring a Schedule A and/or an Assignment of Assets with a Trust. While we have not been able to verify this with ATF at this time, we would still suggest sending in these documents with your trust for approval. Remember that just because ATF approves your trust, they are not stating your trust is valid, only that it meets their limited review of criteria. We have seen many cases where the ATF approves trusts that are not valid and subject the individuals to potential criminal charges, confiscation, and fines of up to $250,000 per offense.
There are significant advantages of using an Assignment sheet over a schedule of assets or as some trusts refer to it “a Schedule A”. While most believe that the registration of firearms has been shown to be one of the first steps in the confiscation of firearms by the government, there are many individuals who unknowingly and freely give the ATF a complete list of their firearms by using a Schedule A. An assignment sheet can still transfer assets into a trust, but not create a full list of the assets and become part of the trust document. This additional privacy is an important advantage to using a NFA Gun Trust like we have created. To find out more about Gun Trusts or have your trust reviewed for problems with the NFA contact a Gun Trust Lawyer® by email or call us.
Over the weekend I received an email from asking if 922R applies to SBR’s, For example converting a MP5 Pistol to an SBR.
Section 922 Paragraph R states:
“It shall be unlawful for any person to assemble from imported parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is identical to any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under section 925(d)(3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes except that this subsection shall not apply to–
A Washington state gun store prepared an invalid trust for their customer and the ATF approved three Form 4 transfers.
Not only is the preparation of a trust by a non-lawyer the unauthorized practice of law, but it also could put you at risk of an invalid transfer, possession, and use charge by the ATF which could subject you to forfeiture of your firearms, a $250,000 penalty, and up to 10 years in jail.
This particular gun store trust did not have a trustee, a successor trustee or a beneficiary and was missing required schedules that were required for validity by the way the trust was drafted.
Unfortunately, the answer is no. The ATF considers the trust as a separate legal entity and the tax must be paid for the additional transfer. Given that this is essentially an tax by the IRS, it would seem logical that the tax would be waived because a revocable trust is a pass through entity and not taxed. As far as I know this has not been challenged because it is only $200 for the transfer and the cost to fight it would be many thousands of dollars.
While times have varied greatly over the last few years, it appears that the time your ATF Form 4 or Form 1 will take for approval seems to be tied to who the examiner is. A website NFATRACKER.com is collecting information on the times and offers some reporting on how long various transfers are taking. While the site is gaining speed and beginning to gather data, anyone who has a recent transfer should go and record your results. It is easy to create a login and select the type of item and whether you were an individual trust or corporation and the dates that certain events took place. So far we do not know how or if there is a way to pick who your examiner is by what the name of your trust is. The site’s manager has stated that one reader seems to have found that there is some correlation between the name of the dealer and the examiner but it is still unknown if you can do anything to improve the time you trust takes for approval. If we figure anything out we will keep you updated. If you need help finding a local NFA Gun Trust attorney, have questions about a trust, or want to create a Valid NFA trust Contact Us.
Publication
ATF 5300.4 in 27 CFR 479.102 (page 92) describes what is necessary to engrave on a SBR or SBS when one is manufacturing. This is not necessary if you purchase one that is already manufactured as it will have been done for you.
1) On the Frame or Receiver the Serial number;
NFA Gun Trust Lawyer Blog