FAQ's

March 27, 2023

ATF Final Rule on Stabilizing Braces and your Gun Trust

On Monday, January 31, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) published the final Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached “Stabilizing Braces” rule for public inspection in the federal register.

This rule subjects almost all firearms with a stabilizing brace to the registration and taxation requirements of the National Firearms Act.

There is currently litigation over this rule, but that litigation will take time to sort out. For our clients who wish to comply with the registration process, we have put together this information to help you.

The rule was first posted on January 13 and ATF has attempted to clarify several issues, which include:

1) Braces that are removed from firearms do not necessarily have to be destroyed or altered in a way that prevents them from being reattached. This is because under United States v. Thompson/Center Arms Co. if the part can be assembled into multiple lawful configurations, it is not unlawful to possess. If you own a 16 inch AR pistol, it could be assembled into a lawful pistol.

2) Imported pistols with stabilizing braces were not initially permitted because of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(r). But ATF updated their FAQ page to state that while the assembly would violate the rule, they will permit those with imported pistols the same options as anyone else under the fule rule without further modification.

February 23, 2018

Should I put AR-15 style and other firearms in my Gun Trust

by David M. Goldman

A Gun Trust should be designed to hold all firearms including those restricted by the NFA including your AR-15s. All of our Gun Trusts are designed for all of your firearms. As an owner of many types of guns, I designed this trust to deal with issues from a revolver, to a Glock pistol, AR-15s, and even NFA firearms like silencers and machine guns.

Most people do not realize that many of the same issues regarding transfer upon death or incapacity exist for regular firearms and NFA firearms sold by Class 3 SOT dealers. This is why I would suggest putting all of your Guns in one of our Gun Trusts.

Recently, there has been much discussion regarding the banning of AR-15 style firearms. If your firearms are in a trust, the trust can later be amended to be a multi-generational trust which can insulate the firearms from future transfers. Our multi generational Gun Trust provides asset protection at each generation and prevents transfers. The beneficiaries do not receive the firearms by transfer upon your death but become the next managers of the trust. The Professional Gun Trust remains the owner generation after generation.

February 1, 2016

Gun Trusts: Engraving Requirements and believing what you read on the Internet

by David M. Goldman

This weekend, I was shocked to read an article on Facebook that was from a popular gun website that instructed people that they did not have to engrave a firearms that they “made” using a Form 1 unless they were going to sell the firearm. This author claims to have asked ATF a question and received a response from an individual who is associated with the ATF.

This is equivalent to asking a police officer to interpret the law. Not only do they often make mistakes, but you cannot reply on what they tell you, because they are permitted to lie to you.

The biggest issues seems to be the confusion between the definitions for the words “Make” and “Manufacture” as defined in 27 C.F.R. 479.11

January 25, 2016

Suppressor Manufactures

by David M. Goldman

SUPPRESSOR MANUFACTURES see list below

January 15, 2016

41F Published: Some Gun Trusts will have problems

by David M. Goldman

41F was published today in the Federal Register. Here is a Link to 41F as filed which is similar to the draft that has been circulating.

Our Gun Trusts are fully 41P compliant and ready. If you have a gun trust from a Gun Trust Lawyer® (with our copyright information on it) your trust is fine to use and will not have problems with 41F.

These are the forms to use after July 12th, Form 1, Form 4, Form 5, Form 23

January 8, 2016

Do I need to modify my gun trust?

by David M. Goldman

Modify my gun trust?

Given the pending 41P/F implementation in the next year, we have been getting a lot of questions.

As with all legal answers, the answer is “IT DEPENDS“. Let me clarify how 41P/F will impact an existing Gun Trust.

Should I modify my gun trust? The first thing you must determine is who is a responsible person under your trust. In general all trustees and co-trustees will be considered responsible persons under the new definition for Gun and NFA trusts. The draft of 41F which is expected to be published soon states that the DOJ has clarified that the term “responsible person” for a trust or legal entity includes those persons who have the power and authority to direct the management and policies of the trust or legal entity to receive, possess, ship, transport, deliver, transfer, or otherwise dispose of a firearm for, or on behalf of, the trust or entity. The primary issues here discussed in this article regard the right to possess or have an NFA firearm in their possession, even if supervised.

If your trust was designed by a Gun Trust Lawyer® then the trustees and co-trustees are generally the only responsible parties in your trust. If you trust is not from us, then it may include the people near your trustees and / or beneficiaries named in the trust. In an effort to be more flexible, some trusts have been written to give non-traditional powers to beneficiaries and even other classes of people like bystanders. This can create problems for several reasons including when 41F is implemented because you many not be able to get a fingerprint card for a 2 year old, or beneficiaries who ma be overseas, or it may be expensive and time consuming to obtain these for all the people who you might decide to let use your NFA firearms. If you have one of these trusts, you may want to amend your gun trust prior to your next purchase (after 41F is implemented) to avoid the inability to make purchases because you have a trust which creates these powers. I have had many discussions with lawyers around the country about why this was a bad idea in the past, and now it may up hurting the individuals and families who unknowingly acquired these. In addition, in my opinion, it is a poor idea to include these types of powers because there is generally no way to bind a beneficiary to the terms of the gun trust. In addition, a beneficiary may not be mature, responsible, or old enough to be bound even if they are of legal age.

October 1, 2015

Is a Form 20 Necessary for a Suppressor?

by David M. Goldman

One of the great things about a well written gun trust is that it can be created to deal with multi state issues. Many people move and even include co-trustees or authorized users who move or are in other states. If your gun trust is only written to deal with your state laws, the chance that it will provide incorrect or misleading advice to others involved with your trust is increasing. We see these issues with many online trusts.

An ATF Form 20 is not required when you move states. A Form 20 is only required for Title II firearms other than suppressors. That being said, I recommend completing a Form 20 even for suppressors. For those of you who have our gun trusts, we include a section in our instructions that goes into detail on this topic. Most police officers do not know that suppressors are legal (yes, I know this is hard to believe). Given that, I would much rather have a document from the federal government (the form 20) stating that I or other members of my trust are permitted to be in a state. It is much easier and less expensive to have these issues resolved before you are detained than after your items are taken or you are detained.

With this in mind, you may also want to get a Form 20 approval for traveling to states and not just for a change of address to another state. A Form 20 is not required if you are staying within the same state, even if you move within the state. A well written gun trust will include information like this and on other common topics that come up over time.

September 26, 2015

ATF Claims Soda-launching “Can Cannon” is an SBS or AOW when used

by David M. Goldman

Many of our Gun Trust Clients have purchased a Can Cannon. Previously the use of a Can Cannon was not regulated by the NFA, but recently the ATF determined that the use of the Can Cannon in conjunction with a receiver or a pistol creates an item regulated by the NFA. This may be problematic if the NFA item is not legal in your state, but if they are legal there may be a relatively inexpensive way to solve the problem for those who already have an SBS.

X Products warned their customers that the ATF evaluated the Can Cannon and determined that it would be considered an SBR if placed on a rifle receiver, and an AOW if used on a pistol AR. See the ATF letter on the Can Cannon. The ATF has defined the Can Cannon as a shotgun. However, the device by itself is not a firearm and is perfectly legal to own. Attaching it to a firearm is illegal unless the user has the proper federal licenses.

If you have an SBS, you can add the Can Cannon as an additional configuration to your SBS by using this Additional Configuration Form we have prepared for use with our Gun Trusts, SBSs and multiple configurations. Here is a link to using multiple configurations with a Form 1 for those not familiar with it

August 7, 2015

“EasyTrust” Problems Reported with Silencerco NFA Trust

by David M. Goldman

EasyTrust: Problems reported

David McCleary a Michigan Gun Trust Lawyer written about the problems he has seen with the so called EasyTrust Gun Trust by Silencerco. Today I received an email from him stating that in his opinion the trust is “horribly drafted” and “has many problems including improper legal advice”. One example cited is the mistake that a Trust in Michigan must be registered. This is simply not true and is misleading to consumers. A Gun Trust or other Michigan NFA Trust does not need to be registered in Michigan. While they can be, they do not need to be registered and Attorney McCleary recommends not registering them.

More information on the EasyTrust Problems :For those of you who have not heard about other problems with the Easy Trust, you may review them below or follow this link https://www.guntrustlawyer.com/2015/04/atf-statements-at-the-nra-firearms-law-seminar.html

Back in April after the NRA convention, the ATF was commenting about some of the poorly written trusts and the problems and opportunities they would create for lawyers in the future. That article mentions many of the EasyTrust problems. Here is an excerpt from the Article in April which mentions the EasyTrust Problems.

With the recent increase in poorly written online trusts that have become available, ATF feels there will be a big business in fixing them down the road for those who have unknowingly received the free or fill in the blank trusts.

In my opinion, one of the worst examples of an online trust we have seen is the Easytrust being promoted by Silencerco. According to them, there may be as many as 1000 people who have already received this trust which contains numerous problems. For a trust that is only 4.5 pages long, it appears to have even more problems than a Gun Trust drafted from Quicken. The list of problems is huge, but the biggest problems include:

The trust permits a trustee to easily violation the NFA throughout the document by not clearly prohibiting these violations.
The trust permits any trustee to sell your guns without your consent.
The Trust permits trustees to take away your gun rights, (from within the trust) if in their opinion you can’t handle your own affairs. Of course, your legal gun rights under the 2nd Amendment will not be removed, but your ability to use and have access to the guns in your trust can.
The trust directs distribution to beneficiaries upon your death without any written permission (a violation of the NFA)
The instructions incorrectly state that the trust needs to be registered in many states where it does not (seems to be similar to the problem we reported with the quicken trust)
Directs you to obtain an EIN number for their trust when it is not necessary, if requested from your bank. The instructions should state why an EIN number is not required and direct you on a proper response to provide the bank or how to deal with this common misunderstanding to tax law that many banks can initially make

(Updated 4/19/15 for a clarification). (A summary of the EasyTrust problems) Continue reading

August 3, 2015

Gun Trust and Foreiture of Weapons under Protest

by David M. Goldman

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have recently decided to re-classify parachute flares and 40mm chalk rounds as explosives and begun the confiscation process. Those in the gun industry feel this ruling could soon be expanded to include all ammunition bigger than ½ inch in diameter.

Many have recently reported being contacted by ATF to turn in any recently purchased flare rounds. Some of these inidivduals have gun trusts and others just own then individually. Previously, these rounds had been classified by the ATF as non-explosives, but the bureau has recently had a change of heart that coincides with the other recent declassifications. (Does this sound familiar?)

When questioned about these declassifications, ATF has responded the change was made because the 40mm rounds in question are not “small arms” ammunition, and have thus been classified as “low explosives.” In one response letter, the ATF stated that “devices or articles that contain small arms ammunition or components thereof, but are not small arms ammunition by themselves, are regulated explosives,” and thus are not exempt from the provisions in 27 CFR, Part 555. This language suggests firearms registered as a “destructive device” may also be given a similar classification by the ATF.

So the next questions is what should you do when the ATF asks you to surrender these firearms? Continue reading