If you live in a city in where the Chief law Enforcement Officer (CLEO) will not or easily sign a Form 4, there are several solutions.
Class 3 Weapons include suppressors, , short barrel rifles, machine guns, and other destructive devices.
The most common solution is to create a NFA revocable trust to hold title to the firearm or class 3 items.
What happens when Grandpa needs to go to a nursing home but he owns a Class 3 Firearm?
A Machine gun is a valuable asset and as such can create a problem with eligibility for nursing home care. Many veterans were allowed to keep captured machine guns and they want to pass them down to their children or grandchildren. If that grandparent needs nursing home coverage and they are not married, many states will limit their non-exempt assets to $2000.
Today as machine guns continue to increase in value this can cause a problem for qualifying for Medicaid coverage.
One solution is to sell the machine gun and put the cash into an exempt asset or use it before applying for coverage. When the machine gun is wanted to be kept in the family, it is possible to trade it for an exempt asset like a vehicle.
Violators may be fined up to $250,000, and imprisoned up to 10 years, or both.
In addition, any vessel, vehicle or aircraft used to transport, conceal or possess an unregistered NFA firearm is subject to seizure and forfeiture, as is the weapon itself.
An individual, business, or NFA Firearms trust may not register an unregistered NFA firearm. Only a manufacture, maker, and importer can register a firearm.
Possession of an unregistered NFA firearms is a crime. The ATF states that if you are in possession of a contraband firearm, you should contact the nearest ATF office to arrange for its disposition.
WARNING – although this is the advise of the AFT, they also state that mere possession is unlawful
Basically, there are 2 ways that an individual (who is not prohibited by Federal, State, or local law from receiving or possessing firearms) may legally acquire NFA firearms:
By transfer after approval by ATF of a registered weapon from its lawful owner residing in the same State as the transferee.
By obtaining prior approval from ATF to make NFA firearms.
NFA Gun Trust Lawyer Blog