FAQ's

August 29, 2013

Gun owners with Trusts or Corporations and Obama Administration

Today there has been much news about an action or executive order to help ensure that people who should not be able to own NFA firearms are not permitted to do so using a Trust.

First, our Gun Trusts, have never allowed a prohibited person to legally purchase, or be authorized to use firearms or ammunition. This is one of the significant differences between a real Gun Trust from a Gun Trust Lawyer® like we provide, and other so called gun trusts or regular estate planning Trusts.

If you are a criminal, addicted to drugs, a user of illegal drugs(under federal law including medical marijuana), or prohibited to own firearms under local, state, or federal laws, you cannot use our documents to create a valid trust. In addition, any co-trustee or authorized users who are prohibited cannot be added and any attempt to do so is void.

August 16, 2013

Gun Trust and Submitting ATF Forms online

by David M. Goldman

Yesterday, I decided to try out the ATFonline.gov Eforms submission. I found the process very easy to do and while a little confusing the first time, it seems rather intuitive. Below are the steps I followed:

Register for an account at ATFonline.gov. The system is very picky and must be used with IE 8 or a recent version of Safari on OS X. Sorry no Firefox, Chrome, or even IE 7.
Log in.
Select the Form 1. Better to use the bar and move it with the mouse, it is very difficult to scroll through the forms. ATF needs to switch this to a drop down menu.
Application – this is where you state whether you are tax exempt or will be paying a tax.
Applicant – Select that you are not a FFL and then complete your information. You should list the Trust name as the Licensee / Permitee Name.
Add line items. You can use one application for multiple items. I choose to only do one SBR. It walked me through the process of selecting the manufacture from a list.
Upload electronic documents. This is where I uploaded my scanned Gun Trust Documents.
Certify that Under Penalties of Perjury, I Declare that I have examined this application, including accompanying documents, and to the best of my knowledge and belief it is true, accurate and complete and the making and possession of the firearm described above would not constitute a violation of Chapter 44, Title 18, U.S.C., Chapter 53, Title 26, U.S.C., or any provisions of State or local law.
Enter credit card payment information
Sign and Submit. By clicking a check box, your application will be submitted.

Within a few minutes I received a confirmation email showing that I had submitted my application and it was Pending Research because the manufacture I had selected was not listed in their database. This morning I received a new update saying that my status was changed to Submitted/In Process. I will keep updating this blog as I receive more information but it already feels faster than the paper system.

August 6, 2013

ATF Applications for Form 1 and Form 4 now taking 9-12 months

by David M. Goldman

Last week I called the ATF to check on one of my personal applications and a new one that I recently filed. The person I spoke to told me that while older applications were taking 6-9 months, new applications were expected to take 9-12 months for approval.

The Firearmsblog has reported a similar conversation with ATF.

While we had previously reported that the ATF was increasing their staff by 30% it appears that this has not helped clear the backlog and they are more than 46,000 applications in the backlog.

August 5, 2013

Common Gun Trust and Free Gun Trust Mistakes

by David M. Goldman

A NFA Trust or Gun Trust is a type of revocable living trust that is created for the main purpose of possessing Title II firearms. In our review of many so-called Gun Trusts we have seen that most do not properly address firearms ownership, transfer and possession. (If you have a gun trust you would like reviewed, just let us know and we woudl be happy to review it under the federal laws for free) Many are regular trusts and many only have a few firearms related terms. If almost every provision in your trust does not deal with firearms, it is not a real Gun Trust from a Gun Trust Lawyer®.

A Gun Trust is a NFA Trust that is appropriate for regular firearms as well as Title II firearms (those sold by Class 3 SOT FFLs). Often times, people who wish to purchase Title II firearms with a trust choose to hire an attorney who has not studied and does not fully understand the NFA and estate planning. As a result, many so called NFA Trusts or Gun Trusts other than those provided by a Gun Trust Lawyer® do not comply with the Gun Control act of 1968, the National Firearms Act and other local and state specific gun laws. These trusts often contain several defects or mistakes and may lead to illegal possession or transfer of Title I and Title II firearms.

Mistake #1: Omitted Necessary Provisions

July 8, 2013

Gun Trusts and Marijuana and Firearm Ownership, Use, and Possession

by David M. Goldman

About two years ago we reported on a potential problem that exists because of a conflict between state and federal law and how this can cause problems with a Gun Trust that is not properly drafted.

Now the BATFE has issued an open letter to FFLs that users of medical marijuana are to be excluded from possessing or owning firearms or ammunition. BATFE cites the Gun Control Act of 1968 as authority for this order, which states that it shall be unlawful to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm to any person knowing or having reasonable suspicion to believe that such a person is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.

As of July 2013, eighteen states have legalized the use of marijuana in some form. Another 6 have pending legislation. Of those eighteen states, sixteen have legalized marijuana usage for medicinal purposes, while Colorado and Washington have also legalized the drug for recreational use. It is important to realize that while these states have passed their own marijuana laws, the possession, use, and distribution of marijuana is still illegal under federal law, which trumps the state laws. The Controlled Substances Act, enacted into law in 1970, categorizes marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substances. So although some states say it is “legal” to use marijuana, under the Gun Control Act, marijuana users are considered “prohibited persons” to whom the sale of firearms and ammunition is illegal.

July 4, 2013

ATF Form 5320.1 – How to fill out for multiple caliber barrels: Updated

by David M. Goldman

If you want to use multiple caliber barrels on a SBR or SBS there here are some guidelines that will help you fill out your ATF Form 1, which are also found on our updated How to fill out a Form 1 for a Trust Page.

4c should contain the caliber or gage of the firearm. Only one is acceptable. ( Multi is not acceptable, you can only list one, if you have additional calibers you want to list you should attach additional configurations in a letter attached to your Form 1 stating the caliber, barrel length, and overall length as related to the firearm listed on the Form 1.)

Previously ATF accepted them by being listed in 4h on the Form 1 but no longer accepts this.)

July 1, 2013

Transferring firearms to a Gun Trust without Criminal Sanctions

by David M. Goldman

As more lawyers begin to dabble with Gun Trusts we are seeing many who do not understand firearms and their unique nature which can often involve criminal penalties related to the improper transfer, possession, and use related to firearms or ammunition.

While it is fine to transfer a pair or sox, coins, most personal property to your trust without doing anything other than assigning it, the transfer of restricted items like firearms or ammunition is a different matter. If you can sell a gun to an individual in your state without going through a dealer you should be able to transfer a firearm to your trust without going through dealer. This is the case in most states.

In a few states like California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania where all personal transfers of some or all firearms must go through a background check, there may be no exception for transferring a firearm to a trust even if it is your own trust. Sure an argument could be made that there is no transfer and as such you should not have to go through a dealer, but why would one take the risk.

June 10, 2013

Gun Trusts and Colorado’s Large-Capacity Magazine Ban

by David M. Goldman

In response to House Bill 13-1224 which prohibits the sale, transfer, and possession of “large-capacity ammunition magazines” John Suthers, Colorado’s Attorney General, prepared a letter to Executive Director Davis at the Department of Public Safety. This letter does not discuss the issue of a person compared to a trust or other business entity that owns the magazines prior to 7/1/2013. It is still recommended that you use our special magazine assignment for Colorado to deal with the possibility that a trust may not be considered a “person” under the new statute. This conditional assignment becomes void if a trust is later determined not to be a proper owner under the law.

To read the text of the letter please continue reading this article.
Continue reading

May 29, 2013

Where can I hunt with Suppressors (Silencers): Updated List:

by David M. Goldman

Thumbnail image for 50calsilencer.jpg While in some states, it is illegal to hunt with a Silencer, in the following states it is legal to hunt with a suppressor (often referred to as a “silencer”).

In states where hunting with suppressors have been legalized, we have seen substantial increases in the sales of suppressors and the wait times for approval from the ATF have also increased. Many states that have legalized suppressors still have CLEOs who refuse to sign for individuals to purchase them. An NFA Gun Trust or a more flexible Gun trust can not only avoid the CLEO signature requirement in most states, but can also provide many benefits to firearms owners and their families. To learn about the benefits, please fill out the contact us form at the top of this page and request information on what a gun trust is and how they may benefit you.

Remember these laws change frequently, so please verify this with your state prior to hunting with a suppressor.

May 2, 2013

Can My Friends & I Use the same Gun Trust to Share Firearms.

by David M. Goldman

Using a Gun Trust for multiple people is a common scenario that we discuss with people. Our general recommendation is that it is not a good idea to have several people contribute firearms to a single trust for the purpose of sharing ownership and use of the firearms.

While it is not such a bad idea, if people are going to be contributing firearms to your trust, most people want to use a trust like a company where each person will have equal rights. The equal rights scenario is a generally a bad idea because your gun do not necessarily go to who you want.

Imagine the following example. Adam, Burt, and Charlie want to form a trust so that they can each use all the firearms in a single Gun Trust. Adam is married and has children, Burt is single, and Charlie has a live in girlfriend. Each is planning on purchasing a silencer so that there will be three silencers to share. It would be important to add Adam’s wife and Charlie’s girlfriend on the trust to protect them from constructive possession and inadvertent transfers which are both violations of the NFA and have penalties that can include 10 years in jail and a 250,000 penalty.