What is the National Firearms Act (NFA)?

Posted on December 23, 2011 by admin

The NFA imposes a tax on the making and transfer of firearms defined by the Act, as well as a special (occupational) tax on persons and entities engaged in the business of importing, manufacturing, and dealing in NFA firearms.  All transfers of ownership of registered NFA firearms must be done through the federal NFA registry.  The NFA also requires that transport of NFA firearms across state lines by the owner be reported to the ATF.

The NFA was enacted to regulate “gangster weapons” such as machine guns and hand grenades, as well as shotguns and rifles with barrels less than 18 inches.  Cognizant of the fact that firearms could not be banned under the Second Amendment, U.S. Attorney General Homer S. Cummings proposed harsh regulations to curb the use of such weapons.  Originally, pistols and revolvers were to be regulated as strictly as machine guns.  As a result, cutting down a rifle or shotgun to get around the handgun restrictions by making it a concealable weapon did not circumvent the act: it was still taxed as strictly as a machine gun.  Ultimately, conventional pistols and revolvers were excluded from the Act, but other concealable firearms were not.

Under the original Act, NFA “firearms” were machine guns, short-barreled rifles (SBR), short-barreled shotguns (SBS), any other weapons (AOW or concealable weapons other than pistol or revolver) and silencers for any type of firearm.  The minimum barrel length was soon amended to 16 inches for rimfire rifles, and by 1960, it had been amended to 16 inches for centerfire rifles as well.  Several SBRs, Winchester and Marlin”trapper” rifles made before 1934 with 14 or 15 inch barrels, have been removed from the NFA (Title II).

Initially, all persons were required to register currently possessed but unregistered firearms.  The Treasury Department could then supply this information to the State authorities, who could then use this information to prosecute the person for illegal possession of a firearm as per state law.  The Supreme Court ruled in the Haynes case in 1968 that a person prosecuted for possessing an unregistered NFA firearm had a valid defense to the prosecution: the registration requirement imposed on the possessor of an unregistered firearm violated the possessor’s privilege from self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  The Haynes decision made the 1934 Act virtually unenforceable.

NFA categories have been and will continue to be modified by laws passed by Congress, rulings by theDepartment of Treasury, and regulations promulgated by the enforcement agency assigned to firearms known as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE).

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The Benefits of a Gun Trust

Posted on December 12, 2011 by admin

Gun trusts offer a number of benefits to NFA weapon owners.

Privacy - Ordinarily, the purchase of an NFA weapon involves filling out a BATFE Form 4, having it signed by a chief law enforcement officer in your jurisdiction, and sending it in with 2 portrait photographs and 2 sets of fingerprint cards.  In other words, there’s a lot of private information that, as a result of the ordinary class 3 process, is no longer private.  A gun trust, on the other hand, allows you to purchase NFA weapons without the signature, fingerprints, or photographs.  Less hassle, more privacy.

Security - A gun trust also affords a greater degree of security than does an ordinary living trust.  For example, if an improperly executed trust was deemed invalid by law enforcement authorities, who would own the trust assets (i.e., the NFA weapons) then?  An illegal transfer could be said to have occurred, causing your weapons to be seized.  A gun trust avoids these pitfalls

Peace of mind – Hopefully, you’ll never have to worry about your weapons being seized as a result of a poorly-drafted trust.  Though they may cost a little more, our gun trusts are designed specifically for your guns.  They are specially tailored to comply with the National Firearms Act as well as with other state and federal gun ownership laws.  The peace of mind of knowing that you have a well-drafted trust is, as the commercials say, “priceless.”

Intent – Gun trusts ensure that your intent is carried out after you die.  Say, for example, that your only son and sole beneficiary of your trust has moved to California – a state where many NFA weapons are banned.  What happens to your weapons?  Will they be sold off to the highest bidder?  Or worse yet, will your son inherit the guns, not knowing that in doing so he is violating serious state laws?  It’s probable that neither scenario is what you intended to occur after you passed away.  A well-drafted gun trust avoids problems like these and ensures that your estate plan is carried out according to your intent.

Multiple Gun Holders - By having multiple trustees in a gun trust, each trustee can legally borrow and possess the NFA weapons contained within the trust.   This isn’t the case for individual NFA weapon owners, who are not supposed to let anyone possess their firearms outside of their immediate presence.

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What are NFA firearms?

Posted on December 7, 2011 by admin

An NFA firearm is any weapon that is regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA).  These types of weapons include machine guns, short barreled shotguns, short barreled rifles, silencers, destructive devices, and “any other weapons.”

It’s a common misconception that these weapons cannot be owned in the United States.  Rather, these weapons can be owned subject to certain additional restrictions.  Indeed, with the exception of machine guns, these weapons can still be manufactured for civilian use.  The above categories are defined by the NFA as follows:

A machine gun is any gun that can fire more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger, including machine gun receivers and parts which could potentially be used for converting an ordinary gun into a machine gun.

A short barreled shotgun is any shotgun with a barrel of less than 18 inches or an overall length of less than 26 inches.

A short barreled rifle is any rifle is any rifle with a barrel of less than 16 inches or an overall length of 26 inches.

A silencer is any device for muffling the gunshot of a portable firearm.

A destructive device is an explosive, incendiary, or poison gas weapon, or any weapon with a bore over ½ inch, with the exception of some types of sporting shotguns.  An example of a destructive device is a grenade launcher.

“Any other weapon” is a catchall category which includes smooth bore pistols, any pistol with more than one grip, and certain types of concealed guns such as pen guns or cane guns.

A gun trust can facilitate the ownership of NFA firearms.  Contact an attorney for more information.

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