I recently published an article on Gun Trusts and an amazing 1 day approval. I felt that this was an unusual circumstance and decided to submit an electronic ATF Form 1 back on July 26th using my personal Gun Trust to test out the current time for approvals on using a Trust from a Gun Trust Lawyer®.

While I was not surprised to have not received an approval on July 27th, I have been checking the status regularly. I was surprised to receive an approval early Saturday morning August 2, 2014. This approval was not anywhere as quick as our clients 1 day approval, but only took 35 days to get approved which is amazing considering that many are reporting 9-14 months for a paper approvals. Not only was the approval quick, but the email notification came with an attachment which contained a copy of my Form 1. The process for printing the approval was more complex than it needed to be and I guess that the ATF decided they could cut down on the amount of communication and support by just sending a copy. A wise move by the ATF.

Please let us know about your approval times so we can see if others are experiencing similar results.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has ruled a Florida law restricting what doctors can tell patients about gun ownership to be constitutional on Friday. The court ruled this law legitimately regulates professional conduct and does not regulate professional conduct and does not regulate the doctor’s first amendment free speech rights.

This ruling by the Atlanta court overturned a previous decision that declared the law unconstitutional. There is still an injunction blocking enforcement of the 2011 law, which has become popularly known as “Docs vs. Glocks.” It was challenged by organizations representing over 10,000 state health care providers, most notably the Florida chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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One of the benefits in using a Gun Trust is that you are able to submit electronic applications with the new ATF website. This is possible because a Gun Trust does not require a CLEO signature nor fingerprints. Currently only Form1s can be submitted electronically, but Form 4s should be back online soon. It is important to fill out the application correctly as there is not a way to correct mistakes that are made like with the paper forms. A mistake in the past would have put your application in the back of the line, but not any more.

If you make a mistake on an ATF eform (http://www.atfonline.gov) there is a way to submit a correction without going to the end of the line.

Once you receive the notice that your eForm has been rejected, you will receive a refund of the application fee in around 10 days. You do not have to wait for the refund to be processed to resubmit a corrected application. You can pay the fee again while waiting for your refund or wait for the refund and them resubmit the application.

1daydates.jpgOne of our clients submitted an application to build a Form 1 on June 24, 2014 and was surprised when they checked their email the next morning and found that the ATF had approved the application to build the SBR.

When I first received the call, I thought it was a mistake, but then I walked the client through the Atfonline website and the process of printing the electronic Form 1. I have provided a copy for those who are as skeptical as I was about a 1 day approval process on a Form 1 from the ATF.

Not sure if this was a mistake or the ATF had just cleared out the backlog of Form 1’s but if you considering creating a Gun Trust to build an SBR, you may want to do it sooner than later.

Today I received an announcement and verified that you can now process Form 1s online again. For those with a Gun Trust, you can now process these electronically again. Still no word on when Form 4s will be available to process online.

There are currently 15 legal examiners in the background investigation phase of hiring. ATF has been authorized to use overtime funding to process NFA applications and they reduced their outstanding applications by 23%. They are currently processing around 6000 applications a week and have a backlog of 62,000. This means that we might be looking at as little as 10 weeks to process applications and even quicker for electronic applications. This is a substantial decrease from the 9 -15 months we have been seeing in the past few months.

In the last 4 weeks they received 17,800 applications and processed more than 22,400 applications.

As of January 1, 2013 it became legal persons with a C&R license to purchase, transfer, make, possess, and use an SBR in IL.

The Law is poorly written and only indicates that it restricts possession. While it has been clear that a trust could not purchase an SBR in IL, there has been a question about whether an SBR purchased legally in another state by a trust could then be in the possession of a Trustee, authorized by the trust to possess the firearms in the state of IL when that person had their own C&R license.

ATF has recently rejected such a request stating that a trust may not have an SBR in IL. This does not appear to be entirely correct, but until someone is willing to challenge the decision by the ATF it will not be possible to use an ATF 5320.20 to bring an SBR to IL. Here is a copy of a rejected form.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case involving a Virginia man who could legally purchase a firearm and did so for an uncle from Pennsylvania. Even though the Pennsylvania man who ultimately bought the gun was not legally prohibited from owning a firearm and passed a background check, the Court, in a 5-4 decision, said the transfer violated federal “straw purchase” law.

The ruling has resulted in confusion among federal firearm licensees (FFLs), particularly relating to gift purchases of firearms.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been asked to provide clarification on the Supreme Court’s decision for its firearms retailer members.

I received an email regarding a clarification of the previous version of this blog.

The email I received was to clarify what was happening and stated that there will be discussions with their Commissioners to let them know that they are taking a look at the issue of hunting GAME animals with a suppressor in Florida and plans to bring a draft rule change for the Commission’s consideration at the September Commission meeting.

At that time, the proposal would be to allow the use of suppressors for hunting Game animals. The hunting of Game animals in is permitted in a majority of states and Florida, which usually leads the nation in gun legislation, is clearly in the minority.

On July 19 2014, Chief Counsel Joshua Prince and Attorney Eric Winter of Firearms Industry Consulting Group (FICG), a division of Prince Law Offices, P.C., in conjunction with The Sportsman’s Shop, will offer a four (4) hour seminar on state and federal firearms law at the Welsh Mountain Community Center, 564 Sandmine Road, New Holland PA 17557.

The cost is $10 and you must register by July 12, 2014. You can download a copy of the registration form, here. All registrations are to be mailed or dropped off at The Sportsman’s Shop, 101 West Main Street, New Holland PA 17557. If you have questions, please feel free to contact The Sportsman’s Shop at 717-354-4311 .

We work with lawyers in Alaska who accept most legal benefit plans offered to many state employees in Alaska. Many of these plans pay for trust work which would include the creation of a NFA Trust, Gun Trust, or Multi Generational Gun Trust. Some of these legal plans have a maximum amount of coverage. Each legal plan is structured differently and the use of the legal plan can significantly reduce the cost of a Gun Trust in Alaska. If you live in Alaska, work for the government, and participate in a legal benefit plan, let us know and we can put you in touch with an Alaska Gun Trust Lawyer® who may be able to provide a free or discounted Alaska Gun Trust to you or your family.

 

Note both Revocable and Irrevocable Gun Trusts must be registered with the state of Alaska or the ATF will reject a Form 4 or Form 1.

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