Title II Weapons

November 14, 2010

Brandishing a Silencer?

How many of you have taken your silencer out to show to someone. Did you know that even if it is not attached to a gun, a silencer is defined by federal law as a firearm. Many states also define it as a dangerous weapon like a taser or a knife.

In Florida and many states that have concealed weapons permits, it is illegal to show someone a firearm or weapon under certain circumstances. With this in mind, you should be careful to comply with your states concealed weapons laws when showing people your silencer. Many people do not realize they are legal and because of this it is possible that you could be reported for having one and charged with a crime.

While we know of know one who has actually been charged with this offense and feel that the likelihood is small, it does not make the act legal and you should be cautious.

July 23, 2010

Gun Store Provides Invalid Trust Form; ATF Initially Approves 3 Transfers

by David M. Goldman

A Washington state gun store prepared an invalid trust for their customer and the ATF approved three Form 4 transfers.

Not only is the preparation of a trust by a non-lawyer the unauthorized practice of law, but it also could put you at risk of an invalid transfer, possession, and use charge by the ATF which could subject you to forfeiture of your firearms, a $250,000 penalty, and up to 10 years in jail.

This particular gun store trust did not have a trustee, a successor trustee or a beneficiary and was missing required schedules that were required for validity by the way the trust was drafted.

July 6, 2010

Class III Dealers

by David M. Goldman

We are often asked for a list of Class III dealers. There is a website that lists Class III dealers in many states. https://www.guntrustlawyer.com is a sponsor of the site as we have found it to be a useful site to our clients.

June 5, 2010

Listen to GunTalk Sunday at 3 PM EST Call 1-866-825-5486 (June 6th)

by David M. Goldman

Want to ask a question about Title II firearms or the NFA and NFA trusts, I will be the guest of Tom Gresham on Gun Talk tomorrow (June 6th) at 3 PM EST. Call 1-866-825-5486 to ask questions or just email us. If you do not get Gun Talk in your area, you can listen to one of the many live streams or download it on iTunes
You can also listen to a Gun Talk Sunday’s from 7-10PM on the re broadcast on Sirius Channel 108 and XM Channel 139

June 2, 2010

How long does a Form 1 or Form 4 Take to be Approved by the ATF

by David M. Goldman

While times have varied greatly over the last few years, it appears that the time your ATF Form 4 or Form 1 will take for approval seems to be tied to who the examiner is. A website NFATRACKER.com is collecting information on the times and offers some reporting on how long various transfers are taking. While the site is gaining speed and beginning to gather data, anyone who has a recent transfer should go and record your results. It is easy to create a login and select the type of item and whether you were an individual trust or corporation and the dates that certain events took place. So far we do not know how or if there is a way to pick who your examiner is by what the name of your trust is. The site’s manager has stated that one reader seems to have found that there is some correlation between the name of the dealer and the examiner but it is still unknown if you can do anything to improve the time you trust takes for approval. If we figure anything out we will keep you updated. If you need help finding a local NFA Gun Trust attorney, have questions about a trust, or want to create a Valid NFA trust Contact Us.

March 18, 2010

BATFE Engraving Requirements for Short-Barreled Rifle or Shotgun (SBS/SBR)

by David M. Goldman

Publication

ATF 5300.4 in 27 CFR 479.102 (page 92) describes what is necessary to engrave on a SBR or SBS when one is manufacturing. This is not necessary if you purchase one that is already manufactured as it will have been done for you.

1) On the Frame or Receiver the Serial number;

February 16, 2010

ATF says ATI’s Fake Suppressor is Regulated by NFA

by David M. Goldman

If you purchased a GSG 5 SD model with a barrel shroud (Fake Suppressor) ATF has now determined that this is regulated by the NFA and must be replaced.

To all retail customers:

On January 2010 American Tactical Imports Inc received official notification from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives that the original barrel shroud (aka: fake suppressor) supplied with your GSG 5 SD model must be replaced. It has been determined that this shroud is regulated under the National Firearms Act. American Tactical will provide a replacement shroud at no charge for each GSG 5 SD model sold or currently in inventory.

February 4, 2010

ATF Reviewing Trusts for Legal Validity

by David M. Goldman

The ATF has recently made a decision to review Trusts for legal sufficiency. While this may slow things down for those using generic trust for NFA purchases (Quicken, Legal Zoom, Gun Store Trusts) I think its a good idea and will protect many from unknowingly violating the NFA.

We have seen several issues where the ATF is declaring trusts to be invalid that are in fact valid under various state laws. They claim they are not practicing law in those states and will not give legal advise. They suggest that you have the trust reviewed by a lawyer to tell you why it is invalid or make changes to the trust to make it valid.

If your trust was rejected by ATF we can help by reviewing and or amending the trust with our network of 75 attorneys in more than 40 states.

August 5, 2009

Constructive Possession: NFA Trusts vs Individual Ownership

by David M. Goldman

The NFA defines who can own a Title II firearm as a natural person, corporation or trust…. When an individual makes application to own a Title II firearm they are the only person who can be in possession or have access to the firearm. This creates a problem for many individuals who are married, have others who know the combination or how to gain access to the items, or want to allow others to use the firearms, even in their presence.

Joshua Prince has written and excellent analysis of the case law surrounding constructive possession and the US v. Turnbough case which stated that the Government may establish constructive possession by demonstrating that the defendant exercised ownership, dominion or control over the premises in which the contraband is concealed. Joshua goes on the state that if a spouse or other person does have the combination to the safe where the NFA firearms are kept it would be virtually impossible for the prosecutor to show that the other individual knowingly has the power to exercise dominion and control over the firearms.

The real problem occurs when another does have access to the items or can exercise dominion and control over the NFA firearm because the prosecutor can then charge that individual with constructive possession. In US v. Turnbough, an illegal firearm was in Turnbough’s home and the court of appeals found that a reasonable jury could have found that he, his live in girlfriend, and her child could conclude that all three parties exercised dominion and control over the gun and the possession could be either sole or joint.

March 17, 2009

How to Explain a Gun Trust to Family or Friends who are not Pro Firearms Rights

by David M. Goldman

Recently my wife was in New York visiting some family when they attempted to convince her that I, her husband, was helping criminals avoid background checks and arming them with machine guns, assault weapons, and other “illegal” firearms. Additionally, the opined that my NFA Gun Trust Lawyer® website was a radical Gun Rights forum.

While I would not find this hard to believe coming from people who live in the Northeast, I did find it hard to believe from transplanted New Yorkers who live in Texas and been surrounded by individual gun owners and guns being a part of the culture. In trying to explain what I do to some family members including my wife, I found that there were some basic misunderstandings of the process, and the state of the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution as the Supreme Court interpreted it last year. I decided that this would be valuable for many of my clients who are often dealing with similar issues. Many people have family members or friends who are uneducated on the current status and interpretation of the Second Amendment. As a result many people feel that there is an interpretation issue surrounding what the Second Amendment means. While the Supreme court in a divided court found in favor of the individuals right to own a firearm, they unanimously found that the Second Amendment applied to an individuals right to keep and bear arms and not to that of a state. We are at a time in history, when many of our rights involved in gun ownership are at risk. Even though our current administration states that they support the Second Amendment, the do not support it as it has recently been interpreted and have an agenda posted on their website under urban plans to ban assault weapons. They are currently trying to define an assault weapon as any firearm that have a removable cartridge.

While some people are not “pro-firearms,” they still may believe in the ability for others to exercise their 2nd amendment right if they so choose. This is similar to people that are “pro-choice” on abortion issues, but do not impose their beliefs on others. In the United States, women have the right to choose (within limitations) and Americans have the right to own firearms (within limitations), without unnecessary burdens or restrictions from the State government. Whether or not you choose to possess the firearm is a decision that should be up to you just as other individual rights that are guaranteed to us in the US constitution.