NFA Gun Trust Lawyer Blog

August 16, 2011

Florida Passes Pro 2nd Amendment Legislation: Penalties for Violating Firearms Preemption Law

Starting October 1st, any public official who passes or enforces gun regulations below the state level. State officials who enact or enforce local gun laws in violation face a $5,000 personal fine and could even be removed from office by the governor.

The new law is called the Penalties for Violating Firearms Preemption Law, the new statute forces the repeal of any and all regulations, policies, and ordinances that violate the firearms preemption law of 1987. We are already hearing that the passage is having an impact on town and county officials who are scrambling to come into compliance by the October 1 deadline.

The Orlando Sentinel reported on the changes now underway that:

August 8, 2011

ATF Ruling:Rifles Configured From Pistols, and Offers Q&A’s Related to Multiple Long Gun Reporting

by David M. Goldman

Pistols Configured from Rifles; Rifles Configured from Pistols ATF has issued a new Ruling regarding Pistols Configured from Rifles; Rifles Configured from Pistols
ATF Rule 2011-4

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has received requests from individuals to classify pistols that are reconfigured into rifles, for personal use, through the addition of barrels, stocks, and other parts and then returned to a pistol configuration by removal of those components. Specifically, ATF has been asked to determine whether such a pistol, once returned to a pistol configuration from a rifle, becomes a “weapon made from a rifle” as defined under the National Firearms Act (NFA).

After a bunch of analysis, the ATF found the following
Held, a firearm, as defined by the National Firearms Act (NFA), 26 U.S.C. 5845(a)(3), is made when un-assembled parts are placed in close proximity in such a way that they:

(a) Serve no useful purpose other than to make a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length (e.g., a receiver, an attachable shoulder stock, and barrel of less than 16 inches in length); or (b) Convert a complete weapon into such an NFA firearm, including –

A pistol and attachable shoulder stock; and

A rifle with a barrel of 16 inches or more in length, and an attachable barrel of less than 16 inches in length.

July 29, 2011

Gun Shop Liability for Distributing Living Trusts and the Unauthorized Practice of Law

by David M. Goldman

I recent read a very well written article by a Washington Lawyer regarding liability for the gun store and potential ethical violations for an attorney who works with a gun store in regards to providing Trust Forms. Many state bars have gone after Trust Mills in the past for very similar issues and there is case law all over the country concerning these issues. If you know a gun store that is providing Trusts to their clients, you may want to send them a copy of this article and suggest that they check out the liability and legality of their actions.

As a potential purchaser of a NFA firearm with a Trust, you might read the article from the viewpoint of the potential liability to the gun store. This will give you an independent perspective on what could go wrong if you use a generic trust to purchase NFA firearms.

Download the article UPL by Gun Shops.pdf

July 28, 2011

Gun Trust Lawyer® David Goldman added to FFLGuard Programs

by David M. Goldman

With the increased response and questions regarding Trusts for firearms and other NFA firearms, Gun Trust Lawyer® David Goldman will be working with FFLGuard and their Firearms Dealers and Manufactures to help educate Class III dealers of Title II firearms around the country and provide their employees and clients with NFA trusts specifically designed to deal with the unique issues of firearms ownership, possession, use, and transfer in more than 43 states.
A full press release on Mr. Goldman’s participation in FFLGuard can be found at our website by clicking this hyperlink.

July 22, 2011

Missouri (MO) What NFA Class 3 Firearms can I own?

by David M. Goldman

NFA Class 3 firearms There are several type of Class 3 items that are restricted by the National Firearms Act.

Each state can impose additional restrictions on the sale, purchase, and transfer of class 3 firearms in addition to the compliance that is required with the national Firearms Act.

In Missouri you can own the following items that are regulated the the National Firearms Act

July 17, 2011

North Carolina, NFA, Trusts, & Machine Guns

by David M. Goldman

The NFATCA had an article about a revision to NC Law that will put to rest the controversy over the use of Trusts and also apparently drop the Machine Gun Permit for residents of the state of North Carolina North Carolina HB650 was signed into law on June 23rd, 2011 and will become effective on December 1st 2011

H650 [Ratified] Page 5

SECTION 8. G.S. 14-288.8(b) reads as rewritten:

July 8, 2011

Obama Set to Unveil Gun Control Reforms

by David M. Goldman

The Huffington Post is reporting the President Obama is abot to release a series of gun law reforms.

At Thursday’s briefing, Carney stated that the process is underway and “stakeholders” on both sides are working though the complex issues. While recent gun control law has largley ignored NFA firearms, it is possible that these items will be included in attempts for future legislation.

June 27, 2011

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF NFA APPLICATIONS FOR PROCESSING BY ATF

by David M. Goldman

The ATF National Firearms Act (NFA) Branch is pleased to announce that as of July 2011, ATF Forms 1, 2, 10 and ATF Form 5320.20 will be assigned to a legal instruments examiner for processing according to the State of the applicant’s address. The NFA Branch also will begin assigning ATF Forms 3, ATF Form 4 and 9 applications to examiners by the State of the transferor’s address. Applications already pending at the time of the change will continue to be processed by the examiner to whom they were previously assigned. Historically, applications in the NFA Branch have been assigned to legal instruments examiners alphabetically based on the name of the transferor or applicant. A chart showing the new assignment distribution is below.

The ATF expects this change in the assignment of applications to better enable NFA examiners to develop State law expertise and more knowledgeably and effectively respond to our customers during an era of unprecedented and ever increasing application volume. Please contact the NFA Branch at 304-616-4500 with any questions about this change.

NFA Examiner Assignment Distribution (effective July 2011)

June 22, 2011

Schedule A or Assignment Sheet

by David M. Goldman

Recently I received a question from a client that I thought I would share. His dealer questioned the use of the Assignment Sheet because they were not familiar with it and stated that the Gun Store’s lawyer said it was not necessary. ( A full detailed explanation is included in our detailed instructions and users manual) Here is a brief explanation for those who are not using our Gun Trust documents.

While the lawyer is correct, the ATF has confused the issue of funding a trust with documents which evidence the trust and mistakenly requires either a Schedule A or Assignment sheet or they reject the trust as invalid. While most trusts contain a Schedule A or a Schedule of Assets there are several issues with using a Schedule A in regards to the flexibility of our trust and privacy.

You can put a schedule of assets in the trust, but then you would have to keep it updated and if you decided to put your regular firearms in the trust, you would be creating a de facto registration of your firearms. Most gun owners do not wan’t to provide the ATF a list of all of their firearms and as such we have elected to use the “Assignment Sheets”. Our choice has increased privacy and allows for additional flexibility for the use of the trust without unnecessary disclosures.

May 30, 2011

Washington Times and Second Amendment Foundation

by David M. Goldman

The Washington Times has an article on the efforts of the Second Amendment Foundation and how Washington DC has been manipulate its zoning laws to reduce gun brokers to make it more difficult for individuals to purchase firearms legally. The Alan Gottlieb and the second Amendment Foundation have recently filed several lawsuits to protect the rights of individuals in NY, NJ, and DC. If you are not a member, you should consider joining and supporting them in their fight to protect gun rights across the nation.