Anyone who is interested in NFA-regulated items such as suppressors, short barreled rifles and shotguns, AOWs, etc. has probably been (or should be) following the progress (or, thankfully, lack thereof)
Docket ATF 41P. 41P is summarized, in part, as:
The Department of Justice proposes amending Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) regulations that concern the making or transferring of a firearm under the National Firearms Act (NFA). The proposed changes include: Defining the term “responsible person,” as used in reference to a trust, partnership, association, company, or corporation; requiring “responsible persons” of such legal entities to submit, inter alia, photographs and fingerprints, as well as a law enforcement certificate, when the legal entity files an application to make an NFA firearm or is listed as the transferee on an application to transfer an NFA firearm
Basically, 41P attacks some of the benefits of registering NFA items to a trust rather than an individual. Particularly discomforting is the requirement to submit the fingerprints/photo/CLEO sign-off for a "responsible person" for the trust where none was required before. In many jurisdictions where the chief law enforcement officer is anti-gun (or specifically anti-NFA), the CLEO will categorically refuse to sign off on any NFA transfer for no other reason than that he does not want to - resulting in a
de facto NFA ban in that jurisdiction in spite of the items otherwise being completely legal therein. Trusts are also popular for registering NFA-regulated items as they allow trustees (such as a spouse or family member) access to the items rather than having to keep them in a safe to which only the individual registrant has access as well as the more traditional trust benefit of providing for what happens to the item after the trust grantor dies.
Following 41P's proposal, further action was postponed until after the first of 2015. Now, according to a
post by the American Suppressor Association, the ATF has indicated that action will not be taken until at least May of 2015:
During our meeting, we were told by ATF officials that the final ruling is not expected until May, 2015 at the earliest. This extends ATF’s previous estimate that a ruling would be issued in January, 2015. The standard timeframe to issue a final ruling is six months after the close of the comment period. However, because of the overwhelming number of comments submitted, ATF has had to delay their decision on several occasions.
The primary reason for the numerous delays is because each qualified comment must be responded to by ATF in writing. According to ATF, they have never received this many comments for any proposed rulemaking in Bureau history. After the final ruling is issued, there is generally a 60 day grace period prior to implementation of the new regulation.
Despite the reported push back of the date, "there is no time like the present" and people are still clamoring to set up their trusts ahead of the possible action (which, hopefully, will be to throw out the proposal).
This is just one facet of the NFA/Trust puzzle that has been seeing action. As we recently posted on the GunLink Blog,
Eric Holder and BATFE director B Todd Jones have been summonsed in a lawsuit has been filed to challenge the applicability of the Hughes Amendment to trusts after someone figured out that it may be possible to make (Form 1) a post 1986 machine gun registered to a trust. The BATFE approved multiple Form 1s for trusts but then suddenly began categorically denying them and requesting that approved forms and stamps be returned. The lawsuit seeks to either declare 922(o) unconstitutional or to get a ruling that the May 1986 cut-off date for machine guns does not apply to unincorporated trusts.
A lot is happening at this end of the NFA realm. If you are interested in owning NFA-regulated items with the benefits provided by a trust, we recommend our friends at
199Trust, who currently have their trusts on sale for $79 and are getting trust documents out within 24 hours.