20958 East County Road 153

Blair, OK 73526

580-563-9078 office

580-512-5193 Cell

NFA Ownership Frequently Asked Questions

1 .Machines guns and suppressors are illegal
While your state of residence may not allow the possession of such weapons; they are not unlawful under federal law. NFA 1934 makes the transfer of such weapons taxable, and created a registry of such weapons.
No machine guns made after May 1986 can be entered in the registry creating a de facto ban on the production of new machine guns for civilians. This de facto ban does not apply to other NFA items.

2. You need a license to buy an NFA item.
No License is required. What you need to do is pay a tax on the transfer of each item in your possession. The tax is currently $200 for machine guns, suppressors, short-barreled rifles/shotguns, and destructive devices. The transfer tax for Any Other Weapon is $5.

Some states may have permitting or licensing requirements that have to be met prior to the purchase of NFA items, but there is no Federal "Class 3" license. That term is usually used to refer to a Class 1 FFL who has paid the SOT (Special Occupation Tax) fee to allow them to deal in Title II weapons and devices (NFA).

3. I have to pay the NFA tax every year
Another common myth; the transfer tax is paid once per transfer of the weapon, whether you own it for 10 days or 10 years.

4. Owning an NFA item means agreeing to give up your 4th amendment protections of unwarranted search and seizure.
This is an oft repeated myth. No one can search your home (or whatever location you used for your ATF tax form) without your permission or a warrant just because you own NFA items.

5. If I buy an NFA item I’ll have to buy a safe to store it in.
While you are required to maintain control of your NFA items at all times (and a safe to which only you have access goes a long way to meeting this requirement), there is no law that requires you to buy a safe to store your NFA items.

6 .No one else is allowed to use my NFA weapons
As long as you are maintaining control (which means you don’t leave the NFA items in the sole care of someone other than yourself) your friends and family are welcome to use them, as long as you are physically present

7. Why are machine guns so expensive?

In 1986, the United States government banned the future importation and domestic manufacture of machine guns for civilian consumption, and the already limited inventory of Class 3 weapons has since diminished substantially. At a rate now more accelerated than ever, these weapons are ending up in the hands of collectors who have no intention of ever selling them. The effect is twofold: Class 3 arms are growing increasingly scarce, and their prices are rising accordingly. Further Federal bans in 1989 and 1994 relating to semiautomatic clones of military weapons have spurred similar trends in that arena as well. Thus, the price of a quality, collector-grade Class 3 or semiautomatic weapon has spiraled beyond the comprehension of the average buyer.

8. How do I register my nfa item?

You can own these weapons and possess them registered in different ways. We prepare and provide all paperwork. There are three distinct ways to register ownership of these weapons which we will describe here.

Registration in your name:
This used to be the most common form of registration. Once the proper forms were prepared the applicant would go to their local chief law enforcement officer or other authorized official and request their signature on the form. Sometimes the applicant could get a signature. Other times the signature was refused. The application required a signature before the forms could be submitted to the BATFE for processing and approval. In the event the applicant could not get a signature they could not own NFA weapons registered in their name. This left applicants looking for alternate routes to own these weapons.

Corporate registration:
In the event an applicant could not get the required chief law enforcement signature, many people formed corporations strictly for the purpose of purchasing NFA weapons. No law enforcement signature is required to purchase a NFA weapon and register ownership to the corporation. If the applicant already had a corporation they did not incur additional expenses forming one strictly for this purpose. The negative side of forming a corporation strictly to own NFA weapons is that this form of ownership comes with additional costs. Most states require an annual fee. In Florida the annual fee is $150. It varies by state. Over the period of ten years that amounts to $1500 (in the state of Florida). If you own two suppressors which cost a total of $800 or $900 this alternate form of registration appears to be economically foolish over long periods of time if the corporation is held strictly for ownership of NFA weapons. The annual corporation fee far exceeds the value of the NFA items and it continues to increase each year.

Trust ownership:
Trust registration has become one of the most popular forms of NFA ownership. No law enforcement signature is required to purchase a NFA weapon and register it to a trust. Other benefits include no fingerprint cards and no photographs. Skipping these two steps saves a LOT of time. This is NOT a loophole nor is it a "short cut". It is simply a way to take legal possession as the law was intended. Unlike corporations, trusts generally do not have an annual renewal or the fees associated with them. In the State of Florida, for example, there is no recording of a trust nor are there any fees required.  There are various options to setting up a trust. If there are a lot of beneficiaries and the trust involves other items besides NFA it might be best to consult an attorney. If the purpose of the trust is strictly the purchase and registration of NFA items there are various "do it yourself" kits available at your local software/office supply store.