Update to NFA Transfer Guidance
BY Herschel SmithVia Len Savage. Update to NFA Guidance.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives released an Open Letter and Frequently Asked Questions explaining how it will treat ownership, transfer, and transportation of the National Firearms Act (NFA) firearms for which Congress eliminated the making and transfer taxes in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Under ATF’s guidance, ATF will not enforce the requirements for individuals to apply and receive ATF approval before making or transferring short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors (silencers), and certain other concealable firearms known in the law as “any other weapons.” ATF also will not enforce the NFA’s registration, tax-stamp or related requirements for those covered items. The $200 tax remains in place for machine guns and destructive devices. The NFA requirements apply in full to those weapons. The guidance does not supersede state and local laws that restrict NFA firearms.
I had previously stated that I thought this would create an inconsistency between the federal code and states laws that still required suppressors to be registered as NFA items (because of a lack of schema for registration in light of the court order). I was mistaken. This Q&A exists down below.
Will ATF permit individuals to file registration forms voluntarily?
Yes. ATF will continue to maintain the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record and approve all NFA forms for those who voluntarily wish to submit them.
So non-free states like the one I live in – NC – will have to get the law amended to take advantage of this court ruling, and that’s not a simple thing in NC where Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro tend to rule the roost.
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