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| NFA FIREARM (MACHINE GUN & SUPPRESSOR)
PURCHASING REQUIREMENTS & GUIDELINES
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| GENERAL NFA PURCHASING REQUIREMENTS |
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Most people are not aware that an average citizen can own a machine gun or a suppressor (silencer) by completing the appropriate paperwork and paying the corresponding fees. Here is a summary of the basic requirements for NFA (Class 3) ownership:
- You have to live in a state that allows its citizens to own the type of firearm that you want to purchase. For instance, some states do not allow any NFA firearms, others allow machine guns but not suppressors while most others allow all NFA. To the best of our knowledge as of this writing:
- Machineguns are LEGAL for individuals to possess in all states EXCEPT in DE, DC, HI, NY, WA.
- Suppressors (silencers) are legal in all states EXCEPT in DE, DC, HI, IL, MT, NY, NJ, RI.
- You have to meet the federal requirements of the 4473 "Yellow Form", such as 21 or older, clean criminal background, no dishonorable discharge, US citizen, etc. Basically if you can legally purchase a handgun, you can legally purchase an NFA (Class 3) firearm.
- There is no license required to own an NFA (Class 3) firearm. There is a one time tax that must be paid to ATF when you apply to have the registration transferred to your name. There is no ongoing yearly fees charged by the ATF. For machine guns, suppressors, short barrel shotguns, short barrel rifles and destructive devices, there is a one time $200 tax in addition to the purchase price of the firearm. For an AOW (Any Other Weapon) firearm, there is a $5 transfer tax. Even if you purchase 10 machine guns and 10 suppressors, EACH one would have a $200 tax. ATF will issue a tax stamp for $200 upon your approval and that tax stamp along with the form that it is affixed to is your receipt and proof of legal ownership.
- The sheriff or chief of police or state police, whichever is YOUR Chief Law Enforcement Officer must be willing to sign your Form 4 (Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of an NFA Firearm) attesting that he does not know of any reason that you should not have the NFA firearm. Whether you have a concealed carry permit, have a perfectly clean criminal background, voted for him or whatever, it is at the discretion of the CLEO (Chief Law Enforcement Officer) whether or not he will sign. He has no legal obligation to sign and if he will not sign, ATF will not process your application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of an NFA Firearm, and you will not get the firearm. If you own a corporation, you can transfer the NFA firearm to the corporation and no CLEO signature is necessary.
- You have to be fingerprinted by the CLEO and the print cards are submitted to ATF along with your $200 tax and your completed Form 4 (Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of an NFA Firearm).
- You have to have the serial number before any paperwork can be printed or processed to begin the transfer to you which means that you have to pay for your firearm in order to start paperwork unless other arrangements are made between you and your instate dealer.
- It takes about 90 days for ATF to approve the transfer of your NFA firearm to you. During that time, your local dealer who provided you with the Form 4 application, will maintain possession and ownership. After ATF approves the transfer and returns the approved Form 4 to your local dealer, then you can take possession of the firearm.
- Some states (such as LA, MD etc) have additional state transfer and licensing requirements. Some states will only allow its citizens to purchase C & R (Curio and Relic) firearms which are designated by ATF to be C & R status. Generally only original (not USA made remanufactured firearms such as MACs) firearms qualify as C & R and as such they command a premium price.
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| PURCHASING STEPS |
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Given that you can meet the purchasing requirements outlined above, here is a check list of the steps you should take to own an NFA firearm.
- Call your local CLEO (sheriff, chief etc) and ask him what his procedure is for signing Form 4 federal applications for NFA transfer and ownership. Make sure that he will sign BEFORE your buy the firearm. If he won't sign, you don't get the gun. If you have already purchased it and we've initiated the paperwork to change the ownership registration from us to your dealer, you will be charged a 15% restocking / paperwork fee. Its the same situation as if someone wanted to buy your car, came over to your house and said they would take it, you fill out the back of the title with their name and info and then they decided they don't want it. You would have to go to the Motor Vehicles Administration and get a new title etc before you could sell it to someone else, at a considerable time expense to you. The situation with NFA transfers and paperwork is similar so make sure you can own it BEFORE you buy it. Often your local in-state dealer can offer advise on which counties and sheriffs will sign.
- Choose which firearm(s) including suppressors that your would like to own.
- Email us to verify availability and price on machine guns. Machine guns, since they can no longer be manufactured and registered for sale to individuals, are basically a spot market commodity.
- Make sure that you have the funds to pay for it (them) in full with shipping.
- Locate a local in state dealer that will receive your NFA firearms from us and hold them for you while the paperwork is pending to transfer them to you. We will transfer the firearm(s) to him, dealer to dealer with no tax incurred and then he will transfer them to you with the $200 transfer tax per firearm collected by the ATF.
- Mail us your check for payment in full along with your your name, address and contact telephone and email address as well as an itemized list of what you are buying. Include your local in-state dealer's name if his paperwork will arrive under separate cover.
- Have your dealer send us a copy of his license with original ink signature and a copy of his SOT receipt if we don't already have it on file.
- Upon receipt of your order and payment, we will return to you via US mail, an itemized receipt listing your purchase as well as payment. Upon receipt of your dealer's information, we will initiate transfers to ATF to change the registration for each item from our name to your local dealer's name. Copies of the Form 3 transfer application(s) will be mailed to your dealer. Serial numbers will only be provided to your dealer. Since every state and county is a little bit different, contact him for directions on when to start local paperwork, requirements etc.
- GENERALLY, in 30 days or so, ATF will return the approved Form 3's to us. We will ship your order, well packaged and insured for full value, to you local dealer along with an itemized packing list. Your dealer can then start the ATF paperwork at the federal level to transfer the firearm(s) to you, which generally takes approx 90 days.
Call or email if you have any questions that we've missed. We'll be happy to help you with your order.
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| TOTAL COST FOR NFA PURCHASE |
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Everyone wants to know what is the TOTAL Bottom line cost for buying an NFA firearm. Here is our best attempt to give you a total cost. Remember that it will vary by state and local requirements and this list is intended to serve as an estimate, not as an all inclusive list encumpassing every possibility in every situation. Therefore we can not guarantee that your buying experience will work out financially exactly the same.
- 1. Cost of the firearm and any accessories
- 2. Shipping and insurance from us to your local in-state dealer
- 3. $200 one time transfer tax for each NFA item. (ie MAC and suppressor is $400 total)
- 4. Local Class 3 dealer charge, generally $100 but actual fee is between you and the dealer you workout. Different local in-state dealers charge different fees and also offer varying degrees of service. Its between you and your dealer.
- 5. Local CLEO fee for background check and or finger prints. Some charge, some don't.
This should be your approx. total out of pocket expenses for your NFA pruchase. Call or email if you have any questions that we've missed. We'll be happy to help you with your order.
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| RECEIVING OUT OF STATE NFA FOR ID TRANSFER |
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Given that you can meet the purchasing requirements outlined above, we will receive NFA firearms from out of state dealers and process Form 4 transfers to qualified ID residents for $100 per NFA firearm.
- Larger firearms requiring more storage space, such as most beltfeds and Destructive Devices, will be subject to additional storage charges.
- We are not selling you a gun, we are providing a transfer service. Sales tax, if due, is your responsibility.
- A transfer is a transfer. We will not negotiate with your out of state dealer. We will not call him to ask questions. We will not get involved in any disputes or legal proceedings between you and your dealer. We will not process shipping damage claims. We will not fill out his paperwork for the transfer from the out of state dealer to us. For the $100 transfer fee, we will mail a license to the out of state dealer. We will receive your firearm and log it into our inventory. It must arrive shipping prepaid. We will not pay for any COD shipments, regardless of the amount. We will print and mail you paperwork and will store your firearm until ATF returns your approved trasnfers, at which time we will contact you to arrange a time for the transfer. You should inspect your firearm(s) before they are transferred to us. If a firearm arrives and you decide not to do the Form 4 transfer to yourself and want the gun transferred to another out of state dealer, the same $100 fee still applies for our time, accounting, storage and paperwork.
- Firearms not received by you within 3 years from the date of our receipt will be deemed abandoned property and you relinquish any title or claim to the firearm. In other words, we will not store it forever.
- Your firearm will not be fired, displayed or handled (other than to verify serial numbers etc) while in our possession.
- While in our possession, your firearm will be boxed in identical condition as received. In other words, we will not clean it etc while its here.
Call or email if you have any questions that we've missed. We'll be happy to help you.
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