ATF to close trust "loophole."

[Todd00000]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...002821658.html

The concern among gun enthusiasts that certain types of guns could be outlawed or further restricted in the future has led some to seek out gun trusts.

The New York Times reports that gun trusts are intended to allow the owner of a firearm to pass down his or her weapons to family members in a responsible way. But a loophole in the federal law has other benefits, some of them potentially troubling to gun control advocates.

The Times explains that when trust members buy "restricted firearms through a trust," they are exempt from rules that would apply to individual buyers. Things like "being fingerprinted, obtaining the approval of a chief local law enforcement officer and undergoing a background check" are not required.

Christopher Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer who went on a killing spree before being killed in a cabin in Southern California, used a gun trust to obtain silencers and a shotgun. The Times notes that Dorner was not a felon at the time of his acquiring the weapons and would have likely passed a background check.

Mike Campbell, a spokesman with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms told the Times that his agency is aware of the loophole. The ATF is "reviewing changes to close it, " he told the paper.

A simple search on 'gun trusts' yields dozens of law sites on the subject.

[TriviaMonster]

That's so impossibly lame.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[sammage]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=125323
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?p=1562746

[5POINT56]

I'm kind of surprised the NFA gravy train has lasted this long.

[Iraqgunz]

Yet, if it's such a big deal why haven't they done it? It's been talked about before Dorner.

[Noodles]

I'm not saying it won't happen one day, but....

When I went to pick up my original spectre, the dealer I was using while doing the 4473 told me all about how I shouldn't use a trust because the ATF was going to shut that down soon. That was June 2008. So this is not even slightly a new rumor.

[garand1945]

Yet, if it's such a big deal why haven't they done it? It's been talked about before Dorner.

Because Obama can act through the ATF and put a lot of hurt on gun owners without any approval from congress. ATF is also actively working to suppress the 80% AR-15 build party phenomenon. Expect to see the ATF get up in everyone's business on everything it can.

FYI this is just speculation, but the pieces fit. Lots of drama happening in CA with the CNC shops that were hosting 80% build parties, and ATF had agents investigating for a while, but someone poked the hornet's nest a little too much, as the Dorner case did to the NFA Trusts.

[Iraqgunz]

The question is can they do it without Congress' approval? I'm not sure to be honest.

I'm not saying it won't happen one day, but....

When I went to pick up my original spectre, the dealer I was using while doing the 4473 told me all about how I shouldn't use a trust because the ATF was going to shut that down soon. That was June 2008. So this is not even slightly a new rumor.

[Hmac]

ATF had a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the trust loophole bout 3-4 months ago. Not surprised they're doing this.

[EricTheRed]

So if they "close the loophole" will everyone that has a trust have to reapply as an individual?

I'm looking into a few suppressors this summer and I'd hate to have to go through the process twice. (I can get CLEO approval but prefer trust or LLC right now unless I'd potentially have to do it 2x). Total newb at NFA stuff so I'm curious.