How to buy a machine gun, suppressor, grenade, and other Title II weapons

I was looking through the FAQ and couldn't find anything related to this, and one of my recent comments seemed to be upvoted enough to verify interest. I constantly see people incorrectly calling guns "class 3" or saying you need some kind of license, so I'm going to educate your ass.

Back in 1934 congress passed the National Firearms Act (NFA). This regulated a few types of weapons including; machine guns, short-barreled rifles (SBR), short-barreled shotguns (SBS), suppressors aka silencers, destructive devices (DD), and any other weapons (AOW) which is a kind of catch-all for other weapons they wanted to regulate. All weapons that fall into one of these categories are considered Title II weapons. Any weapons that don't fall under the NFA but do fall under the gun control act of 1968 are considered title I weapons due to them being Title I of the U.S. federal firearms laws.

To transfer Title II weapons you usually go to someone who holds a Federal Firearms License (FFL) AND holds a Special Occupational Tax (SOT). This is where the misconception of "Class 3" came from. The FFL that you transfer the title II weapon through usually has a Class 1, 2, or 3 SOT, and they typically hold a class 3 SOT. The weapon you wish to transfer must also be legal in your state. State NFA laws make no sense, some allow machine guns (with any barrel length) but not SBRs. CA still allows AOWs I believe but not SBSs, so you have to do your own research here. Before a transfer of a title II weapon can take place, the ATF must approve it, even if it is between two FFLs. The most common forms an individual would be familiar with is form 1, 3, and 4.

A form 3 is used between two FFLs with an SOT, and is tax free (no payment to the ATF is made). The ballpark time frame on this is around 3-4 weeks. If you purchase a suppressor out of state, you would pay the person, and if they are a FFL/SOT they would fill out a form 3 with your receiving FFL/SOT's information. Once approved they would ship it to your FFL/SOT.

A form 4 is used as a transfer to/from an individual, corporation, or trust (all non FFL/SOTs, meaning you!). Continuing the above example your FFL/SOT receives the suppressor and will give you two copies of a form 4 with some of the information filled out. You complete anything they are missing, sign it, and include $200 to transfer anything except AOWs, they are $5. This price has been the same since 1934 when the NFA passed. If you are transferring it individually you (currently) must also include a picture, fingerprints, a local chief law enforcement officer sign off, and a 922g. A corporation or trust transfer does not require a picture, nor fingerprints, nor LEO sign off, nor 922g. This process takes somewhere around 7 months and growing. Once approved you can take your toy home after a standard 4473 that all guns require.

A form 1 is used to manufacturer a title II weapon. Typically this is used for SBRs and SBSs, since slapping on a new barrel is so easy. The process is similar to a form 4 except a FFL/SOT does not have to be involved. You as an individual, corporation, or trust fill out the form 1, include the necessary information (fingerprint, photo, LEO sign off, and 922g if doing it individually), and pay the ATF $200 (even for AOWs). After waiting the 7ish months you should get your approved form back and you can make the title II weapon. Note: there are also engraving requirements for your name (or trust, or corp name) and city, state on the weapon.

Private sales of some title II weapons are legal in some states, in that case a FFL/SOT is not required at all, but an approved form 4 would be necessary.

After you have your title II weapon with your approved stamp there are a few differences in how you can use it over regular guns. First it is recommended that you always carry a copy of your approved form. Technically/legally you only have to show this to an ATF officer, but we all know police officers aren't legal scholars and showing them an approved ATF form calms them down. Some states even take the stance that title II weapons are illegal, and it is a defense if you have an approved form. Second, you can not take title II weapons out of state without approval (except for AOWs and suppressors). To get approval you need to fill out a 5320.20. The ATF turns these around very quickly, inside 2-3 weeks in my experience. They will only approve 5320.20's for a date range of 1 year, so you have to put in one for each state each year if you wish to travel with them. Third, you "must" report any lost or stolen NFA weapons, though it doesn't seem like there are any penalties. And lastly you can't loan any title II weapons to anyone. If you transferred it via a corporation or trust anyone on the trust or corporation can posses it. This doesn't mean others cant shoot it, but you have to be there. Also you do not give up any 4th amendment protections, if the ATF came to your door you could tell them to fuck off and get a warrant if you wanted to, though I wouldn't recommend that phrasing. This rumor probably came from if you have a FFL/SOT, then the ATF can conduct inspections at the business, which if it is your home, then they will come to your home.

Cool I have $200 for the tax and a few hundred for a machine gun, where can I buy one? In 1986 congress passed the Firearm Owners Protection Act making it illegal to have any new machine guns be registered after May 19th 1986 (you can still buy/sell ones that were registered). This cut off supply and the price skyrocketed for all machine guns. The price isn't so much set based on the quality of the gun, but based on the rarity (supply and demand). There are some pricing charts that give you an idea of how much they cost, the entry point is usually a Mac-10 at 3-4k currently. M16's run 11-19k, and belt feds will get up to 60k+. Some popular boards for NFA items are subguns and sturmgewehr.com. This price insanity only applies to machine guns, suppressors and other title II weapons can still be made so they aren't too overpriced.

So why do people use a trust? The primary reason is to avoid the LEO sign off, though recently the nfatca and others have said that the ATF is "close" to removing the LEO sign off for individuals. A secondary benefit is because they are modifiable, you can bring on and off people to your trust. So if you have a group of friends or family that you want to be able to use your title II weapons they could if they are on the trust, and you wouldn't have to officially transfer the weapon through the ATF. People claim (mainly lawyers) that you shouldn't draft your own trust using quicken or other tools. If there is a problem with your trust down the road you would be in violation of federal firearm regulations, though you can modify the trust at that point. My trust cost $500 from a lawyer, and I got to talk to him for 2 hours on many different firearm topics, and he also continues to answer my few questions by email when I have them. Considering I plan on putting $10k+ of weapons into my trust it was worth the $500 to me to not have any problems with the ATF.

Other forms if you are interested; form 0 transfer for native american reservations form 2 manufactured or imported, form 5 tax exempt transfer to heir, unserviceable weapon, or to/from gov, form 6a imported firearms, form 9 permanent export of firearms. form 10 for government entities.

Pre-sample and post-sample refer to pre/post 1986 machine gun dealer samples. Today pre/post samples can only be transferred between FFL/SOTs or Police which is why they are so cheap. FFLs with SOTs (class 2) can also make their own new machine guns, and they would be classified as post samples. FFL/SOTs can transfer post samples between each other, but they require a LEO sign off, unless the selling FFL/SOT is going out of business. In that case all post samples must be sold/destroyed immediately, though pre-samples can kept by the former FFL (But they can't transfer it to other individuals).

(more in comments, I hit the text limit)