Arsenal Attorneys will be exhibiting at the Nation's Gun Show in Chantilly, Virginia this weekend starting Friday at 1 pm--Valentine's Day. Come meet us to discuss our various services and important issues, such as the Arsenal Gun Trust, ATF eFile, estate planning, criminal defense, business services, firearms' instructors startup packages, and more.

In a letter signed by Superintendent W.S. Flaherty, the Virginia State Police confirmed it will certify registrations of machine guns regardless of whether they are owned by a trust. Flaherty's letter said:

" . . . the State Police has been, for some time, accepting registrations listing the trustee as the person registering the weapon and the trust as the legal entity owning the weapon. This method complies with existing law and meets the requirement of the Virginia State Police as the weapon is registered to a person who is the human face of the legal entity known as a trust. As the State Police has never registered a gun in the name of a trust but only in the name of a person (trustee), all existing registrations formatted in this manner remain valid and new registrations are done in this manner."

While this written statement is good news for existing and prospective machine gun owners in Virginia, Flaherty's letter also reiterated what we argue to be a false interpretation of Virginia law. He claimed the definition of a 'person' in the Virginia Uniform Machine Gun Act (UMGA) does not include a trust. Our analysis concluded the broader rules of interpretation governing the entire Virginia Code does include trust in that definition.

The confusion over this issue first arose because of a legal opinion written by then Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Like Superintendant Flaherty's opinion, it quoted the UMGA, but it failed to recognize the Virginia Code's 'general rule of construction'. While the UMGA does not mention trusts, Virginia's general rule of construction states that trusts should be assumed to be part of the definition of a 'person' in statutes just like the UMGA.

While we believe the law is clear, clarity is needed to avoid the future possibility an individual government official will apply their own interpretation of these statutes to the detriment of gun owners. Arsenal Attorneys' Matthew Bergstrom has worked closely with Virginia Delegate David LaRock to find a solution. Initially their efforts resulted in HB 1266. That bill would have simply added 'trust' to the language of the Uniform Machine Gun Act. Unfortunately HB 1266 failed to advance out of the House of Delegates. Consequently we are pursing alternative strategies with Delegate LaRock to overturn the Cuccinelli opinion. To read more about these issues, see our full analysis here.

For now, BATFE will approve transfer of machine guns in Virginia by entities, like the Arsenal Gun Trust, and the Virginia State Police will accept machine gun registrations by a natural person on behalf of a trust. Despite the recent confusion, we are encouraged by the fact elected officials like Delegate LaRock are taking up the concerns of gun owners, particularly with respect to firearms regulated under Title 2 of the National Firearms Act (NFA), such as machine guns, silencers, and short barrel rifles.

Arsenal Attorneys are exhibiting at the Fredericksburg Gun Show this weekend March 8-9. Our firm offers our Arsenal Gun Trust services in 36 states, and we offer a full range of legal services in the Virginia and Metropolitan Washington, DC area near our main office.  

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued an advisory letter on March 7, 2014 warning the public of internet scams directed at online gun shoppers. The scammers use a website to advertise exceptionally low prices for popular firearms, but then they fail to deliver the purchased goods. 

Note: For those inexperienced with firearms transfers, only licensed gun dealers, known as Federal Firearms Licensees ("FFLs"), may engage in commercial sales of firearms. Guns may not be purchased by mail order. Instead, an FFL may only sell a firearm after obeying all applicable local and federal laws, particularly completion of a background check of the buyer in person using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). A buyer may purchase a gun from an out of state FFL; however that out of state FFL must transfer the firearm to an FFL located in the buyer's own state. Once the local FFL receives the firearm, that FFL must confirm the buyer's identification then complete a NICS check of the buyer. NICS check is conducted by using information provided by the buyer on Form 4473. After a NICS approval, the local FFL may then transfer the firearm to the buyer.  

The recent scams have collected money from buyers, but they have failed to ship any firearms. To avoid this problem, the public may use BATFE FFL eZ Check to verify the bona fides of an FFL. To do so, the buyer may request the FFL's basic license number. That number can then be verified by using the FFL eZ Check website: http://www.atf.gov/sites/default/files/assets/Firearms/FirearmsIndustry/030714-final-advisory-fraudulent-ffls.pdf. In obvious cases of fraud, no match is found for the number provided. When the FFL eZ Check does provide a match, all available identifying information for the FFL on record should be used to confirm the identity of the seller. 

Arsenal Attorneys previously became aware of the scams similar to the ones described in the ATF warning letter. It reminded us of the importance of dealing with a known FFL. Also, any well known, reputable FFL should have postive reviews available to read on the internet. Finally, any offer which seems too good to be true, probably isn't true.