NFA and “Class 3”
The National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 was introduced by the Federal government to collect tax on those who manufactured items regulated under the Act. The Act has evolved over time, but the sentiment remains the same: to further regulate certain classes of firearms and firearm accessories.
What is regulated under the NFA?
Short Answer: All modern firearms are regulated by the NFA.
Title I firearms include your “run-of-the-mill” pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotguns. However, these items are not regulated as strictly as the other class. We will not discuss Title I firearms further in this section.
Title II firearms and items, on the other hand, are highly restricted by the NFA. Often referred to as “Class 3” (though this is a misnomer, as “Class 3” refers to the Special Occupancy Tax of an FFL that may transfer NFA items), this category includes:
- Machine Guns (including burst and fully automatic)
- Short-Barreled Rifles
- Short-Barreled Shotguns
- Sound Suppressors (a.k.a. “silencers”)
- Destructive Devices
- Any Other Weapon
NFA generally does not apply to items manufactured before January 1, 1899. The are classified as “antiques” (as long as they meet certain other criteria).
Machine Guns
What is a Machine Gun?
In general, this category includes any firearm that fires more than one round, automatically, with each pull of the trigger.
A machine gun is a fully automatic firearm that is designed to fire continuously for as long as the trigger is held down or until the ammunition supply is exhausted. Machine guns are capable of firing multiple rounds with a single trigger pull, and can typically fire hundreds (e.g. M16; 700-950 rpm) or thousands (e.g. M134 minigun; 2,000-6,000 rpm) of rounds per minute.
A burst-fire gun fires a set number of rounds with each pull of the trigger (e.g. 3-round burst).
Owning a Machine Gun
Generally speaking, you may not manufacture a new machine gun (there are exceptions, but they apply to agency sales). That said, they are not illegal to own. Machine guns that were manufactured and registered prior to May 19, 1986 are still legal to own and possess by civilians who have obtained the necessary license and pay the required tax stamp fee. However, the supply of these pre-1986 machine guns is limited, and they can be quite expensive to purchase. A pre-1986 (also referred to as “pre-ban” or “transferrable”) M16, AK-47, or MP5 will run between $25,000 and $50,000.
In addition to federal restrictions and requirements, your state or municipality may also have specific processes for restrictions for the possession and use of these firearms. Your shooting range may also prohibit fully automatic fire. And lastly, the sound of fully automatic fire is an attention-getter (for better or worse); it tends to result in calls to the police department and is very likely to result in a unit being dispatched to investigate, even if possession and use is completely legal.
A note about binary triggers
A binary trigger (or “forced reset trigger”, FRT) is a trigger that fires a round with each movement of the trigger. When you pull and hold the trigger, one round is fired. When you release the trigger, another round is fired.
These are fun to shoot. They come pretty damn close to the feel of full-auto. In fact, you can even over run the cycling capability of the AR (i.e. exceed the achievable rate of fire of a full-auto weapon) by pulling and release the trigger too quickly. They aren’t particularly practical, and we certainly wouldn’t take one into battle. But, they are fun when you have a surplus of ammo.
The binary triggers on the market are not currently classified as NFA items. However, some triggers previously marketed as binary triggers have been reclassified as NFA items. The ATF’s opinion on these matters is subject to change. Beware.
Short-Barreled Rifles and Shotguns
What is a Short-Barreled Rifle?
A short-barreled rifle (SBR) is defined by the NFA and ATF as a rifle (a weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder) with a rifled barrel that is less than 16 inches (excluding a removable muzzle device/flash hider), or an overall length of less than 26 inches.
This category includes any firearm that has been manufactured as a rifle but has been modified to have an overall length of less than 26″ or a barrel less than 16″ in length.
What is a Short-Barreled Shotgun?
A short-barreled shotgun (SBS) is defined as a shotgun with a barrel length of less than 18 inches, or an overall length of less than 26 inches.
This category also includes any firearm that has been manufactured as a shotgun but has been modified to have an overall length of less than 26″ or a barrel less than 18″ in length.
Owning an SBR or SBS
This category of NFA firearms is VERY easy to wander into.
- A person building an AR-15 could very easily install a 14.5” (or shorter) barrel without removing the buttstock, thereby creating an unregistered SBR.
- One could unknowingly convert a perfectly legal Title I shotgun into an unregistered SBS with a hacksaw.
- Dropping your Glock 17 into a “conversion kit” (e.g. CAA Micro Roni, Fab Defense KPOS) can easily turn your perfectly legal pistol into an unregistered SBR (and even an Any Other Weapon depending on the features and design).
Proceed carefully when building, modifying, or accessorizing a pistol, rifle, or shotgun. It is perfectly legal for someone (who is not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm) to own an SBR or SBS. However, you must follow the federal, state, and local processes to do so legally.
Sound Suppressors (a.k.a. “Silencers”)
What is a Suppressor?
A suppressor, also known as a “silencer” is any device that is designed for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm. A suppressor works by trapping and slowing the expanding gases that are released when a round is fired, which reduces the sound and flash that would normally occur.
It should be noted that items that can be assembled (e.g. a collection of suppressor parts, including the mount) or have been re-manufactured or modified (e.g. oil filter “silencer”, bored out solvent trap, etc.) to create a suppressor are considered suppressors.
How quiet is a suppressed gun?
Despite what Hollywood and the political left might have you believe, suppressors do not eliminate the sound of a gunshot (i.e. “silence” a firearm). Instead, suppressors reduce it to a level that is less harmful to the shooter’s hearing and less disruptive to the surrounding area. The infographic below (from Decibel Pro) illustrates the loudness of firearms across the spectrum:
A Glock 17 pistol (chambered in 9mm Luger) is LOUD. At 162 decibels, this level can cause immediate and permanent damage to hearing. For comparison, this intensity is above that of a firecracker and well above that of a fighter jet taking off. The threshold of discomfort is around 120 decibels and the threshold for pain is around 130 decibels. If you have ever been next to an unsuppressed firearm being discharged, you know just how loud they are. This is why there is an industry for hearing protection for gun enthusiasts.
A suppressed Glock 17 generates about 126 decibels (about a 26-decibel reduction). This is louder than a chainsaw running at full tilt 3 feet away. It is about as loud as the loudest rock band. A suppressed firearm is anything but silent. However, the reduction in intensity can take the sound from causing permanent damage, to just under the threshold of pain.
Owning a Suppressor
Suppressors are fairly expensive by themselves. When you add the tax stamp fee, the total cost can easily exceed $1,000. That said, they are completely legal for someone (who is not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm) to own. However, you must follow the federal, state, and local processes to do so legally.
A word of caution: Suppressors also happen to be very easy to manufacture with parts that can be found at an automotive or home improvement store. HOWEVER, manufacture of a sound suppressor of any kind must follow the standard NFA process (unless you enjoy being confined to a 10’ by 10’ space). So, if you are thinking about buying one of those nifty “solvent traps” and boring a hole in the end cap to allow use as a suppressor, or threading an oil filter on the end of your barrel, make sure you follow the NFA process…it may sound silly to register an oil filter adapter or an ‘innocent’ solvent trap that you’ve drilled a single hole through, but it sounds a lot less silly when you hear it from a federal judge just before you are escorted to you new digs.
Destructive Devices
Explosive Ordinance
One can easily envision this category including grenades/grenade launchers, bombs, mortars, missiles, artillery, mine, etc. And it does. In fact, that is the first category of destructive device: explosive ordinance. We won’t elaborate further on explosive ordinance.
Large Bore Firearms
The second category is large bore firearms. This includes any item that is designed to fire a projectile with a bore over one half inch in diameter. There are a couple of exceptions, including shotguns (12ga is nearly 3/4″) and items that are not designed to be weapons (signaling devices, pyrotechnic devices, etc.), muzzle-loading cannons (as they cannot fire fixed ammunition), antique firearms, etc.
Large-caliber firearms are certainly exciting to shoot. That said, both the equipment and the ammunition can be quite expensive. For example, a Lahti 20mm anti-tank rifle (which is a WWII era gun) will run you about $5,000 to $10,000 and the ammunition will cost about $35 per round. And you’re going to need space to shoot one of these; a bullet from the 20x102mm cartridge fired from a rifle will travel up to 3 miles and not much will stop it. You also can’t just take these to your local gun range to shoot; most gun ranges prohibit 50 BMG firearms, let alone anti-tank rifles.
Poison Gas Weapons
The last category of destructive devices is poison gas weapons. No need to elaborate this category.
Any Other Weapon (AOW)
What is “Any Other Weapon”?
This category is a catch-all for anything that doesn’t qualify as a Title I firearm (i.e. pistol, rifle, or shotgun), machine gun, short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, suppressor, or destructive device.
This category includes:
- Pistols fitted with a vertical foregrip*
- Smooth-bore pistols (e.g. pistol designed or converted to fire shot shells)
- Short-barreled shotguns without a shoulder stock (i.e. a shotgun pistol)
- Flare launcher inserts (converts a flare launcher into a firearm capable of firing rifle or pistol ammunition)
- Pen guns, knife guns, cane guns, and any other disguised firearm
- Improvised firearms
- Starter pistol converted to fire a bullet
*A note about pistols and foregrips
We put this one first, because it is not well-known that adding a vertical foregrip (VFG) to a pistol makes it an NFA item. At the time of writing this article, an angled foregrip (AFG), barrier stop, hand stop, or finger stop does not qualify as a VFG.
So, if they are currently not NFA items, why do we mention this?
The ATF has been known to change its mind. ATF has a history of reclassifying items as NFA Title II items (bump stocks, pistol braces, etc.). A “pistol” is defined as a firearm designed to be operated using one hand (even though most civilized people fire pistols with two hands). If you put anything forward of the receiver that is intended to improve the handling of the firearm with a second hand, it could be theoretically be classified as an NFA feature using the same logic applied to a VFG.
Can I own an NFA Title II or “Class 3” item?
Short Answer: As long as you can legally own a firearm, theoretically. However, the answer greatly depends on your resident state and municipality.
Consult your local Class 2 (NFA Title II manufacturer) or 3 (NFA Title II dealer) FFL and/or local law enforcement. Guidance on owning NFA Title II items will vary by state and locale.
Looking for a Class 2/Class 3 FFL? We recommend FFL123.com’s Class 3 Dealer List.
How do I buy an NFA Title II or “Class 3” item legally?
Short Answer: NFA items have additional federal requirements, costs, and processes for purchase. Local requirements vary. Contact your local Class 2 or Class 3 FFL to explore Title II ownership.
The following details the process for purchasing an NFA items:
- The prospective buyer must find a Class 2 or 3 dealer who is licensed to manufacture or sell/transfer NFA items.
- The buyer must fill out a Form 4 application, which includes personal information, a photograph, and fingerprints. In recent years, ATF has implemented an electronic Form 4 that shaves time off of the review process.
- The buyer must pay a $200 tax stamp fee for each NFA item they wish to purchase. If you want a suppressed SBR, you will need one application/tax stamp for the SBR, and one for the suppressor.
- Submit the Form 4 application and two copies of the buyer’s fingerprint card to the ATF for approval.
- The ATF conducts a background check and reviews the application.
- If the application is approved, the buyer can take possession of the NFA item from the dealer.
These 6 steps sound simple enough, but the process can be quite lengthy.
It should be noted that some states may impose additional restrictions on possession of NFA items.
What is an NFA Trust?
Short Answer: An NFA Trust (or Gun Trust) is a legal structure designed to allow compliance with firearms regulations, while easing the complexity of handling, transferability, and inheritance of regulated items through co-ownership.
Benefits of an NFA Trust
Transfer of NFA items from an individual owner in the event of that owner passing away is equally as complex; it is not uncommon for NFA items to be seized by the Federal government and destroyed, if compliant transfer does not occur by the end of probate. The NFA trust is specifically designed to allow passage of items regulated by the NFA to any and all trustees, within the trust, for the duration of the trust.
One of the other main benefits of using an NFA trust is that it allows multiple people to possess and use NFA items without having to transfer ownership of the item itself. This can be useful for families or groups of friends who want to share NFA items.
Additionally, an NFA trust can provide some legal protection for the trustee and the beneficiaries of the trust in case of accidents or other issues related to the NFA items owned by the trust.
Setting Up an NFA Trust
Setting up an NFA trust typically involves working with an attorney who has experience with firearms laws and regulations. The trust document will need to include specific language and provisions that comply with state and federal laws regarding NFA items.
In addition to competent local attorneys, you may find some online resources available here:
- Silencer Shop: Silencer Shop offers a streamlined process for purchasing NFA items, including the option to set up an NFA trust online. They provide a user-friendly platform and guide you through the process of setting up a trust with step-by-step instructions.
- National Gun Trusts: National Gun Trusts provides NFA trust document templates that you can purchase and customize for your specific needs. They also offer assistance with trust amendments, ATF form filings, and other related services.
- Gun Trust Guru: Gun Trust Guru provides a similar service to National Gun Trusts, offering customizable trust documents and additional services such as ATF form preparation and trust amendments.
How do I travel with an NFA Title II or “Class 3” item?
Short Answer: Depends.
Travelling with an NFA Title II item can be simple or complex, depending on what it is, where you are going, and how you are getting there.
We recommend that you always carry a copy of the ATF paperwork for the NFA Title II item(s) that you will be travelling with. It is not a terrible idea to keep the associated tax stamp with each item. Keep the paperwork with the item.
Suppressor
A suppressor is actually pretty easy to travel with.
As long as a suppressor is legal to own in the state(s) to which or through which you will travel, you are permitted to travel with a suppressor without additional documentation/approval. There are currently 8 places you cannot travel with a suppressor (because there are outright bans): California, Illinois, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and D.C.
Assuming you will NOT travel to or through a place where suppressors are illegal, simply treat it as you would any other firearm (see Firearms Ownership for guidance):
- Travelling by Car: Keep the suppressor locked up, preferably in the trunk.
- Travelling by Plane: Notify the ticketing agent that you are checking a suppressor, and check it in a locked, hard-sided case. Suppressors MAY NOT BE CARRIED ON.
Every Other NFA Title II Item
For every other NFA Title II item (SBR, SBS, machine gun, destructive device, A.O.W.), you must submit an ATF Form 5320.20 and this must be approved before you travel.
Once you receive approval of the Form 5320.20, transport the NFA Title II item as you would any other firearm (see Firearms Ownership for guidance). We recommend that you include a photocopy of the approved Form 5320.20 in every case containing an authorized Title II item.
How do I ship an NFA Title II or “Class 3” item?
Short Answer: Shipping NFA Title II items looks a lot like shipping NFA Title I items, with a couple of additions.
Check out Firearms Ownership for the basic guidelines for shipping a firearm. We will cover some additional steps, below, which are specific to Title II/Class 3 items.
If you are shipping a suppressor, you do not need specific authorization to do so. Just be sure that the suppressor is legal wherever you are shipping it to.
For every other NFA Title II item (SBR, SBS, machine gun, destructive device, A.O.W.), you must submit an ATF Form 5320.20 and this must be approved before you ship the item. Once you receive approval of the Form 5320.20, ship the NFA Title II item as you would any other firearm. We recommend that you include a photocopy of the approved Form 5320.20 in every case containing a shipping-authorized Title II item.
You cannot ship NFA Title II items through USPS. As such, you must use a common or private carrier.
You may ship an NFA Title II item to yourself “in care of” an out-of-state recipient. Include a copy of the approved ATF Form 5320.20 in the packaging and ship per the instructions in Firearms Ownership.