ATF Streamlining Process for Crossing State Borders with NFA Items

There are tons of cool things that fall under NFA restrictions. Fully-auto guns are just one, of course, and they’re probably the bulk of what will remain on the list if some current court cases work out in our favor, but as of right now, there are still a few other things.

And trying to own one is kind of a pain in the butt. It’s not just the process of buying one that’s a pain, but also just owning them. There are regulations as to what you can and can’t do as an owner, and one of those is having to jump through hoops to cross state lines in the event they want to move.

On the upside, the ATF is in the process of streamlining that whole thing.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is trying to make it at least somewhat easier to legally transport guns governed by the National Firearms Act (NFA).

On Friday, the ATF submitted a notice to the Federal Register that it’s changing the way it regulates interstate movement of NFA items. The agency said it plans to permanently digitize the method owners can use to notify it about their plans to move their registered machineguns and short-barreled rifles (SBRs) across state lines. It said the new forms and procedures will save the agency and the owners time and money.

“The changes to the form due to updated technology have decreased the time necessary to complete the form, which was previously 20 minutes (ten minutes were attributed to addressing and mailing) and has now decreased to ten minutes,” The ATF wrote in its notice. “In addition, respondents no longer incur mailing time and costs.”

The notice is part of a broader, years-long effort by the ATF to digitize and streamline its NFA regulations, which has significantly brought down registration wait times and other burdens associated with the 90-year-old law. It comes during a recent ramp-up in that effort, with the agency issuing multiple notices of changes to NFA registration or transportation forms in the last month. It also comes as Congress has lightened the burden on owning certain NFA items, like silencers and SBRs, after it cut the transfer tax to $0 in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Of course, the better alternative would be to end this ridiculous registration thing, so no one has to do any of this mess. Since that’s not likely to happen anytime soon, at least not legislatively, this is probably as good as it will get.

It really shouldn’t be that much of a hassle to move to another state simply because you own some NFA items, which are perfectly legal if you go through all that regulatory headache. It’s different if you want to move to a state that prohibits those items, obviously, but that’s not what this is about. It’s simply about keeping up with who owns what and where they are.

And it’s kind of creepy, if you ask me.

It’s nice to see the ATF being proactive, for once, in addressing something that will make life easier for gun owners, even if it only works out for a relatively small number.

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