Armory Sponsor
Posted: 2/13/2008 5:28:25 PM EDT
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What are the rules for storing an NFA weapon? My question is if I put my FA/Suppressor/SBR in a safe at a location other than where I live, or if other people have access to where those items are stored, am I within the law? Like storing my stuff in a safe at work on a premesis I dont own. Thanks! |
Storing an NFA item in a location where anyone other than the registered owner has access is considered an illegal transfer, leaving the owner subject to the same felony charges as if he had traded it in an alley for $500 worth of crack cocaine. You can, however, legally lock the item in a hard case and place the case inside a safe at work, as long as you are the only person with a key to the locked case. |
I understand the first part, but just putting it in a locked case in a safe that others have access to seems like the equivalent of putting it in a locked case and not putting it in the safe. So does the fact that I put it in a locked case, portable or not, make it still under my control? And what about locked in a car? It sounds like I just need to have a locking case, then I can leave it anywhere. Not that I would, it cost too damn much to let loose.  Thanks! |
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Putting it in a locked hard case generally meets the CYA legal requirement for denying other access to the NFA item. That doesn't mean it's safely, securely or even legally stored -- just that easy access has been denied. If you leave the hard case unattended in a location where it's easy to steal -- whether at work, in a parked car, sitting in a hotel lobby, etc. -- you've defeated the purpose of the locked hard case, as well as being pretty foolish. Store it somewhere safe. If the only safe locations available to you are places where others also have access, lock it inside a hard case as well. If it disappears, you may be answering some hard questions. Handing officers the key to the missing case will adequately answer some of those questions, but not all of them. OTOH, if it disappears from inside a safe where others had access and it was not in a locked hard case, you just flunked the test.  I store my NFA toys inside a bank safety deposit box. |
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Tony, this is a dumb question, but I have wondered about it nonetheless. Is it legal to store weapons in a safe that others have access to, if the weapons are not in a locked hardcase, but have some sort of lock through the action to render the weapon useless for firing? Currently my NFA weapon is in a locked metal hardcase which only I have access to. I do have a safe, but it is a common safe among my father and me. The hardcase will not fit in the safe, so it must reside outside of the safe. I would feel better if the weapon was in the safe, with a locking device through the action, however if that violates NFA storage requirements, then I will not do so. |
Well, a locking device would seem to be adequate to me -- but I'm neither an attorney nor a BATFE decision-maker. The "locked hard case" is straight off BATFE's NFA FAQ here: www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#m22 That's the only place I know of where BATFE addressed the storage issue in a printed statement. Going outside those parameters is up to you. But your situation, sharing a safe with a family member, is why many NFA owners set up corporations or trusts with other family members as officers/principals, because that is a route to legally extend possession to them. Wish I could be more precise, but in this case, it's up to you to make the call.
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