Monday, October 2, 2017

"As a workaround, gun owners have obtained them through the use of trusts, legal entities that don’t require permission from sheriffs or police chiefs"

WSJ:
Would-be buyers of machine guns generally must receive permission from their local sheriff or chief of police and submit their photos and fingerprints to ATF, as the federal firearms agency is known.

Many local law-enforcement officials refuse to approve the transfer of machine guns, silencers and other heavily regulated weapons to residents in their jurisdictions. As a workaround, gun owners have obtained them through the use of trusts, legal entities that don’t require permission from sheriffs or police chiefs.

The number of gun trusts jumped from 840 in 2000 to 40,700 in 2012, as they became more widely known and promoted, prompting ATF to update its regulations.