All Gun Trusts are not equal. A Gun Trust or NFA Trust should be designed for all of your firearms and will provide Asset Protection and multi generational ownership for your firearms.
Since 1993, the Law Firm of Mark Knapp PLLC has specialized in NFA Gun Trusts and working with courts to restore clients’ right to possess firearms in Washington.
No CLEO Signature Required
The ATF no longer requires that individuals obtain approval from their Chief Law Enforcement Officer (the “CLEO”) as part of the application process to obtain a Title II firearm from another individual or Class 3 dealer.
Privacy
All of your regular firearms information remains private and is never disclosed to the ATF so no de facto registration of your firearms is created. You can also protect “high capacity” magazines and pass them onto your beneficiaries in states like Washington that are prohibiting transfers.
Incapacity
If you become incapacitated, your family or friends are often the ones to help you. In doing so, they may come in contact with the restricted items and put themselves at risk of violating the NFA without knowledge. A Gun Trust helps protect these individuals from violating the NFA and other local, state, and federal laws by providing them clear instructions on what they are and are not permitted to do. Many normal trusts and many so called NFA Trusts instruct people to break the law. Look the only Copyrighted Gun Trust prepared by a Gun Trust Lawyer®
Without a Gun Trust, when you die your individually owned firearms will be part of your “probate estate.” With a Gun Trust, your firearms are not subject to probate or made part of a public record. Your beneficiaries will be protected because they will receive guidance on how, when, and under what circumstances the items can or should be legally transferred. If you have children, a Gun Trust has specific provisions to protect them and make sure they do not receive the firearms if they live in a location where it is illegal to possess NFA or other firearms, and most importantly a Gun Trust can help ensure that your children are mature and responsible enough that you would want them to have the firearms even when you are not there to make the decision.
Co-owners and Authorized Users
When an individual purchases Title II firearms, he or she is the only one permitted to use or have access to them. Many people incorrectly believe that it is permissible to let others use their NFA firearms when in their presence. However, the NFA would consider this a transfer and be a violation of the law. When your spouse or someone else knows the combination to your firearms safe, you may be violating the law through constructive possession. Improper possession through constructive possession is a form of an unapproved transfer and a violation of the NFA. If you use a properly prepared Gun Trust to purchase Title II firearms, you can designate additional owners and authorized users to protect your family and friends. If you want to add or change users or owners later a Gun Trust can be adapted to reflect your current or future desires. The risk of constructive possession can be dealt with by adding that person to the Gun Trust so that they can be in legal possession of the guns. This can help protect you and your family from the penalties of violating the NFA.
Reducing Risk of Legal Changes
Many groups are attempting to limit the ability to transfer firearms to family members or friends. With a Gun Trust an adult child, family member, or friend can be made a co-owner of the trust or a Multi Generational Gun Trust can be created. While the ownership or management of the Gun Trust can be changed, the Gun Trust is still the registered owner of the firearms and the trust can be structured so that no transfer takes place under the NFA. Penalties for violating the National Firearms Act can be severe.
Each violation of the National Firearms Act subjects the owner to forfeiture of all weapons, 10 years in prison, and fines of up to $250,000. Thus, our Gun Trusts provide guidance to family members that can use the instructions in the Gun Trust after you are gone.
Benefits of a NFA Gun Trust Over a Corporation or LLC
Corporations and LLCs often have annual fees associated with them. Business entities are not private and much information about the individuals associated with them is contained in public records. Corporations and LLCs have annual state fees and other costs associated with the maintenance of the entity.
To make a change to an NFA Gun Trust, one simply amends the trust to change who can use, purchase, or possess the firearms without risk of criminal liability for violating the NFA.
The Copyrighted Gun Trust
As a Gun Trust Lawyer®, Our Gun Trusts are protected by US Copyright Laws and designed from the ground up to protect all of your firearms and magazines as well as those who are using or may be in possession of them from the penalties proscribed by local, state, federal laws and the NFA. The Gun Trust has been rewritten with these principals in mind. This trust instructs the grantors, trustees, successor trustees, and beneficiaries on their rights, duties, and qualifications and guides them through the proper way to purchase, use, and transfer the items under state and federal regulations. Each NFA Gun Trust comes with a comprehensive instructional memorandum that covers how to purchase, transfer, use, share, transport, store the firearms as well as how to use the trust based on questions and feedback from thousands of clients.
How to Decide Which Gun Trust Is Right For Your Family and Begin the Process
The first step in creating your Gun Trust is to call Mark Knapp a Gun Trust Lawyer® at (253) 202-2081.
The Law Office of Mark Knapp PLLC 