This is a sore subject that many people don’t see eye-to-eye on, but as someone who has regular interaction with customers who practice law on behalf of the public and private interest – this is an issue that seriously grinds my gears. Attorneys who claim to be qualified in writing gun trusts frequently extol their virtues in an attempt to separate you from your money. How right they are and how wrong they are after the jump . . .
First, a little bit about myself; I’m a small-time country gun dealer who does something like 200+ filings of ATF Form 3/4 annually. I’ve seen and performed transfers of pretty much everything to pretty much everyone, save for destructive devices since I don’t have the space for an ATF-approved DD storage container. Yet. And I’ve experienced plenty of truths, half truths and downright lies in the NFA business.
To start with the most prevalent, and most frequently pontificated: “YOU NEED A GUN TRUST IF YOU WANT TO STAY OUT OF JAIL!”
The economics of the gun business have led attorneys to love to sell gun trusts. All the language is boilerplate, they get you on the hook for their fee, replace a few words, notarize it and suddenly you have legal powers that you didn’t 15 minutes before, right?
Wrong.
Owning a trust makes you no more empowered than you were they day before, unless you live in an area where the CLEO won’t sign your form – in which case the gun trust is the battering ram against your barrier to entry.
I can’t speak for all 50 states, but in my research and experience, I can’t recall a single state that has a statutory requirement of a formation of a trust as a legal prerequisite to purchase an NFA device. Most states have relatively limited regulation on NFA devices, and even the ones with the most draconian legislation (California or New York) do not have legislation prohibiting trusts or corporations from holding firearms or NFA devices as assets.
Most of the people who form trusts for NFA acquisitions do so for several popular reasons, the most common being that it’s a lot easier to do a transfer to a trust or corporate entity than it is to hassle the local CLEO. You also can have several co-trustees or employees that have lawful access to the firearms. And yes, some form trusts as a solution to a barrier to entry – specifically the policy of a local CLEO who won’t sign an ATF Form 4 or equivalents.
What really gets me is the people who form a trust for the wrong reasons. Their attorneys should be hauled in front of an ethics board to explain their actions. For instance, my business gets more junk mail from so-called expert trust attorneys than a new 28 year old homeowner with good credit gets from Williams-Sonoma, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Pottery Barn combined. I cringe thinking about how many trees have died so these shysters can separate ignorant people from their money.
The so-called experts love to push their services: “Here’s how you own a Class 3 weapon – you form a gun trust to do it, because if you don’t, you’re breaking the law!”
My eyes roll so far into the back of my head when I read their ads that it shifts my center of gravity backwards and I nearly fall out of my chair. For starters, any attorney that professes to be an expert in firearms and gun trusts that doesn’t know that “Class 3” is a rate of taxation ($500) for a special occupational tax, is a hack…in my opinion. But that’s just for starters. What really separates the shysters from the actual professionals is the way they pose legal scenarios and how they apply to the client.
Gun trust attorneys love to tell clients that if they don’t have a trust, they can risk going to jail and losing all their guns – even their title one guns – due to noncompliance with the National Firearms Act of 1934. How could that happen, you ask? One attorney that I spoke with on the phone stated as a matter of fact that during her vast legal career as a board-certified attorney and her research and interaction with ATF that if someone who lawfully owned an NFA device (for this exercise, we’ll call it an M1 Thompson) and shot their M1 at a public range and then let a bystander that wasn’t the lawful registered owner shoot said M1 at said range in the presence of the registered owner, they would be guilty of an illegal transfer of an NFA device. And the ATF would prosecute both the recipient for taking unlawful possession and the owner for making the unlawful transfer.
Now, this is contrary to my experience on a number of occasions. I got hooked on machine guns when my friend Ken (not his real name) handed me a registered receiver M16, a full magazine and told me to have fun. Ken is a large collector of Colt machineguns. He has about half a million bucks worth of them. Why the hell would he break the law?
If anyone is wondering, the ATF has sent me an opinion letter regarding the above scenario and they have stated in a far more refined fashion than I will that I am right and that particular attorney is utterly wrong. Oh, did I mention the attorney was board certified in real estate law?
The debate skills that I acquired in years of Catholic school would finally come to vanquish my unwitting board certified opponent.
My rebuttal to her was that if such an action was so blatantly illegal, how come many retail firearm operations such as The Gun Store in Las Vegas, Nevada and The Scottsdale Gun Club in Scottsdale, Arizona (these were the only two that came to mind immediately) are able to rent machine guns to customers? Surely an outfit as large and above board as the Scottsdale Gun Club with a million dollar operation wouldn’t risk it all by breaking the law. Was she telling me that each time a customer, or paying member of the club picks up a post sample M16, or the employee at said club hands it to them, they’re knowingly facilitating NFA violations?
She didn’t have a good answer for me. The answer she did have was that she had asked ATF what constituted an unlawful transfer and ATF told her that if someone that was not the registered owner was using an NFA device, they were guilty.
There’s a few ways you can look at this. You can fault the ATF for being wrong, and God knows the ATF has been wrong in the past. You can fault the attorney for asking the ATF, as ATF would not put something that stupid in writing. You could actually read the text of NFA ’34. Or, you can believe what I believe which is that she didn’t ask ATF and was making it up as she went along and presented enough gravitas to make it sound like she knew what she was talking about.
These kinds of legal shenanigans are what you’re going to get when you go shopping for gun trust attorneys. Attorneys who practice gun law typically do so exclusively. Attorneys who practice wills, trusts, and estate law, typically do so exclusively. Wills, trusts and estate law and gun law could not be farther apart in the legal field, and yet some people go to a real estate lawyer who claims to do gun trusts for gun advice.
You don’t go to the world famous Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn for the broccoli rabe, so why would you take gun law advice from someone who is seriously under- or un-qualified to dispense it?
This happens every day.
I think that it is completely unethical for an attorney to write an advertisement that talks about “Class 3 firearms” — which is patently wrong — write paragraphs about how you need to buy a gun trust or you will go to jail and lose all your guns, and claim a moral/legal high ground about how they know better than you (when they simply don’t) in an attempt to separate you from your money. They wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work, and it’s apparently worked too damn often.
Yet, that’s not the worst part.
In my state, all advertisements by legal firms have to have the literal seal of approval from the state bar’s advertising division. All that fear mongering text about how you need a gun trust or else? In print, no less? Those ads bears the rubber stamp of approval of the bar association.
So, I called the bar association’s advertising division and asked them how their advertising division could approve advertising that was factually incorrect and, in certain circumstances, could compel someone to purchase a trust that they didn’t need out of sheer fear of federal gun law. They didn’t have a very good answer for me. They stated that the advertising was within the guidelines of the state and that I should file a complaint if I truly felt the ad was misleading. I decided to fight fire with fire.
FC: This ad is misleading. It’s saying buy a gun trust or lose all your guns, a gun trust is the only legal way to own “Class 3” firearms, which is wrong because there’s no such thing as a “Class 3” firearm and if this attorney is 100% accurate, I personally know 8 police officers, 2 state prosecutors and a retired federal judge that are about to be in pretty deep trouble.
Bar: The advertising was within state guidelines. We saw no reason to disapprove of it.
FC: So, if I was a real estate attorney and I drafted an advertisement stating that I am board certified in the practice of Unicorn Ranch Agricultural Tax Abatement, you’d approve it?
Bar: Well. no. There’s no such thing as board certification in that field. Or unicorns for that matter.
FC: So it’s okay for this attorney to advertise specialization in the ownership of an item that does not exist and is factually wrong on numerous other counts, but it would be wrong for me to do the same?
At that point the woman became rather cross with me and suggested that if I felt that strongly about the issue, I should file a complaint. That’s right, the regulators that are supposed to prevent attorneys from making misleading advertising don’t give a damn about misleading advertising.
So I filed a complaint with the bar association, stating that the advertising is without merit and has numerous false claims; specifically that one must have a gun trust in order to stay out of jail and that temporarily lending an NFA device was unlawful. Neither of which is not correct. The regulators (being totally useless) did not see things my way and let the complaint drop.
This is infuriating because as a consumer I wouldn’t shop at a gun store that barked incessantly about how one must purchase a Colt AR15 or equivalent because of a so-called looming ban on the horizon. Nor would I patronize an attorney that lauded the threat of jail time as a sales pitch for their product. At best, it’s fear mongering. At worst, it’s taking advantage of exactly how stupid the Brady Campaign and the Moms Demand Action crowed think gun owners are.
As if the situation isn’t complicated enough – the advent of the trust has yielded the NFA Merchant of Death/Unlicensed Practitioner of Law.
What’s this I speak of? The most candid example I can think of is a small company that will not be named that manufactured hundreds of AR15s in Florida, and the owner was remarkably helpful if you wanted something that needed a stamp — like a silencer. So helpful that he’d create a trust for you. Just sign on the dotted line.
That’s one helpful dealer of death and destruction, right? What happens when ATF approves that transfer and the trust isn’t legal?
The problems are numerous. The first being that you have zero legal recourse because whoever set up your trust wasn’t qualified or even licensed to practice law to begin with — so, you got what you paid for. The entity that you have may or may not be legal and will likely cause a substantial headache for you to resolve. Finally, if someone was improperly practicing law without a license, will that case be prosecuted?
Based on my interaction with state regulators, prosecution is unlikely. They just don’t seem to prosecute those cases. I can’t help but wonder if they view it as a self-correcting problem.
I don’t think it’s proper for a gun retailer (or anyone other than an attorney) to draft a trust, so when someone came in my business a few months ago with a silencer built by a local firm that he wanted to have re-cored because it was too loud, he had literally no clue about how the NFA worked and how it was transferred, etc. I became curious to see what my competition was up to. After speaking with him for a few minutes about what he did and how he did it and reviewing his approved ATF Form 4, I managed to piece together the mystery.
As it happens, he wanted a silencer for his GLOCK 9mm pistol knowing nothing about the process. So they sat him down and did the old car salesman trick with the paperwork and said sign here, here, here, here and here.
The dealer had created a trust using a computer program, had the buyer sign it — unknowingly creating an irrevocable living trust in their name — and then transferring a silencer to it, which the ATF approved. Where the original copy of the trust went, nobody really knows. So this particular individual will be hard-pressed to do another transfer in the future without having their actual trust documents. But that’s not a problem, because if he goes back to that dealer, they can just create another trust he doesn’t know about for the next NFA device he wants to buy.
What it boils down to is this: NFA trusts are a necessity to ownership for some. Although no law states purchasers must have one, many do so out of sheer practicality. To others, an NFA trust is a luxury item as it saves them trips to the fingerprint station and the CVS photo center. The truth is that having an NFA trust can make NFA-regulated device ownership easier, and in some cases we couldn’t own NFA item without it.
I bought my first machine gun when I was 22 years old, but no CLEO would sign for me. So I went down to OfficeMax, bought prepared trust documents and made my own. A month later I hauled home my new bullet hose. Would I do the same today? Probably not, but my legal needs were very different compared to what they are today.
I’ve seen too many attorneys in the NFA trust business who are hacks, who will pitch lies and deceit in order to goad unknowing rubes into buying trusts on the threat of jail time. And their ads somehow were approved by the state bar advertising division. Others will not have a clue as to what makes an NFA gun trust different from a regular trust (I have yet to talk to an attorney who has found a fundamental legal distinction between the two) besides some language declaring the purpose of the trust, and attorneys who practice criminal law will likely not be of very much help in this area.
Don’t get an NFA trust because some shyster said you’ll go to jail if you don’t. Do your homework, see if you actually need one based on who you want to give legal access to these devices. Trust but verify. Don’t hire a hack, and for the love of Jeebus, don’t have your gun dealer do it. Most gun dealers have a difficult enough time staying out of prison themselves.
Verily, let’s also not forget what the great William Shakespeare taught us: the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
I think “How Attorneys Lie” would have been sufficient. Apologies to Ralph, et al…..
Across the river in Ciudad Juarez, Policia take out full page ads in El Diario when they quit the force hoping they and their families will be spared. For safety, the publishers of the Mexican newspaper have moved over here to El Paso. They are highly sought targets in Juarez.
Attorneys lie? Say it isnt so. There is one on my local gun blog site who advertises exactly the same way the author states the female real estate lawyer lied to him. For $500 this helpful person will xerox the same trust forms I xeroxed and send me to a notary. I did the same thing for like a dollar for the copies and the notary was at my bank so that was free. My mother always wanted me to go to law school…
Has anyone ever sent any letter for clarification to the ATF and ever received a response?
I know a lot of people who have sent letters, I know no person who has ever received a response.
It seems the nopetrain heading to Nopeville has arrived.
I’m hoping that their shipping department has no sound except crickets also.
Also hoping that the CTD reps at Shot Show got an earful the entire week.
Great read. It made me happy that I made the right choice using arsenal attorneys in va. He never made it about fear, only ease of transfer, along with being able to transfer my guns to my family after my death( without the court system). I very highly recommend them.
I recently formed a trust and my attorney spelled out everything you stated with complete honesty, so they are not all douche bags. Our locate CLEO, whom I know very well, does not sign forms. He claims he was advised not to by the outgoing CLEO as it was too big a liability for him. Several lawyers have written him letters explaining why it is not a big exposure to him personally or for the county… but still he won’t sign, partly because he tells you to get a trust to get around it. It is an issue that is very frustrating. And our POTUS is trying to muck it up even more….
I use the Hide It with a Ruger LCR and it works great with the eagle wood grips. I wear the lower waisted newer Levi’s and my wife says you can not see the gun. If you practice you will get to where you pop the gun out very quickly. I have not seen anything else I can use with my shirt tucked in that works this well. I did have quality issues with the first 2 I got at the gun show. The lady there replaced them immediately. One had crappy stitching, and the other had a bad piece of leather which cracked in 2 hours of use. They need to boost quality control. I also cannot find a published warranty.
Cheaper Than Dirt is not.
Lawyers, guns and money; the shit has hit the fan
Ok, so going back to Cheaper Than Dirt I can find multiple MSR’s listed as in stock with an “Add to Cart” option. Am I missing something? Did they resume selling? Not gonna buy from them, just wondering. And, wow, .9 mm? That’s gotta be some TINY rounds!
I hope CTD goes out of business. They are nothing but vultures capitalizing on the gun owners every time we need them most. They could do a buy one get one free deal and I’d still tell them to kick rocks. That goes for any other company that thinks its nice to gouge the hell out of the gun community to make a quick buck.
Isn’t the the same gun salesman that likes to gloat about how much money he made off gullible customers during the panic? Yeah, thanks, don’t mind if I don’t give a shit what his view on the ethics of lawyers are.
stopped shopping at CTD a couple years back, when they started charging shipping costs several times on a single order if they had to ship items from more than one of their warehouses. sorry CTD, your shitty logistics aren’t the customers’ problem. I can’t think of many other companies that do such a thing.
Pot calling the kettle black?
To Hell with those price-gouging pricks.
Thanks for the review of the Mustang. I’ve been eying it for a while, and I even fondled one in the LGS. I’m happy to hear that it’s actually shootable. I think it might be my next gun…
Statist, turd.
CTD lost me as a customer when, after Newtown and the AR/magazine shortage that followed, they were trying to sell 30 round AR mags for $125 each!
In Switzerland, ammo is banned. That’s why they have the lowest accident rate.
Unfortunately most rapes are estimated to occour between people who know each other. I.e. date rape, incest rape etc. It’s easy to wrap your head around shooting the wild eyed stranger rapist jumping from the bushes, but infinitely harder to come to grips with shooting your relative, or that boy you have been dating a while. Better to educate girls (and boys) regarding the warning signs of a sexual predator and push your kids ad friends to not tolerate sexual assault or make excuses for the rapist.
Hickock45
Tell me that south Chicago or anywhere in Detroit, etc is NOT a battlefield.
Now look the evil gun even turned usually safe police officer into a crazed killer. These evil guns must be stopped for Sharon and the kids. We will never be safe with evil guns…I am just glad my guns are inanimate objects, and don’t have minds of their own.
Keep pushing, stupid. Mexicans have a whole lot less guns than Americans and they’ve decided to push back. Why do you think we won’t do the same? Fucking moron.
I know that Stag Arms sell left handed uppers at a price of $600(ish) In my opinion it is better than buying the whole gun with a lefty lower. Your main concern is the brass and position of the forward assist. things like the location of the safety or fire selector are not really worth the extra money. If you have the money and want a true” lefty AR, then by all means.
No need to tell the criminals, I am sure they will know…..
Not going to say this but how do we know when to vote from the rooftops?
Chooooooooocolate!!!
I used a trust to purchase my first silencer and have it in my possesion. I have purchased 2 more silencers. Other than sending copys of my trust and paperwork from my dealer is there anything else I need to send and can I submit for both at the same time?
Your first silencer was purchased using the trust. How were the subsequent two purchased? If they were purchased by you as an individual, then if you want them on the trust they would need to be transferred to it, and I believe that would take a new transfer stamp. Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you said. If so, please clarify your situation.
I purchased them through the trust but have not been able to pick them up yet from the dealer. What I need to know is what I need to send the atf other than a copy of my gun trust to get my stamp.Also can I register both at on time by paying 400.00 and is there a way to submit electronicaly.
I have practiced law for 40 years. I do not have the time or energy to comment on every aspect of the article. Yes, some attorneys are not competent. That applies to all professions and vocations.
No, you do not need a gun trust in many states to own certain items. The more important question might be what happens when the owner dies or becomes incapacitated? I am in the process of educating myself about gun trusts because I know many fellow firearms owners who I would like to help. I am not doing it just for $. I am a Life Member of the NRA and a founding member of a local shooting organization that serves over 15,000 members of the shooting public annually.
Just because the author spoke with an attorney that was uninformed does not mean that a gun trust is not something that could benefit some people under certain circumstances. There are many attorneys like me who do care deeply about the Second Amendment and want to help other firearms owners. I came across this site during my research and wanted to mention that people should think beyond the simple aspect of “owning” the forearm or other item, and consider where it will go when they leave this Earth.
I want to do a gun trust so many options, so many rumors, idk if i should go with a $100 to a $300 gun trust any help would be great thanks
Case in point– nolo.com’s “Law For All” website offers (what I believe to be) this erroneous advice that “each trustee will have the right to possess or use the trust firearms. Otherwise, only the registered owner can possess or use NFA weapons.” Both you and the ATF have pointed out that non-trustees can “use” your weapon as long as it remains in your sight and is returned immediately upon use.
To add to the scare tactics, they postulate that “some gun advocates” (not nolo, of course, but “some” arbitrary other entity) speculate that a currently non-existant gun control law MIGHT just be enacted that COULD MAYBE be overcome by a trust. So, in the event that an undeclared threat to your weapons comes to pass, a trust with no provisions for said non-existant threats might just somehow save the day! In-effing-creadible!!
Well Chuck, that exact scenario is now occurring. Some states, I think Connecticut is the first, others sure to follow, have just enacted law that requires the surrender of so called “assault rifles” upon the death of the owner. A trust might be a way to avoid such tyranny, at least until it is declared unconstitutional, as I hope it will be.
I’ve not seen any such misleading advertisements, just those offering the service of creating a gun trust.
“…for the love of Jeebus…” Way to mock/insult the name of our Lord and every Christian who reads your column. Says much about your own character.
Blake in Texas
Your article is full of misinformation and dangerous legal advice. You are ignoring the long-term consequences and dilemmas here. You are not a legal expert simply because you submit Form 4s to the ATF. I am a defense attorney — I have no skin in the gun trust game in case you’re wondering. I have never accepted a client for a gun trust and never intend to. Prior to drafting my own gun trust, I had minimal experience with trusts, wills, and estate planning. I have probably 30 hours of research and work into my own trust now. I’ve barely scratched the surface of it. I found that gun trusts can be very complicated, depending on what you want them to do. There’s a lot more at stake than petty attorney’s fees if you screw up a gun trust.
If you use a do-it-yourself gun trust, the ATF will still probably approve your tax stamps. That’s great in the short-term, so you can get your toys right away. There is a BIG difference between the ATF recognizing your trust and your trust actually being valid or functional at the state-level. In the mid-term, a do-it-yourself trust may not operate the way you want it to — for example, if you have multiple Trustees, what powers do they have? Do they need a majority vote to sell your NFA items or encumber your trust property? I have seen some cheap internet trusts that are completely silent on this topic.
There can be long-term issues too and your article ignores all those problems. A poorly planned or vaguely worded trust can cause uncertainty and controversy upon your death. Do you really want your beneficiaries and heirs to squander their time and money down the road? In my opinion, you are better off paying a few hundred dollars now to foreclose those issues. I haven’t even mentioned the possibility of prosecution — if your trust is invalid, then you and your Trustees may be in illegal possession of NFA/GCA items. Admittedly, the chance of prosecution is extremely low here, but why risk it? You don’t know when Obama or the next dynasty president will change enforcement priorities.
So what about Non NFA related guns in a trust or maybe a corporation. With the Bloombutt groups buying off state Legislators, could there be a distinct benefit to gun purchasing ( by legally allowed citizens) through a trust or corporation, in states like Washington, Oregon,Colorado and other states, as it regards to background checks and basic creations of gun registration? To those that have one ( a trust) what about public disclosure or not of the assets of the trust or corporation? What about Convenience and/ or privacy?
I got gun trust was from lawyer in ohio it is 16 pages. it covers every thing including changing the trust
and how to do it documents on how u need file the forms, I got call from atf they trust was in order
now this not a reg trust at all it has in it a lot gun laws, and atf laws, I will give u some advise on things I ran into
I got a ar 15 I want make it a smb so in the trust I had them put build and or change a wepon when I went to atf eforms I got a error the reciver was not in there data base for them take months to check. I taken a very clear pic of reciver with all the information and I sent copy if receat. this was enouf for them to add it to there data base, instesd months 24 hrs was done, appalction was accepted got control number. now gose to a exzmaner to cross check the information, I made error on first trust I uploaded some how pages was upside down, so I rescanned it. revirew it page by page then uploaded the trust, throw other one could been used just makes easyer to read. now ohio laws are changing some still being debated on. I plan keep copy of newest laws with the trust, now my understanding u get it copy it must be a certerfide copy and notazed as such,
lastly whats not said once its apoved u must get the item engrave must have trust name, city and state on it his gose for anything gose throw atf now on my trust I got 2ed part states a copy is as good as the real one
so I don’t have to carry the real documents with me, I got the shunk down and lamated. because the 2ed part of the trust I can do this, I was also given information on how to change the trust, part that has list of guns this be change at any time, but u must cross out all blank lines atf don’t like it open. any changes atf must be given copy of the change with in one year, as far what u need carry with u u need copy of the trust, u need copy of atf documents, a must what guns u have must be in order on trust must be right, I added the class one guns as well, I don’t know what Obama or next leader will do UN seams to have a lot say about this, gun control comes from UN not usa> as long gun trust has all the information atf will accpect it. they will inspeck that has laws in state that u are in, my appcation been in a week I was told when I got the call they done see a probems with that papper work. so hope I have first smb built once I get the ok… these ar 15 pistols
throw light got be built right I used a two stage trigger I will also change out the flash hider to stop the recoil
or raiseing of the gun, I got two night vistion scopes. I thinkin adding them and ammo on the trust,
I don’t know what to expeckt UN so pushing gun control has nothing to them, we need fight it each of us
process is not hard is a learning side for first timers gun turst wording very precise as mine has in it I can build smb guns, this was added for reason so if laws was change I still build them, Obama trying out law any new trust most of the rich have gun trust most ever thing turn in to atf throw trust now, worth investing in
This “article” could have easily been written in such a way as to convey what is– and what is not– required to obtain Class 3 weapons, without disparaging the entire legal profession. Gun-rights lawyers and criminal defense attorneys work very hard to protect freedoms in this country, and to challenge government overreach and abuse. Heck, I’ve personally taken shits that have done more for civil liberties than the author of this article will probably do in his entire life. Gun trusts are an excellent way to obtain and retain Class 3 weapons. If you’re concerned about the expense, shop around. You can find them for a very reasonable cost, and– not withstanding the author’s ignorance of what trusts actually do– they can also be very helpful in estate planning if you have an expensive or sizable collection of weapons and accessories.
I am also an attorney. I practice corporate law and have set up a number of business trusts – a different animal than a typical trust or Gun trust. I came to your site because I was interested in setting a gun trust up for myself but would not so so unless I was thoroughly versed in the law. Or I would seek counsel from someone more qualified.
Just a couple of clarifications. Attorneys are not “board certified” in any particular subject matter. I am an expert on securities law as it relates to investment funds but never took “boards” to become expert. It’s just that I’ve been practicing in the field for 18 years. Every attorney must take the bar exam to be admitted to practice law. The exam consists of your state’s laws and general law as applied to all states. The only attorneys you might argue are “board certified” would be patent attorneys. They are required to take an additional exam called the Patent Bar.
As to the issue of a real estate attorney practicing gun trust law, they ethically should not do so without the advice of expert counsel if they have no knowledge of the law. Your recourse in any instance where a trust may have been created incompetently is suing the attorney for malpractice. Complaints to the bar on the nuances of false advertising are an uphill climb. Malpractice gets everyone’s attention. The only down side is that a damage must occur before you can claim malpractice. Unfortunately for many, at that point it’s too late for that individual. But there would be a potential monetary award if the suit went in their favor. Hope this helped clarify some of the basics.
Best regards,
David
A great many state bars have added specialization certification processes, usually requiring 5 years of substantial involvement in the practice area, peer review, and passage of a specialization exam. It’s very common for an attorney who has been certified as a specialist to be referred to as a “board certified specialist in X”. The board in question would be the State Bar Board of Legal Specialization.
Oh great, another gunshop jackass giving out legal advice.
Thank you for posting this.
“Attorneys” do not lie — “unscrupulous attorneys” do.
If you EVER come across an attorney claiming something like this (that is patently FALSE) then you can file a complaint with the state licensing board.
Attorneys in EVERY state are required under the law to advertise TRUTHFULLY or they can be censured or even disbarred. This is a fact — attorneys are required to speak truthfully in all their public matters and dealings and any dishonest professional behavior — such as advertising, or testifying in court — can get them in VERY hot water.
I’m an attorney, and I know that you don’t need a trust to own NFA. I have been asked about it many times and I state the truth — it makes procuring them a little easier in some ways, and a little harder in others. It makes transferring them to your heirs a little easier, but an NFA trust is NOT required, nor does it confer any special rights.
1. So is it true if you don’t have a gun trust the gov can take the items if you die?
2. Is it true if you don’t have a trust and someone else in the household uses the weapon to defend their self you are both in trouble?
Seriously, a silly article. Downright laughable. Most gun trusts written by attorneys are so dirt cheap that it undercuts the premise of the entire article. Even if I sold 30 a month at $300 a piece, I’d go broke paying rent, insurance, staff, and everything else before even paying me. It would be way more trouble than it’s worth for what I make on my other cases. No attorney worth his salt would spend so much time ripping off the public for such a paltry little sum. In fact, unscrupulous attorneys would take far less time to rip you off and get more money. Most gun trust attorneys see themselves doing a service. Don’t commit a logical sampling error with a few bad eggs. The same reasoning could then be used against gun dealers with devastating results….just sayin
G43 has a few less bullets, but is much thinner, lighter, and concealable. Comes down to this: what is your personal assessment you’re going to need more than 7 shots to stop a bad situation, and are you more likely to take a smaller, lighter gun with you EVERY time you leave the house vs a heavier, bulkier one? A gun you leave at home cuz it’s too much of a pain to carry isn’t gonna help in a bad situation, no matter how awesome it is. G43.
How do you know a lawyer is lying? Their lips are moving!!
“Board-certified” lawyer? That was her first lie.
Hmmm… I’m surprised I didn’t see this story when it first appeared. A few thoughts:
1. I sincerely hope the author who wrote this article intended it to get people riled up. If so, he succeeded. If not, and it’s a serious rant against lawyers, he failed. Miserably.
2. Lawyers are just like any other trade or profession in that the vast majority are honest, trustworthy and competent. In the law, just as in every other walk of life, their are always a few bad apples who give everyone else a bad name.
3. Back to the author. Since he seems to have no respect for what lawyers do, I assume that he also does his own taxes, puts braces on his kids’ teeth (the same kids he delivered himself rather than having a doctor or midwife do it), does all the maintenance and repairs on his vehicles, and built his house by himself. If he, or a family member, ever needs surgery, or some other serious medical treatment, rather than have doctors lie to him and take his money, he will do that himself, too. I don’t think emergency appendectomies can be all that difficult to do.
I also just came across this article a bit late in the game. As a Maryland resident I can honestly say that you are better off paying the lawyer and having everything set up / spelled out in detail, for both easier processing AND for “down the road” psituations. Mmaryland is jacked up with their laws, but not nearly as bad as other states (California, Connecticut, New York {more on this @hi/ hole in a second}, New ajersey, etc).
New York’s Supreme Court has officially f’d us all….after NYC was sued by a victim of a serial killer because the cops on the subway locked themselves in the engineer’s cabin until the victim subdued the attacker, their Supreme Court determined that LEO’s had “no Constitution requirement” to actualy “protect” any of us. With that decision (a couple years ago) sudenly all patrol cars were suddenly devoid of the traditional “To Protect and Serve” statement. This means thatWE are now our first/only line of defense. As such WE, the general public, MUST MUST MUST fight for our rights to own AND carry!
Maryland has, by policy and law, placed more rights with the criminal than the intended victim. If I defend myselfor my family with deadly force I still get arrested and charged with murder (even just “attempted”), and then, if aquited, I can still be sued Civilly by the criminal (if they survive) or their family. The police are now noothing more than a “mop up crew” and investigation service.
NOW!!! In regards to all the lawyer comments/banter…..YES! There are “bad eggs”. But for each 1 of them there are 10’s-100’s of good/honest lawyers…….except in New Jersey, where (in my personal experiences) it seems that for every 1 good/honest lawyer there are 10’s-100’s of unscrupulous deceitful corrupt lawyers.
The author has SOME valid points, but the rest reads as mere uneducated conjecture. I wouldnt shop at his store.
And as to the LGS’s offering Gun Trusts…i have 1 shop that doesn’t carry their class III (unfortunately), and there are 2 (one even has Manufacturer status) that do offer the service….BUT…THEY don’t do the paperwork. They both use the same Lawfirm who has 1 Lawyer (there are 6-7 more) that ONLY handles firearms laws/ cases.
ALWAYS READ! ALWAYS RESEARCH! ALWAYS DDO EVERYTHING BY THE BOOK, and…if possible…AALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS GO THAT 1 EXTRA STEP…. Thatway there is only a MINIMUM chance that you will get jammed up.
C.Y.A!
Great post.
The same Danish engineers probably designed the Madsen M49 bolt action rifle in the late 1940’s. Around 6,000 were sent to Colombia in the 1950’s and by then they were obsolete. Colombia never issued them and sent them to the USA. Most are in excellent condition. It’s a very cool, collectable 30-06 rifle.