Anyone ever had problems with a LEO sign off?

B

BerdanSS

New member
Our chief, who my wife and I both know on a first name basis has been retired for a year or so now. He was a level headed understanding gent. His successor, not so much on that second part. I was thinking about SBRing my (soon to be) 9mm AR pistol without a trust. But the good ol boy mayberry small town feeling has me 2nd guessing myself.

Has anyone ever had an issue getting their form signed off? It always seems to be the first thing brought up when not doing a trust, but I've never heard one person confirm it ever happening.
 
A cpl years ago, when i started down the NFA hwy, i contacted my Sheriff about signing off on form 1's.

I sent 3 separate Emails and got no response. I finally called the S.O. And asked what the deal was. The very nice lady at the front desk told me the Sheriff would not sign for any NFA weapons in his county. No SBR's, no Suppressors, nothing.

This is in a small rural Colorado county. Should not be a problem, but it is.

I went the trust route and just bypassed the Sheriff. I now have 19 NFA items and LOVE EM all
 
Geeze. That's what I was worried about. I live inside a township so I'm guessing I'd be going to our town police chief instead of the sheriffs dept. That's were I had to send my "LEO Notice Copy" of my C&R form. And where my wife and I applied for our CC permits. What got me thinking about it was a comment from an office I know:

"uneducated people have a mindset that civilian (even law abiding ones) ownership of NFA items creates a more dangerous environment to the community, which causes some officials to develop a "Not it my town" attitude" and the'll stonewall you". The officer who told me that was a member of a neighboring counties police ERT.

I guess I could call and speak with someone at the department to kinda feel them out on their viewpoint. I do know our lieutenant fairly well.
 
If you live in a city then the Chief of Police is your CLEO. Try a call to the PD and see what they say.

If the front desk people say something along the lines of "yeah, the Chief signs those all the time." Then youre golden. If its more like "he wont sign that kinda thing." Then start a trust and just get to buying stuff.

Looking back im glad i went the trust route regardless. The trust allows more freedom for others in the family to play with the toys and i think is a cleaner ownership platform anyway
 
I know one who used to sign, but now he refuses all requests to sign because of the influx of requests. I guess they see it as a numbers game and a burden on their resources.
 
Here in the Puget Sound area, it's virtually impossible to get a CLEO sign-off anywhere. I've worked at two high-volume SOTs for a total of almost 3 years, and I've never once processed a sign-off or even seen it done. I'm pretty experienced at selling NFA firearms, but if someone walked into our store to buy and they told me they were getting a sign-off, I wouldn't know the details of how to do the paperwork.
 
Ohio just signed into law some very pro gun reforms, one of which

Includes a “shall certify” provision which requires a chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) to sign off on an application to transfer an item regulated by the National Firearms Act, once the application procedure and requirements are met. This provision eliminates personal bias towards NFA-related items, requiring CLEOs to sign off and process the application in the same way they do a concealed handgun license.

I live in a county which has a very gun friendly CLEO and has been signing off on these things like a celebrity signing autographs. I know his predecessor was the complete opposite.

So for anyone in Ohio who might live in a county where you can't get anyone to sign...things are looking up very soon.

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/s...reform-legislation-signed-into-law-today.aspx
 
Thank you all for the input. I'm going to call Monday and inquire if he will sign one. Some of the reasons I had thought about doing the non-trust route include.....

(1) I have a small family, less than 25 including immediate and extended. And while pretty much every male member has at least one firearm, 80% male and female participate in shooting sports, a few hunt.. Darn near every one of them would not ever want to be in possession of it without me present. Most of them I've talked to about it have told me an AR15 (especially a short one in 9mm) it "stupid" "pointless" and "a trivial waste of money" :eek: I have no nieces of nephews, all my siblings are older than me. And our only child has Autism. So that pretty much rules out the "family" aspect of having it in a trust as I literally have no one to leave it to or that would want to borrow it.

(2) Neither myself, or my wife would consider using a $1300+ NFA item for home defense. Not when we have a reliable HD 12ga and a 9mm glock both of which she is 2nd nature comfortable with. So that rules out my wife using it if I'm not around.

(3) $$$$$...........:D:o


Assuming that you will slam dunk get a LEO sign off....aren't those the most basic reasons to set up a trust to attain NFA items?
 
Thanks for the link tony, good cut and dried pros and cons. I honestly don't see myself wanting more than 3 NFA item though, ever. The 9mm SBR, a .22 SS and a 9mm SS.

found a link to a gun trust layer, hes running a special right now for a new asset protection gun trust at the bargain price of....

$1699 :eek:


Do it yourself trust looks like good option.
 
found a link to a gun trust layer, hes running a special right now for a new asset protection gun trust at the bargain price of....

$1699
Click to expand...

Does that include 2 Suppressors and the tax stamps?? Jeezzzzz!!!!
 
Well I just talked to to our town PD. They said I'm under their jurisdiction and the Chief does sign them. He was even kind enough to let me know when he'd be in to sign it. and "get cha fingers inked" :) and my ffl has been sent as of today so I should have the lower on the 7th of Jan.

I was also really lucky to find an engraving/etching/machine shop locally, just 20 min from me. They do "while you wait" SBR engraving for $25. As soon as I said the material needing engraved was aluminum, with specs as to the depth, height and font.....he chuckled a little and said "you need a lower engraved for SRB don't you, bring it on in...we do several every week" :cool:
 
Dude... Thats AWESOME on a bunch of levels. The CLEO sign-off is a good thing to hear. So often i hear the opposite.

You should still look into the trust. With a trust you can E-file your form 1 and approvals for thise is running about 6-8 WEEKS now. A paper form, thats whats needed with a CLEO signature will run about 6-8 MONTHS.

My last 2 form 1 SBR's efiled and approved in 38 day. Just sayin, why wait??
 
Is the Efile back up? I heard ATF was no longer accepting electronically submitted form 1s after April 2014.

Whats the "best" self created trust to use? I know they'er not ideal by any means, but I don't really want to spend even $600 on forming a trust with an attorney, considering my circumstances. I know legal zoom is like $269.99
 
E-file was down for a bit but is back up for Form1 & 3's. Not form 4's yet. The op is talking about engraving an AR lower so that means a form1 and yes you can efile a form1 with a trust

Go to 199trust.com. I think the current price is like $99. NFA specific trusts are pretty easy. A lot of guys do it themselves with Quicken will maker. Id rather pay someone that actually knows what they are doing and save any grief down the road.
 
Sharkbite

Is 199trust.com what you used? The form they use seems unbelievably basic and generic. It a little worrisome considering some of the horror stories I've read about using generic forms for gun trusts. I'd feel better if someone else on here has used them and could give me some details of the end result using 199trust.
 
BerdanSS said:
Sharkbite

Is 199trust.com what you used? The form they use seems unbelievably basic and generic. It a little worrisome considering some of the horror stories I've read about using generic forms for gun trusts. I'd feel better if someone else on here has used them and could give me some details of the end result using 199trust.
Click to expand...

I haven't read any horror stories about using generic trusts for gun trusts. Believe me, I looked before setting mine up. All I found were vague warnings on the websites of a couple lawyers who appear to specialize in gun trusts, but not a single horror story.
 
The reasons why many CLEO's won't sign off anymore is because some of them got burned. I recall one incident where an NFA friendly CLEO used to routinely sign off on all NFA transfers, but when the media made a big stink about his signing off on one to permit a wife-beater to get a machine gun, that made him rethink it. He still signed off, but did a real "hands-on" background investigation before doing so. The bottom line - signing off on NFA transfers is not "politically expedient" in most places. And CLEO's are political creatures.
 
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