Heres the real skinny...
Ok.
As I understand it... A friend currently in FL that has some full autos (cool friend btw), and he wants to come visit you in NJ with his toys. You have land and permission for his toys.
You first need to find out if 'NFA' - National Firearms Act weapons are allowed in your state. (if allowed which ones). You can do this by contacting your local Sheriff's Department or the Chief Law Enforcement Officer's office OR YOUR LOCAL BATF&E Branch. Once this is done, and you have verbal permission from the police that a legally possessed fully automatic weapon is allowed, your friend needs to file a single form with the BATF&E. It's called a '5320.20' or Form20 - "Application to Transport Interstate or Temporarily Export Certain National Firearms Act (NFA) Weapons' (document # OMB No. 1140-0010 (10/31/2009)).
IF THE NJ STATE LAW SAYS THAT IT IS A NO-GO, THEN THE REST OF THIS POST DOES NOT MATTER.
Your friend has more than likely filled one of these out before. Most full auto owners have (I've filed several in the past. If your friend needs help, he can email me -
douglasschuckert@hotmail.com).
Once this form comes back to your friend approved from the ATF, he can either fly to NJ with his item(s), or he can drive. He DOES NOT need to contact the State Police of each state between FL and NJ (matter of fact to keep people from looking for trouble, he should NOT… some people, who don’t know what they are talking about say that you do, but you don’t. THE ATF EVEN RECOMENDS THAT YOU DO NOT). If your friend gets pulled over, and IF the police ask if he has any weapons in the car, he needs to say 'YES' and show them the approved 5320.20 & 5320.4 (Form 4). As long as the weapon is NOT easily accessible and the ammo is stored completely different than the weapon (i.e gun in the car, ammo in the boot), he will be completely fine. The cops may or may not call their local ATF and run the registration paperwork, but your friend will not be harassed one bit. If he does get harassed, then the cops will have some serious and painful questions to answer by the US Justice Department and the BATF&E.
If he plans on flying, he can. Transporting/flying with NFA is the EXACT same procedures if you want to fly with say a hunting rifle. He packages the items up in a hard-shelled/lockable case. At the check-in counter he tells the airlines that he's flying with weapons. TSA takes the case along with your friend to a back room. He will open the case, and sign a form. This form goes in the case, and he locks the case in front of the TSA authorities. They take the case and check it in with the rest of the luggage. AT NO TIME DOES ANYONE other than him and the TSA that took your case to the baggage people know that case has a weapon in it. There will be NO outside markings AT ALL (matter of fact, that’s against federal law).
He will retrieve his locked case of goodies with the rest of his luggage when he arrives in NJ.
Then it’s to your property for some fun. Outside of these restrictions/procedures if all local and state laws are followed, then you will be “easy pesy lemon squeezy”.
The ATF 5320.5 or 'Form 5' IS NOT REQUIRED. One would use the Form 5 to temporarily send the NFA item to a smith for work (although NOT required) or to a Police Department for Demonstration Purposes or to a Class 2 or 3 dealer for consignment sale. The FORM 5 is for a "Temporary Transfer". Although not required, people generally ONLY file a Form 5 if they are sending it in to a C2 SOT or a gunsmith for repair work. The ATF does NOT consider this a Temporary Transfer, but they do recommend the form be filed just in case of any inspection and/or question. Its a 'piece of mind thing'. If your friend is NOT sending his weapon to a Dealer UNACCOMPANIED, he DOES NOT NEED TO FILE THE ATF FORM 5. HE CAN-NOT TRANSFER, EVEN ON A FORM 5 a weapon to you. You do not have an FFL or SOT and you are not a Law Enforcement Division. So the Form 5 is worthless in this case. The proper form is 5320.20 (but under no circumstance can you take possession of the item WITHOUT the weapons legal transferee being present (i.e THE OWNER).
I hope this helps.
Its actually a very simple thing. Really it is. I’ve done it so many times with my machine gun and suppressors it ain’t even funny.
TO reply to the previous post... IF THE WEAPONS ARE LEGAL IN NJ, THE AIRLINES WILL NOT, I REPEAT WILL NOT CALL THE COPS AND TELL THEM YOU HAVE A 'GUN' OR A MACHINE GUN IN YOUR LUGGAGE..
If you live in Florida and you're flying to Nevada for a gunshow, and you're bringing your machinegun. If you have an approved 5320.20 along with your 5320.4 (Form 4), and you get sent to Chicago for a layover/connecting flight and the leg from Chicago to to NV gets cancelled for whatever reason, you WILL NOT GET ARRESTED. NOONE KNOWS THAT THAT BAG HAS A MACHINE GUN IT IN BESIDES THE AIRLINES (AND ONLY HIGH-LEVEL PEOPLE HAVE ACCESS TO THAT INFORMATION IN THEIR SYSTEM – even then it only shows up as a weapon, no particulars are kept). If you have to stay in Chicago overnight, then you get your luggage and place that particular bag in one of the AirPort Lockers, and take the rest of your luggage to the hotel with you. OR you can call the State Police and tell them what has happened and ask if they can store the weapon overnight for you (this will be a PITA as you will have to explain things about 500 times, and then getting the weapon back for your connecting flight will be another PITA – most of the time if you seem like you know what you’re talking about, the cops will not try to rass you. They will respect the fact that you’re going out of your way to obey the law).. Just get the airport locker... if you dont want to stay with your luggage at the airport overnight...
The reason the numb-nutt below got arrested is he left the airport with it.. Its not rocket science. Leave it in a locker at the airport. As long as you maintain positive control over the key to the locker, legally you've maintained positive control of the weapon. Personally I would stay with my gear in the airport, but that’s just me.
The statement below the last one is VERY CORRECT. YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE LEGAL TO POSSESS THE WEAPON AT BOTH THE DEPARTING AIRPORT AND THE ARRIVING AIRPORT (END DESTINATION). If the gun is legal in FL, but illegal in NJ, and you try to fly or drive with the weapon to that state, the Airline, if aware of the handgun or weapon will more than likely deny the luggage at the departing terminal (they are aware of the rules), or if they do not deny it to board, they could very potentially call the authorities in NJ. Typically if you are within the laws, you are protected by the Privacy Act (including the contents of your luggage). But if you are in violation of law, then they have a legal responsibility to report the incident & impropriator.
Moral of the story is this… KNOW WHAT NJ LAWS ARE AND DO NOT BREAK THEM. If you break the laws you will never own or be legally able to shoot another weapon for the rest of your life. You will face 10 year MANDATORY sentence in Club Fed with a MANDATORY $250,000.00 fine (if you are in violation of NFA Law) and about the same sentence (depending on state) for regular Type 1 Arms. To cap it all off, if your friend does not do his research he can also face prison time.
The ATF has been known to approve 5320.20 forms for end states and/or areas that do not allow NFA weapons.
If you absolutely want to see your friend’s full auto stuff, and NJ says NO, then take a trip to FL. Hell stop by Northern FL in October and we’ll all go shooting.