NFA stuff can also be owned by trusts and corporations. Trusts, at least do not require the signature of the local chief law enforcement officer. (I don't think corporations do either). Individuals can establish trusts which own NFA items, thus not needing to disturb the local CLEO. Some states pretty much ban NFA items, but Texas is not one of them.Mike1951 wrote: ... and requires the approval and signature of one of several chief law enforcement officers in your area. This particular process is practically impossible for many of us since in many areas it is policy not to sign these applications...
There are some issues when it comes to crossing state lines, but within the state you are good to go once you have the tax paperwork in hand. I am not interested in "machine guns" but the trusts work for SBRs and suppressors and such. Haven't done this myself yet, but maybe down the road.There is a lawyer who runs a website and blog dealing with gun trusts, and says he can link you up with an attorney specializing in them in your state (at least for Texas and Florida. I am not recommending him as I don't know anything about him other than what I read on his website, but it is a starting point if you are interested. Here is his url:
http://www.guntrustlawyer.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Police departments of course can purchase their own full-auto (or partial auto i.e. three round burst) firearms, and can authorize their officers to use the officers' own legally owned NFA weapons. In the recent past there were some officers who ended up in hot water because they were buying NFA rifles for themselves from manufacturers using orders done on department letterhead (apparently with their chiefs' permissions in at least some cases) -- thus it looked like the department was buying the guns, so they were getting brand new "machine guns," and also avoiding the tax I think. Then the fed gummint caught on, and things started getting ugly. Did not hear a final resolution on this...