An Idaho Gun Trust provides a legal solution to national and state laws regarding silencers (suppressors), short-barreled rifles, and automatic weapons.
Idaho Gun Trust Applicable Laws
Under the National Firearms Act (“NFA”), certain guns and all silencers need an approved transfer. The application process with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) involves fingerprinting, a background check, and paying a fee for a tax stamp. Once an individual registers his NFA item, he can use it but he can’t lend it to anyone else or allow anyone else to possess it. If he keeps it in a locked gun safe at home and leaves on a trip, his family in the house commit an accidental felony by possessing it!
The Legal Solution
An Idaho Gun Trust solves many of the problems of individual ownership of a NFA item. First, the Gun Trust names all the people, called the Trustee and Co-Trustees, who control the trust. However, the gun trust is the actual owner of any NFA guns transferred into it. Each of the people named in the trust can possess and use the NFA guns in the trust. If you name your family in your gun trust, they never accidentally commit a felony when you leave your NFA gun at home. But, you may also want to loan your NFA gun or suppressor to someone else. If that other person is named as a Co-Trustee, they can borrow it and use it.
Idaho Gun Trusts Cannot Be Only One Person
When you create a gun trust you are the Settlor. If you want to manage the trust, and you probably do, choose yourself as the Trustee. You can name Co-Trustees who can also manage the trust with you. As I mentioned before, your Co-Trustees can use and possess the NFA guns in the trust. Just realize that under Idaho law, you can’t be the only person named in the trust. In other words, you can’t be the Settlor and the only Trustee and only beneficiary.
Who Submits Fingerprints and Background Checks
You need a background check and tax stamp when you transfer a NFA item into your Idaho Gun Trust. If there are Co-Trustees when you put the gun into the Trust, the Co-Trustees need to submit to the same background check. But you can transfer the gun into the Trust first and add the Co-Trustees later. If you wait and add them later, they don’t have to submit to a background check. For these reasons, a good Gun Trust will include blank amendment pages for you to add and remove Co-Trustees. You won’t need additional legal assistance to make such changes to your Gun Trust. However, you need to sign, date, and notarize each amendment.
I offer free initial consultations for Will-based or Trust-based estate plans and offer an Idaho Gun Trust as an add-on service with an estate plan. Contact me if an Idaho Gun Trust sounds like something you need.