Warning! Alter Ego Firearms LLC Has a Scammy Alter Ego Impersonator Out There

First off, the actual Alter Ego Firearms LLC has done nothing wrong, at all.  They are a legit business.

Unfortunately, there is a scammer out there using Alter Ego's FFL, SOT,  and address, but of course the scammer's own bank account wiring info, claiming to sell NFA Class 3 items.  They also had a great -- and fake Form 3, with a serial number matching the serial on the pictures sent.

The scam is real good - scammer is using an altered copy of the actual FFL, and replaced the signature and owner name to match that on the wire instructions with what may very well be the scammer's own real name, or yet another fake identity - Ros M. Charles.

Note well, there is no Ros M. Charles at the real Alter Ego Firearms.  

So do not buy an NFA item online from Alter Ego Firearms or anyone else for that matter without calling their real number first to verify you're dealing with the actual company and not a scammer.

First clue I had it was a scam was their using multiple email addresses.

Second clue - a demand to quickly send a wire transfer rather than a money order to the actual address of the real shop and a weird bit of grammar.

I did notify Alter Ego Firearms about this and they are taking action as well.  I also notified the listed bank that the account was being used as a scam, so they are at least on notice, but it sounds like they as a bank are not going to do anything.

I expect I will email the scammers that the bank couldn't send a wire so I sent a money order to their FFL address to see what they say to that.

Unfortunately, NFA items are very spendy due to the Hughes Amendment, and getting spendier all the time.  If the spammers get you for half up front and run, you're hosed and out of a significant chunk of change.

Sadly, due to the antiquated nature of the NFA process, the NFA transaction is based very much on trust - trust that the seller has the item and can actually sell it to you, and that trust and the system itself is ripe for abuse.

I highly recommend not sending wire transfers for any NFA or other firearms purchase to prevent this kind of scam.  Also use the ATFE FFL lookup to verify the address and number on the FFL you're given, and only send money to that address, and finally, call the actual business number (not one found in the fake email, but in a proper business directory) to verify who you are dealing with before proceeding with the transaction.

Brace Yourself For Black Friday Weekend?

One item to consider for purchase this weekend is a brace for an AR or AK pistol you may consider building.

Certainly there are some good sales for them going on at the moment from various vendors for Black Friday.

Since it appears that ATFE is about to issue their ruling in December that effectively makes AR15/AK braced pistols SBRs and it seems they may offer a free registration of such pistol braced SBRs saving $200 per pistol thus made by regulatory fiat into an SBR there is an opportunity here.

There's also some peril in this ruling, as some states allow pistol braced pistols but do not allow SBRs, and the legal interplay between state and federal law and their competing definitions can be problematic. 

The interplay can also be beneficial. In Michigan, for example, you can have a firearm that is both a Federal registered SBR and a Pistol under Michigan law at the same time, which allows for some interesting and useful things to happen if you have a concealed pistol license.

In 2019 there were some 413,167 SBRs in the NFRTR.

There are estimated at least 3-7 million braced pistols out there, which would increase the number of SBRs on the registry almost 20-fold.  Since those are rookie numbers we ought to pump those numbers up some this weekend.

Anyone else think statistical proof that 7,413,167+  SBRs are in circulation would make a convincing argument that SBRs are in common use. Hence SBRs as found to be in common use should not be banned by a State nor need to registered Federally as unusual and dangerous weapons?

Hence go forth and get a a brace and assemble yourself or buy a completed an AR pistol prior to the regulation coming out.  It's fun, it's easy, and you will likely get a free Form 1 and help make SBRs common use items. 

In short ATFE classifying braced pistols as SBRs may just have a wonderful unintended consequence of providing the fodder for a challenge to the banning of SBRs by states and requiring their registration and control federally on the basis of the common use test.

So go on out and brace up this weekend!

No, You Do Not Get Two Form 5 Transfers For The Price Of One

When dealing with NFA items, it often pays to consult an attorney, especially when it is for more complicated and uncommon issues.  Relying on an FFL can be give less than satisfying results sometimes.

Our story:  I had a client who was an avid firearms collector, shooter, and owner, not to mention a very nice guy.  I had setup an NFA trust for him quite a few years back, and he had NFA items both in the trust and he had prior NFA purchases titled to himself individually.

Sadly he passed away in 2017.  

I then handled his estate and transferred everything to his heir, who was his sister.  She's a nice lady and has a long-term boyfriend who's also a great and friendly guy. I saved her a ton of money as a less-than-scrupulous FFL dealer had offered her $3,000 for his entire collection.

Let's put it this way - just one of his firearms was worth more than $3,000 alone. I managed to hook her up with honest direct buyers where she got fair prices for the firearms that netted her over ten times that of the FFL's massive low-ball offer.

I also transferred the NFA items via Form 5s to her. 

Form 5 is a tax exempt transfer, so no $200 tax is required, and they tend to get processed reasonably quickly.  

Had a bit of back and forth with the NFA Branch as they wanted some additional documents, but we got that all squared away and done and legally transferred to her.  End of story.

Or so I thought.

I get a call a few weeks ago from her and her now husband, that ATF NFA Branch is asking for further documents.  Even worse I get the bad news that she has stage 4 cancer.

This is peculiar.  They said the NFA Branch letter was looking for certain documents on the transfer that they had never requested before, so I go through and retrieve the requested documents and send them to her ASAP.  Most of them are probate closure documents showing the estate was completed in 2017, which it was.

Sadly she died that week.

I then meet her husband last week as they had just got another inquiry letter and I had him come in to take a look at what was wanted as over the phone it just didn't make any sense.

There was a reason for that.

It turns out the inquiry is not about the transfer of the items I assisted with in 2017.

It's about a transfer of the same items in 2020.

It turns out she sold all the NFA items to an FFL dealer in late 2020.

The dealer instead of doing Form 4s as transfers from the sister to him, instead did them all on Form 5s, naming the estate and the sister jointly as the transferors, and the dealer even signed as the transferor and as transferee.

No you really can't do that.  Not when they've already been legally transferred out of the estate in 2017.  Very much not the way to try and save $200 on each item.  The dealer also messed up the serial number on one of the items to make it all even better.

Not good, and it now makes sense why NFA Branch is very unhappy with the paperwork.  This is because the paperwork is fundamentally flawed junk.

This is what we call a mess. Thankfully it's not my mess. That FFL now has some explaining to do.

Yes, Trying To Buy Little Pieces Of Metal Can Get You A Felony, Stupid.

In this case a reality show star just got a sharp burst of reality.

If you're in a TL,DR kind of mood it boils down to this: If perchance you want to hire a machinist to make some NFA items for you, don't.

The Detroit News: Reality show star from Mich. charged with gun crimes.

Apparently he is/was a star in Meet The Putmans, and yeah I hadn't heard of the show either until now.

The case against Putman dates to November. That’s when he entered a machine shop in nearby Elkton and asked the owner to duplicate a metal part, according to federal court records.

The owner was suspicious that the metal item was a firearm component. Putman asked to have 10 copies of the part produced and the owner quoted an $800 price, according to Stephen Ross, special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Later, the owner learned that the part was similar to a component used to convert an AR-15 into a fully automatic assault rifle.

The owner contacted ATF agents after Putman left the shop.

It sounds like Putman tried to get the guy to manufacture a Drop In Auto Sear or a Lightning Link. Either of which, combined with other required parts, can convert an AR-15 into a full auto firearm covered under the National Firearms Act.

Possession of an unregistered DIAS or Lightning Link comes complete with a 10-year felony for possession of such when you're caught, as Putman is finding out to his dismay.

So, don't violate NFA laws, and don't involve others in your attempt to violate NFA laws.

ATF 41F CLEO Notification Follies

The revised ATFE regulations regarding NFA items to be acquired by both individuals and trusts have led to some fun changes, some of which are beneficial and and some which are new headaches.

One of the changes is that CLEO notification (but no longer approval) is now required by both individuals and trusts, and notification is made by taking the copies of the appropriate Form marked helpfully enough, "CLEO Copy" and giving them to your friendly local Chief Law Enforcement Officer.

So I'm assisting a client who is now the beneficiary of an NFA trust, and a Personal Representative of a NFA owner's estate as the now deceased owner had NFA items both in his trust and in his personal name.

Think lots of Form 5s being done for nice tax free transfers to the named beneficiaries/heirs.

This should be easy enough and the clients gets the paperwork and takes the CLEO copy to her local CLEO to provide the notification as required by law. Simple enough right? Especially as, since the client is a beneficiary, the client can even get their fingerprints done at the same time the client is dropping off the CLEO notification copy, rather convenient for all concerned, and no worries as my client is as clean as the proverbial whistle.

Not so fast. The CLEO has no idea what to do with the CLEO copy of the forms, took them, looked at them and then gave them back wouldn't accept them and says that he has no idea what to do with them and says the client should take the CLEO copies to the Detroit ATFE office. Uh NO.

So we will instead go ahead and mail them to the CLEO with a copy of the latest ATFE letter on 41F so the CLEO can then do whatever the CLEO wants with the forms and the client will have proof it was sent to the CLEO.

As the ATFE require CLEO notification while stating they don't have to take any action, they shouldn't be too surprised that the CLEO is in fact taking no action at all.

Try To Compromise With The Devil? NFATC Finds Out Why You Shouldn't.

The National Firearms Act Trade and Collectors Association it seems just helped the ATFE and DOJ screw over owners of NFA items quite nicely.

While it was admirable that NFATC in its proposal for rule-making to BATFE requested that the requirement for Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO)signature be done away with, they unfortunately didn't stop there.

The morons also requested that responsible persons for NFA trusts, corporations and the like have to submit to the fingerprinting, photo and background requirements as individual applicants must. Note there really hasn't been any problems extant with such Trusts and Corp owners all this time, so why the hell did they bring it up? Why now, when there's all the clamor for gun control and Obama and Holder hold control of the levers of the executive branch?

Do note that many people form the Corporations and Trusts because their CLEOs unreasonably refuse to sign their paperwork and may do so both arbitrarily and capriciously and there's no redress for such refusal. While my CLEO is reasonable about signing off, there's no guarantee a successor will be in the future. Requiring permission or the acquisition of legal items based on the mere whims of an official seems rather un-American to say the least.

Of course, with use of this brilliant proposal as the excuse the ATFE went off and proposed a rule as a result that agrees with requiring responsible persons to go through the background check, but keeps the requirement for CLEO sign-off.

Thanks to this bit of rule-proposing brilliance, we get the worst of both worlds - The proposed rule now is that the CLEO sign-off requirement remains and Trusts and Corporate responsible officers are subject to it.

Nicely done NFATC, nicely done.

Hat Tips to SayUncle and Prince Law Offices PC blog.