AZ Guns NFA eForms

 I bought an NFA item… now what?

If this is your first time or 50th, we hope this form will help you through this process of getting your form(s) filed and obtaining your new purchase.

If your NFA item was purchased from another dealer (FFL transfer): 

Please ensure you have filled out the NFA Customer Information sheet with the employee on duty the day of purchase. This explains our transfer fees and ensures we have your proper contact information etc. People sometimes ask why we went to a variable cost transfer fee (based on the value of the item). The reasoning for this is that we must carry insurance on the items and it is important for high dollar items that we know that they are in shop and need separate insurance, and to subsequently cover the costs of that insurance policy.

Now it is time to start thinking about how you will take possession:

Most people take their items as either an individual or a trust. Remembering that we are not lawyers, we will try to give a brief overview of these. Taking possession of your items as an individual is just what it sounds like, you as a natural person own it. It is straightforward and simple and has no additional moving parts. Utilizing a trust can have its benefits though. For example: upon your death what happens to the item(s)? If an individual, your heirs would have to either forfeit them to the ATF or file additional forms to try to have the item(s) transferred to them whereas a trust clearly names the successor trustee (person in charge) and also beneficiaries. A trust also allows you to have others listed on the trust able to use the items without you present. There are many vendors that offer trust creation. We have a lawyer for this as well and can have one created for you if you want to pause briefly and have this created first… however you choose to take possession, it is important to read about this and make sure that you’re satisfied with your personal choice.

What you’ll need to do BEFORE filing your form 4(s):

First you will need to create an eforms account with the ATF. Make your way to eforms.atf.gov and click “register” to create your account. Please note that the email address used must match the one on our filing and must be a good email (they will send your stamp to that address digitally). Retain your login information (username/password) as well as your PIN. It is your username and PIN that you will digitally sign the form 4 with when we submit.

While the ATF still allows paper finger prints cards (they’re slowly being phased out), we strongly discourage it. Mailing them in is one more failure point (whether they be damaged, lost in transit, you forget to attach the face sheet, not mailed timely etc). If digital prints are utilized, your submission is 100% complete at the time of submission. We Do your EFT fingerprints in house, so no need to go elsewhere, one of our customer service reps can knock this out for you at your time of purchase or if coming in to pay for an NFA transfer.  

Next we need a passport photo. Many places offer the file digitally which is an excellent option, otherwise it will need to be scanned in order to upload the file to the ATF, we can take your photo in house, in the event you do not have a digital passport photo.

Once you’ve obtained the fingerprint file and passport file… we’re off to the races. 

If filing as an individual:

• If we did not take your prints and passport photo for you, send your fingerprint EFT file, your passport photo file, and a scan of your driver’s license (with current address) to eforms@azguns.com

• If the item you are looking to get approved is a destructive device, short barreled rifle (SBR), short barreled shotgun (SBS), or machine gun you must send a “transferee necessity statement”, examples of this can be found online. Ensure this is sent to the same email address (eforms@azguns.com).

If filing as a trust:

• If the item you are looking to get approved is a destructive device, short barreled rifle (SBR), short barreled shotgun (SBS), or machine gun you must send a “transferee necessity statement”, examples of this can be found online. Ensure this is sent to the same email address (eforms@azguns.com).

• We will need a pdf copy of your trust document, and a form 5320.23 (https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/form/national-firearms-act-nfa-responsible-person-questionnaire-atf-form-532023/download) for each person (one per person, per item) that meets this criteria below (that is listed on your trust document):

Who is a Responsible Person?

In the case of an unlicensed entity, including any trust, partnership, association, company (including any Limited Liability Company (LLC)), or corporation, any individual who possesses, directly or indirectly, the power or authority to direct the management and policies of the trust or entity to receive, possess, ship, transport, deliver, transfer, or otherwise dispose of a firearm for, or on behalf of, the trust or legal entity.

In the case of a TRUST, those persons with the power or authority to direct the management and policies of the trust include any person who has the capability to exercise such power and possesses, directly or indirectly, the power or authority under any trust instrument, or under State law, to receive, possess, ship, transport, deliver, transfer, or otherwise dispose of a firearm for, or on behalf of, the trust. 

Examples of who may be considered a responsible person of a trust or legal entity include:

• Settlors/Grantors

• Trustees

• Partners

• Members

• Officers

• Board members

• Owners

• Beneficiaries – if said beneficiary has the capability to exercise any of the powers or authorities enumerated above.

I’ve survived this far… now what?:

Now comes the easy part… Once you have emailed the above to eforms@azguns.com, we will schedule a time for a google meets call that is convenient for you. There is no need to come into the shop… Your form should be prepared and waiting for you at the time of our appointment. If you are filing as a trust the call should take 3-5 minutes to review the information and digitally sign. If you are taking it as an individual, it will take about 10 minutes to do the questionnaire (very similar to the 4473 questionnaire) and then digitally sign. Prior to our meeting please migrate to remotedesktop.google.com and download the extension for remote desktop so you can take control of our computer and input your username and pin to digitally sign your forms.

Once we are done signing all forms, there is a legal requirement for you to notify our chief law enforcement officer. In our case, that is MCSO. Please ensure that after our eforms session you mail your RP form(s) in the case of a trust, or form 4 in the case of an individual to MCSO to satisfy this requirement.

We are doing our best to make this as painless as the process can be while utilizing the ATF’s best means of submitting to ensure the fastest approval. If you have questions along the way, let's stop and discuss them to make sure you are comfortable with this unnecessarily complex process that only our government could come up with. The people at our counters SHOULD be able to answer any questions you have, but like all businesses these days we suffer from turnover and have people in various stages of training. If you email eforms@azguns.com you will get someone that is very familiar with the process and more than happy to get on a call with you to answer those questions.