Once you have a permit and you own a firearm, you are the only person that can that gun.  If you want to bring your spouse or child to a firing range to shoot, you must be there to supervise at all times.  Even if your spouse is an avid shooter, they cannot take your gun and go shoot without your being right there next to them.  This can be a problem if you’re a family who is responsible with guns but don’t want to buy 2 of every firearm so that everyone owns one.

This is where a Gun Trust comes in.  A Gun Trust is a trust set up specifically with federal and state laws on firearms in mind.  It has to comply with the National Firearms Act (NFA of 1934), the Gun Control Act (GCA of 1968) and the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA of 1986).  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) is responsible for the registration of firearms.  To comply with BATFE rules, to transfer ownership of a firearm, you must fill out an application, pay a registration tax, provide fingerprints, photographs and obtain the signature of a Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO).  The last part is the part that a Gun Trust is made to get around.   As I said before, it might be hard or impossible to have a CLEO sign off on an application.  Under the NFA, transfers to a Trust does not require a CLEO signature.

So how is a Gun Trust set up?  The original trustee is the person who owns the guns or other firearms.  They transfer the firearms into the trust and names additional trustees.  All trustees to the Trust is allowed unrestricted use of the firearms owned by the trust.  So anyone that you want to give access to your guns, you simply list them as a trustee.

A Gun Trust is usually a stand alone trust that is separate from your other estate planning documents and usually separate from any other trust that you might set up to hold other types of property.

If you own a firearm in or around the Boston metro area and think that you might benefit from a Gun Trust, give me a call and we can discuss whether you need one.

People often think that a trust is a trust; that there’s no difference between one person’s trust and another except for the names listed.  This couldn’t be further from the trust.  Each trust is different, not just the names that are in it, but each trust is drafted to suit the needs of different people.  As such, it’s impossible to answer specific questions about a trust.

Generally speaking, there are two main categories of trusts – Revocable and Irrevocable.  If you have an irrevocable trust, chances are, it’ll be very hard to change the terms of the trust.  If you have a revocable trust, depending on who has the power of trustee in the trust, you might be able to extend the life of the trust.

Remember however, that each trust is different so you should bring the trust an experienced estate planning attorney to review it for you if you have questions about your specific trust.