Active duty and purchasing suppressor

General Firearms NFA
1

Good evening everyone.

I had a question regarding purchasing a suppressor and being active military.

Just to give a little bit of background info: I am active duty army stationed in HI, but have a home of record address based in TX.

So my question is: can I purchase a suppressor and have it stored at my address in TX? Is there any reason why this would be unwise?

I apologize if this question comes off as stupid. I’ve been reading all I can regarding NFA, and I did not find an exact answer to my question. I’ve been a CA resident my entire life, so anything NFA related is new to me.

So just to recap, if I’m stationed anywhere outside of TX, am I still able to buy and keep the suppressor at my home address in TX while I am in another state?

Thanks very much

2

as long as it’s locked up… gun safe or safety deposit box, not a problem.

3

To pick up an NFA item in Texas, you have to be a resident of Texas, have an address in Texas and pick it up in person.

4

Perhaps you can set up a trust, but that’ll have to be done in Texas possibly, since it may need witness signature.

I set up a trust before basic, and picked up most of NFA items except one suppressor. My brother, my only trustee, was able to pick it up for me. He showed the trust, and it was all good.

5

Ok, thank you. Do you know if it is possible to have a trust set up in TX? If so, I would be able to use my brother as a trustee. The address is also not an issue for me.

Thanks again

6

These folks would probably be the best place to ask:

I used to use them but let my membership lapse. Been thinking about renewing…

https://www.uslawshield.com/state_coverage/texas/

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7

Your inbox is full

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8

Sorry about that, thanks for letting me know. I cleared it up.

9

Don;t know if it’s the same in TX but in VA before all the rules changed you either had to pick it up in person or they would ship it to you after notifying the chief LEO and waiting 5 days. Now they can just ship it to you since the chief LEO already knows you are getting it anyway.

So I suppose you could do it all unless for some reason they required your specific signature upon delivery which would seem like a stretch. So if it is shipped to you home address in TX it seems like that would be ok to me.

BigWalon knows this stuff upside down, backwards and forwards. Be interesting to see what he thinks. I don’t see why you should have to suffer to simply make this type purchase.

10

Thanks everyone. I’ll check out that link posted above.

tb-av, who is BigWalon if you don’t mind me asking.

11

He is a member here and very well read on everything NFA. Usually has very well reasoned and supported answers and advice for NFA questions. I’m surprised he hasn’t commented. Although some things simply fall into the ‘who knows’ category because every State is different and even some of the BATF people will give you different answers.

I’ll tell you what else you could do. You will have to find the Chief LEO in your area anyway. Maybe it’s Sheriff, a State Chief, I have no idea. But most people at the shops know who the good ‘Chief LEO’s are’. Like where I live I have Police and Sheriff. The Police are not NFA friendly. The Sheriff is. So you can guess which one I would send my papers to.

You could seek out your friendly LEO that you will send your papers to. Tell them your situation and -maybe- get their “sure that works, go for it” in writing like via a casual email. Just a thought. I just can’t imagine that the NFA rules are set up to encumber you while on temporary location in the Mil. That just wouldn’t make sense to me.

12

I saw this earlier but didn’t respond, because I’ve never been active duty. There are a lot of aspects of that situation that I don’t understand. Some at the state level, some at the Federal.

That being said, one of the questions was around storing an item at the TX address. Nothing wrong with that at all. ATF has actually suggested that as a solution (safety deposit box, locked at a family member’s house, etc) if you had to move and couldn’t take it with you. You could store it in a neighboring state that you could visit. That’s not much different than what you’re asking.

As far as getting one in TX, you could set up a trust with a friend and/or family member that lived in a Texas. They could handle the 4473 piece as a Responsible Person of the entity. Y’all could do fingerprints yourselves, or both use SS kiosks in different states (although I’m not sure if there are any in HI?) If there aren’t, you can mail in your prints to SS and the other trustee(s) could use a kiosk.

There may be other options related to active duty, but there are definitely options for the simple situation of being out of state.

13

Perfect.

Thank you very much. I’ll be taking leave soon, and will be in Texas so I could get all of that set up while there.

So I’m assuming that if I timed my leave dates just right, and were in TX then I should be able to pick up the suppressor myself right? And as far as that goes, if leaving the suppressor in a locked box/safe at my brother’s residence, would he have to be a trustee? I’m sorry if I missed this bit.

14
  1. Yes
  2. Nope

Here’s what the ATF has as part of their Q&A:

[i]If an individual is changing his or her State of residence and the individual’s application to transport the NFA firearm cannot be approved because of a prohibition in the new State, what options does a lawful possessor have?

NFA firearms may be left in a safe deposit box in his or her former State of residence. Also, the firearm could be left or stored in the former State of residence at the house of a friend or relative in a locked room or container to which only the registered owner has a key. The friend or relative should be supplied with a copy of the registration forms and a letter from the owner authorizing storage of the firearm at that location.

The firearms may also be transferred in accordance with NFA regulations or abandoned to ATF.[/i]

That’s essentially your situation. Your brother would not need to be a trustee. He just shouldn’t have a key or the combination.

15

I debated this myself a lot and just never went forward with it. Timing your leave may be very hard, unless your boss is very flexible and the shop where its being sent doesn’t mind holding it for a while, just in case. SS doesn’t have any kiosks in HI as all NFA items are banned but id be surprised if you couldn’t get it all set up while on leave, its just the pickup that gave me pause.

16

Yeah it looks like I’ll just go ahead and set up a trust with my brother in that case.

Thanks again for the help

17

As far as you’re aware, for Active Duty military, do you need to change your state of residence to Texas? For most people the state of residence will be their Home of Record (where they entered from). For example, I am stationed in Idaho, but a Missouri Resident and had no issues receiving NFa items. This should be the same in Texas correct? As long as you have an active residence in the state?

18

Your home of residence is whatever you make it. The OP stated he has a home of record address in Texas and I am going to guess a Texas ID or drivers license.

Active duty personnel may purchase firearms (and I believe NFA items as well) in the state they are stationed in, as long as they have a copy of their PCS orders.

19

I believe that is the case as well. I just didn’t know if perhaps Texas has some more interesting policies regarding NFA purchases. I will be PCSing there myself in May upon return from this deployment, so I wanted to be certain prior to getting there.

20

From what I understand, you can legally purchase firearms in the state that you are stationed in with PCS orders. This should be regardless of where your home of record is. I’m not sure how exactly NFA comes into play with having home of record in a non-NFA friendly state while being stationed in an NFA friendly state.

ETA: Iraqgunz beat me to it