Class 3 license

[chuckybob]

What hoops would I have to jump through to get one of these?

[[anguish]]

A metric shit-ton of hoops...and would have to have one massive-fuck pocketbook to finance it as well.

[chuckybob]

specifically?

[Rabbit]

The class 3 license doesn't exhist as you think it does. There isn't a specific license to own a class 3 firearm, just an assload of taxes and paperwork.

[[anguish]]

From what I understand..you can possess a fully-automatic weapon if you don't have a Class III..you just need to pay the taxes and the such on it. But to deal the things you need to have a Class III.
That's what I've been told (and made fun of for believing otherwise) anyway.

I would rather have a C&R license :D.

[TheUltra4sshole]

OK, here's the dealie-o

A "Class-3 license" is a misnomer for a tax-stamp on an individual title-2 weapon. Title-2 meaning SBR, Machine, silencer, AOW, et cetera.

A class-3 is a SOT (Special(occupational) Taxpayer), meaning someone with an FFL (federal firearms license--a dealer's license) who also sent in the right forms and fees to the ATF to deal, import or manufacture title-2 weapons. Title-1 weapons (rifles, shotguns or pistols) only need an FFL to deal, make or import.

So you, Joe Schmo, only have to find a FFL holder (who is classified by the ATF as a SOT) who wants to sell a title-2 weapon. You pay him the cost of the weapon, the $200 for the tax-stamp transfer ($5 for AOW) and his handler's fee, and when the ATF sends him the tax-stamp transfer go-ahead and gets the local law enforcement senior officer's signature, the weapon is yours.

A high-speed SOT can get you the weapon within a day. Typically, though, allow yourself a week or two to actually have the weapon and paperwork in-hand.

Unless you are a SOT, there is no such thing as "registering" a title-2. All you do is transfer the tax-stamp on an existing registration. Meaning, that serial number is known by the ATF to exist and that you're the lawful owner of it. However, the purpose of the stamp (it's an actual stamp, much like a federal or state waterfowl stamp on your hunting license) is in the very likely case that the ATF loses track of you being the lawful owner of that weapon, you can present the tax stamp as proof of your compliance to 18 USC.

If you have a title-2 weapon, you can only transfer the tax stamp via a SOT. You can only purchase any firearm in person. You cannot do an ebay-style purchase of a weapon unless you are an FFL holder.

Um.


I think that's it.

I suppose your next question is how you become a SOT. To which the answer is: first, try to get your FFL. If you wanna know how to get your FFL, ask your local law enforcement officer, who'll point you to their ATF liason, and you can begin the agonizing process of killing your soul with forms and fees.

It's only agonizing because you never get it right the first few times you try. It's really not that bad of a process, but it becomes painful if you don't know what you're doing. Befriending a current FFL holder is probably the smartest thing you can do.

[chuckybob]

damn, that is a lot of hoops.