Posted on 04/29/2013 7:22:25 PM PDT by Born Conservative
Foster Township gun collector Thomas F. Braddock Jr. wants to buy a 9 mm machine gun from a dealer in Georgia as an investment.
He wanted to proceed with the deal by getting the signature of Luzerne County interim sheriff Jack Robshaw. But Robshaw didn't even consider signing the federal government form to authorize the purchase.
"He just flat out refused," said Braddock, a retired Army National Guard major and former employee with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. "I have had a security clearance for 25 years. I am certainly not a criminal."
Robshaw is concerned about civilians, who are not law enforcement officers, acquiring fully automatic weapons that could end up being used in mass shootings, noting they can fire "hundreds of rounds per minute." He said he would rather lose his job than sign the form.
Braddock, 57, is still able to purchase the machine gun he wants by setting up a gun trust, but he is upset he now has to spend extra time and money to get the machine gun.
His story is typical in Pennsylvania, said Joshua Prince, a Berks County attorney who specializes in gun ownership and Second Amendment issues. Law enforcement officials don't have the ability to simply refuse to consider the questions on the form from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Prince said.
Robshaw believes he can refuse to sign the form for any reason. The form authorizes transfer and sales of weapons regulated by National Firearms Act and requires the signature of the "chief law enforcement officer," or CLEO, in a jurisdiction.
NFA-regulated weapons include fully automatic guns manufactured before 1986, short-barreled rifles or shotguns, destructive devices and suppressors, also known as silencers.
Lackawanna County Sheriff John Szymanski said he imposed a moratorium on signing the ATF forms for NFA weapons after the Sandy Hook school shootings in Connecticut in December.
"We wanted to take another look at this," Szymanski said. "I am not saying we won't do it anymore. Right after Sandy Hook, we had two requests for silencers. These requests come from gun collectors. They want exotic weapons."
Szymanski said he wants to consult with the ATF on the process, explaining his signature is "a rubber stamp" for decisions made by the ATF.
Prince disagrees, explaining the CLEO certifies three things on the ATF form - the applicant lives in the jurisdiction; the CLEO has no knowledge the applicant will use the firearm unlawfully; and the CLEO has no knowledge the applicant is prohibited from owning the weapon.
When the forms are submitted, the ATF does its own background check, and the applicant will go through a background check when picking up the weapon from a dealer, Prince said.
In Pennsylvania, county sheriffs are often asked to sign the ATF forms because they are in charge of concealed weapon permits, Prince said. But the ATF form says a CLEO could be a district attorney, a local police chief or a state police barrack captain.
Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea said he signs about one form a month regarding NFA weapons.
"I don't blame the sheriff," DeAndrea said of Robshaw's stance. "His staff isn't local law enforcement."
Local officers know more about residents, including "things that might not show up" on computer background check, DeAndrea said.
Appointed sheriff
Robshaw has been Luzerne County's interim sheriff since March 2012. He said he has never signed a form for an NFA weapon and is asked to sign the form a couple times a month.
The county's home-rule charter last year abolished a state-mandated system of government, which included a sheriff elected to a four-year term. Under home rule, the sheriff is an appointed official who serves in the administration as an appointed county manager.
"I am not in favor of an appointed sheriff," Prince said, noting Northampton County is the only other county in the state with an appointed sheriff.
Luzerne County Councilman Jim Bobeck said he supports Robshaw's stance against signing ATF forms for NFA weapons, adding it demonstrates why voters should not elect the county's sheriff.
"The appointed person used professional judgment without placation to outside influences or having his decision turn into electoral fodder," Bobeck sad.
Szymanski has been elected to eight terms as Lackawanna County sheriff. He is not running for re-election this year.
Previous Luzerne County sheriffs, John Gilligan and Mike Savokinas, signed the ATF forms, said Chris Scoda, owner of Advanced Arms Gun Shop in Pittston. Scoda has been involved in about 50 machine gun deals, adding the transfer process can last eight months and the price of typical machine gun can range from $4,000 to $10,000.
"It depends on the make and model," Scoda said.
Since 1986, federal law has prohibited ownership of newly manufactured machine guns to civilians. Machine guns are subject to a $200 tax every time ownership changes.
The ATF reported 488,065 machine guns in its national registry, as of March 2012, with 17,384 in Pennsylvania. Almost 3.2 million NFA weapons were registered in the U.S., with 197,217 in Pennsylvania.
Gun trusts
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are the most difficult jurisdictions to get CLEO signatures, Prince said. Some clients considered filing a lawsuit to get CLEO signatures but decided it was less expensive to just get NFA weapons through a gun trust, Prince said.
"It violates equal protection," Prince added, asserting counties and jurisdictions can't have different standards on signing the ATF forms.
Prince said he talks to about 10 people a week about setting up a gun trust and charges $650. He said he once set up a gun trust for a police officer in Philadelphia because he couldn't get a CLEO signature and wanted a short-barreled rifle as "a duty weapon."
Gun trusts have other benefits, such as designating multiple trustees so more than one person can legally have access to and possession of the NFA weapon, Prince said. Other benefits include passing weapons onto heirs.
A gun dealer is required to conduct a background check for the representative of the trust who picks up a NFA firearm, Prince sad. But the New York Times reported in February that a loophole in federal regulations exempts a gun trust's members from requirements that apply to individual buyers, including being fingerprinted and undergoing a background check.
Christopher J. Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer who was wanted in multiple killings, claimed he used a gun trust to buy silencers and a short-barreled rifle from a gun store in Nevada without a background check. Dorner died Feb. 12 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, during a stand-off with police.
Wasn’t it Reagan who signed the bill that limited us to only owning machine guns manufactured before 1986? That’s why the price of privately owned machine guns is through the roof.
German MP40 comes in 9mm (WWII)
****** “Is the good (bad) Sheriff subject to citizen arrest?” ******
If he is or isn’t ... he is an Elected Official, the Ballot Box is the Trump Card and his fellow Sheriffs may be able to shame him into re-thinking his actions. He does not live in a vacuum, (cannot operate independently) the hill that he chose to die for may be a valley.
JMHO
TT
Pretty sure the Uzi is 9mm.
All he needs to do is set up a trust that owns the class III. No Sheriff signature required.
Actually quite common to do it.
Then he doesn’t own it.
An abstract concept has more rights than he does.
Just about everything you said just isn’t so, and never has been so.
There’s no license to own a machine gun or any other NFA-restricted firearm, and you don’t surrender your Fourth Amendment rights. It’s a one-time tax of between $5 and $200.
Its no big deal. Worst part is the wait for the ATF tech branch to finally get to your paperwork, but I’ve had stamped forms come back in as little as 28 days.
In the context of this article, my local sheriff will sign any ATF form you push in front of his secretary.
I think most transferable machine guns are 9mm. It’s a long list of models.
Putting your boot on peoples' necks is so much more convenient when you don't have to ask them to vote for you. Government is best when it's UNaccountable??? It's barely acceptable when they ARE afraid they're going to get the boot. Moron. Fool. Oxygen thief.
Those are sub-machine guns. Maybe I’m being too technical, but I don’t believe in giving journalists a pass.
What?
There are Uzi’s chambered for 9MM...
Sure, and when the Gub'ment decides it wants to inspect your weapons that are registered and you decide to not let them will they say: "Oh yeah you got Rights under the 4th Amendment, never mind...?"
Dream on Alice, Wonderland is just around the corner!
He needs to set up an NFA trust. This gets around fools like this sheriff. Anyone dabbling in Class 3 should be doing it through an NFA trust.
I should clarify: I think most transferable ‘machine guns’ (as the ATF regards the term) in the NFRTR are 9mm.
I have no idea what I said either.
I think I might have been saying that while at a gun show in Georgia, I helped a friend who was a dealer and had several tables.
He was over run with sales so I took an hour or so off and helped him out. While I was there he sold a fully automatic Tommy Gun. I was struck as just how quickly it went. Of course filling out the forms was just the start. I have no idea what went on from there or when the guy actually got his gun.
Anyone even remotely serious about NFA has searched for how to properly buy one and would have easily noticed that a trust is the only way to do it as it bypasses the local fuzzballs and protects a person beyond mere possession.
Yes, technically he doesn’t own it, but he gets to use it (with the same restrictions) as if he technically “owned it”. More disturbing, is the fact that the Fed Gov thinks that you don’t wholey own any firearms that has been manufactured or transfered with a 4473. They think they own them and they are just loaning them to you. Ever notice when the leftist members in Congress start talking about making certain “assault weapons” illegal and requiring them to be turned in. In the verbiage of the proposed law and in discussions they often use the term “revert” back to the government.
There are a bunch of 9mm weapons that fire in full automatic to include the world famous UZI.
In the early 1980s, it was “so” in the State of New Mexico, in Otero County.
To legally own a full auto, one had to first obtain a Dealer level FFL which at the time, cost $200.00 per year.
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