excellent point. It should not have been physically transferred until a transfer was approved.I don't understand how the registered owner of an NFA weapon would let the buyer drive away with it PRIOR to seeing ATF-approved paperwork. I'm not a Class III SOT or otherwise any sort of gun dealer, so I have no personal experience in how dealer-to-dealer transfers work. All the NFA stuff I've owned have been locally purchased on Form 4's here in Georgia or made myself on my own Form 1's.
QUOTE from ARTICLE in original post:
"...in November 2014, a Michigan gun owner contacted the ATF to tell them Mann’s shop manager, Henry McGirt, drove there to purchase the Lahti for $4,000 in cash and two checks totaling $5,500. The problem was that the checks had bounced after the manager left with the gun, deemed a destructive device under NFA guidelines as its bore– 20mm– was higher than .50 caliber. No NFA transfer paperwork was submitted for the gun."
NO N.F.A. PAPERWORK WAS SUBMITTED ??? When was it supposed to be submitted?
Before taking possession of the gun? Within a certain number of business days after the Georgia dealership acquired it?
However, if it was a private seller, I could easily see how the seller might not have known that or understood the transfer process. He probably took the dealers word for it and thought it was a done deal. That doesn't mean that the seller didn't break the law, either knowingly or unknowingly, but the dealer that bought it, knew exactly what they were doing and that it was not legal.