To get a gun trust, you draft a revocable living trust designed to hold firearms, name trustees who are all legally eligible to possess guns, sign and notarize the document under your state’s rules, fund it with a nominal amount so it exists as a legal entity, and then register firearms to it through the ATF. The trust becomes the legal owner of any National Firearms Act (NFA) items you buy or build, and every trustee named in it can lawfully possess those firearms.
The setup itself is not complicated. The decisions you make along the way, especially about who serves as a trustee, are what determine whether the trust works smoothly for years or creates paperwork headaches with every purchase.
What the Trust Is For Before You Build One
A gun trust is a revocable living trust that holds firearms. It matters most for items regulated under the National Firearms Act: suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, machine guns, destructive devices, and the ATF’s catch-all “any other weapons” category.1Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). National Firearms Act (NFA) When an NFA item is registered to you as an individual, only you can legally possess it. Nobody else in your household can take it to the range, and nothing about your death simplifies the transfer. When the trust owns the item, every trustee can possess and use it, and inheritance runs through a tax-exempt ATF Form 5 instead of probate.2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax-Exempt)
Ordinary rifles, shotguns, and handguns can also go into a gun trust for the inheritance and privacy benefits, but the shared-possession advantage is what drives most people to set one up.
Step 1: Decide Who Your Trustees Will Be
This is the most consequential choice in the entire process, so make it before you draft anything. Every trustee is a “responsible person” under ATF rules and must pass a federal background check each time the trust acquires a new NFA item.3Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Background Checks for Responsible Persons (Final Rule 41F) Every trustee must therefore be legally eligible to possess firearms under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), which bars felons, unlawful drug users, people subject to qualifying domestic restraining orders, those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence, unauthorized immigrants, and several other categories.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
Age matters too. Federal law prohibits licensed dealers from selling handguns to anyone under 21 and long guns to anyone under 18, and most NFA items fall outside the rifle and shotgun categories. If a trustee will pick up suppressors or machine guns from a dealer, they should be at least 21. State law may go further.
Co-Trustees vs. Successor Trustees
A co-trustee has immediate authority to possess, transport, and use the trust’s firearms while you’re alive. A successor trustee has no active powers until a triggering event, usually your death or incapacity. Only co-trustees count as responsible persons who must submit fingerprints and photographs with each application.
That distinction has a direct cost. A trust with five co-trustees means ten FBI FD-258 fingerprint cards, five passport-style photographs, and five background checks with every single ATF application. Experienced owners keep the co-trustee list short, often two or three people, and use successor trustee designations for everyone else who should eventually have access.
Step 2: Draft the Trust Document
You have two paths: hire a firearms attorney or use an online service. Attorney-drafted trusts typically run a few hundred dollars, sometimes more depending on complexity and your state. Online templates run roughly $25 to $130. Cheaper templates sometimes miss state-specific provisions or lag behind ATF rule changes, so an attorney who regularly handles NFA trusts is the safer route if your collection is valuable or your trustee situation is unusual.
Whichever path you take, the document should include:
- The trust’s name, which becomes its legal identifier on all ATF paperwork
- The settlor (you, the person creating the trust)
- All initial co-trustees and successor trustees
- The beneficiaries who inherit when you die
- Rules for managing, using, and transferring firearms held by the trust
- Amendment provisions so you can add or remove trustees later without rewriting the whole document
Step 3: Execute and Fund the Trust
Once drafted, the settlor and all initial trustees sign the document. Most states require notarization, and some require witnesses. Witness rules vary by state, but witnesses generally cannot be beneficiaries of the trust.
A trust must hold some property to be legally valid. Funding it with a nominal amount of cash at signing establishes it as a functioning legal entity.5Wolters Kluwer. Using Trusts to Protect Your Assets Only after execution and funding can you start moving firearms into it.
Step 4: Register Firearms to the Trust
Getting an NFA item into the trust requires a federal application, a background check on every responsible person, and, for some items, a transfer tax. Which form you file depends on whether you’re buying an existing item or making one yourself.
Buying an Existing NFA Item: Form 4
When you purchase an NFA item from a dealer or receive one from another person, the trust files ATF Form 4, Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of Firearm.6Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax-Paid) A separate Form 4 is required for each firearm.
Making an NFA Item: Form 1
If you plan to manufacture an NFA item yourself, most commonly converting a pistol or rifle into a short-barreled rifle, the trust files ATF Form 1, Application to Make and Register a Firearm, before any work begins. You cannot legally possess the completed item until the ATF approves the application.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 5812 – Transfers
Responsible Person Paperwork
Every responsible person in the trust must complete ATF Form 5320.23, the Responsible Person Questionnaire, with each Form 4 or Form 1 application. That means two FBI FD-258 fingerprint cards and a passport-style photograph taken within the prior six months for every responsible person, every time. A copy of the completed application and each responsible person’s questionnaire must also go to the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) in your jurisdiction.6Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax-Paid)
Transfer Tax
Federal law imposes a one-time transfer tax on NFA firearms. As of 2026, the tax is $200 for machine guns and destructive devices, and $0 for all other NFA items, including suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and any other weapons.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5811 – Transfer Tax The tax was previously $200 for nearly all NFA transfers, so if you’re buying a suppressor or building a short-barreled rifle now, the transfer tax is no longer a cost factor.
Filing the Application
The ATF’s eForms system handles most applications electronically, with built-in validation, digital signatures, and payment through Pay.Gov.9Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Video Tutorial – eForm 4 Paper submissions are still accepted but process significantly slower. You cannot legally take possession of the item until the ATF approves the application and issues the tax stamp.
How Long ATF Approval Takes
As of January 2026, ATF processing times are dramatically shorter than the months-long waits of prior years:10Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Current Processing Times
- Form 4 trust transfer via eForms: 11 days
- Form 4 trust transfer on paper: 24 days
- Form 1 making via eForms: 14 days
- Form 1 making on paper: 38 days
These are averages for applications processed in January 2026. Your wait may run longer if a responsible person’s background check needs additional review or your submission is incomplete. Filing through eForms consistently cuts processing time by more than half compared to paper.
Keeping the Trust Compliant After Setup
The trust is not a set-and-forget document. Three things trip up gun trust owners more than anything else, and all of them come up after the initial setup.
Amending the Trust
Adding a co-trustee, removing someone who moved away or became a prohibited person, or updating beneficiaries all require a formal written amendment. Draft it, sign it, notarize it, and notify all existing trustees and beneficiaries. Any added co-trustee will need to complete the responsible person requirements (fingerprints, photograph, background check) at the trust’s next ATF application. A removed trustee should return any trust property in their possession.
If a trustee becomes a prohibited person through a new conviction, restraining order, or other disqualifying event, remove them immediately. Leaving them on the trust means a prohibited person has legal authority to possess the trust’s firearms, which is a federal crime.
Interstate Travel with NFA Items
Moving NFA items across state lines, permanently or temporarily, has its own rules. Machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and destructive devices all require prior ATF authorization on Form 5320.20 before crossing state lines.11Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Application to Transport Interstate or to Temporarily Export Certain National Firearms Act (NFA) Firearms Suppressors are not on that list; you can transport a registered suppressor across state lines without prior ATF approval. In every case, you still must comply with the destination state’s firearms laws. Some states ban suppressors entirely, and a legal short-barreled rifle in one state can be a felony in another.
Penalties for Getting It Wrong
Federal law lists a dozen prohibited acts under the NFA, including possessing an unregistered NFA firearm, transferring one outside the application process, and making false statements on ATF forms.12GovInfo. 26 USC 5861 – Prohibited Acts13GovInfo. 26 USC 5871 – Penalties14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties
The most common ways gun trust owners stumble are letting a non-trustee handle an NFA item, failing to remove a trustee who has become a prohibited person, and moving to a new state without filing the required transport authorization. All three are avoidable if you treat the trust as a living document and keep the trustee list matched to reality.