OSD 375: Breaking down each of the ATF’s 34 new rules
The ATF released 34 draft rules this week. Let’s analyze every single one.
The ATF released 34 draft rules this week. They broke them down into five categories: Repeal, Modernize, Reduce Burden, Clarify, and Align. Here we go:
Repeal
1140-AA98: Removing Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached “Stabilizing Braces”
This formally clarifies that pretty much anything goes for pistol braces. All firearms with popular braces on them will no longer live under the sword of SBRocles. Contrast that to the previous system that braces were headed towards:
1140-AB01: Revising Regs Defining “Engaged in the Business” as a Dealer in Firearms
FFLs need to have a bona fide business, and the ATF had previously been very exacting about what that means. This opens the door for people to get an FFL even for low-volume side businesses.
1140-AA60: Revising Machine Gun Definition in Response to Supreme Court Decision
No substantive change. This just codifies what the Supreme Court already ruled on in Garland v. Cargill, that bump stocks are not machine guns.
1140-A87: Removing Youth Handgun Safety Act Notice
This rescinds an ATF rule requiring all FFLs to give handgun buyers a piece of paper that warns about the physical and legal dangers of giving handguns to minors. (Full list of warnings here.)
Modernize
1140-AA82: Revising Firearms Transaction Record, “Form 4473”
Overhauling the 4473. The biggest takeaway here is that the form can be completed electronically and autopopulated with preexisting data. So think of an online checkout that autofills the 4473 for you.
1140-AA94: Firearms Electronic Record-keeping
Allow FFLs to store 4473s electronically. FFLs had previously been required to keep the paper copy, and to keep it permanently. One danger here: in practice this creates a machine-readable record of all new firearm sales. Software vendors for 4473 storage should build their systems to make fishing expeditions technologically impossible.
1140-AA95: Firearm Records Retention Periods
Today FFLs have to store 4473s permanently. This rule proposes capping that at 20 or 30 years.
1140-AA61: Licensee “eZ Check” Verification for Transfers
You know when you buy a gun online and the sending FFL wants a copy of the receiving FFL’s license? This lets them just use the ATF’s online eZ Check database instead.
1140-AB05: Revising Non-Over-the-Counter Firearms Transaction Requirements
This one is still vague, but the optimistic reading is that it will allow you to buy guns by mail from in-state FFLs.
Reduce Burden
1140-AA89: Interstate Transport and Temporary Export of National Firearms Act
Today you need to submit a form to the ATF if you want to take your non-suppressor NFA firearm out of your home state, even temporarily. And in principle your trip needs to wait until you receive an approval. This rule eliminates that notification+approval requirement for trips shorter than 365 days, and for longer trips, it clarifies that you can take your NFA item on the trip if you’ve notified the ATF, even if you haven’t yet received an approval.
1140-AB00: Joint Registration for Spouses under the National Firearms Act
Instead of creating an NFA trust, you can jointly register NFA items for both you and your spouse.
1140-AA65: Removing CLEO Notification Under the National Firearms Act
No more requirement to notify your local chief law enforcement officer of any NFA registrations that you’re filing.
1140-AA73: Clarifying Interstate Transportation of Firearms under the Gun Control Act
States like New York and New Jersey have arrested gun owners who are traveling through the states while possessing firearms, even though the federal Firearms Owners Protection Act ostensibly protects such interstate travel. This rule clarifies that the federal government’s position is “reasonably necessary activities during travel – including overnight stops, vehicle maintenance, refueling, emergency stops, and medical treatments – are considered as a necessary part of ‘transport’, and are therefore covered under [FOPA]”. This could be an affirmative defense in state-level prosecutions.
1140-AA75: Transferring Machine Guns Between Qualified Licensees
Niche one. This simplifies the paperwork for transferring machine guns between FFLs “in two specific, limited circumstances: 1) when demonstrating firearms to government entities, and 2) when a licensee is discontinuing a business.”
1140-AA76: Clarifying Special (Occupational) Tax Payments Per Business Activity
Another niche one. Suppose you have two FFL license types, and you are a manufacturer, not a dealer or importer. This rule clarifies that if you need to pay the special occupational tax, you only need to pay it once per activity, with the activities being manufacturing, dealing, or importing. So you have only up to three SOTs due. Previously, someone with two FFL licenses but only one “activity” might have had to pay two SOTs, not just one.
1140-AA74: Removing Triplicate Filing Requirement for Importing Plastic Explosives
Isn’t it so annoying when you’re importing some Semtex and you have to submit three copies of your Form 6 permit application to the ATF? Well, good news!
Clarify
1140-AA93: Firearm Activities in Foreign Trade Zones, Customs-Bonded Warehouses
This makes it clear that firearms in customs-bonded warehouses have technically not yet been imported to the US. This generally makes the import process easier.
1140-AA96: Importing Dual-Use Frames, Receivers, or Barrels
Congress has granted the ATF wide authority to ban the import of “non-sporting” guns and gun parts. This rule allows the import of non-sporting items “provided that an identified sporting configuration for the barrel or frame/receiver exists at the time of importation”. Essentially, it makes it easier to import some cool frames, receivers, and barrels.
1140-AA97: Importing Training Rounds
This clarifies that in the context of importation, “inert, marking, or simulated-projectile products used for training purposes” are not considered ammunition. Eliminates a lot of rules that such imports are otherwise subject to.
1140-AA68: Converting Temporary to Permanent Imports for Defense Articles
“Under current regulations, importers whose temporary import authorization expires must re-export, permanently reimport, or destroy the firearm — options that impose significant cost and logistical burden.” The new rule will allow them to convert temporary imports to permanent status by simply filing a Form 6.
1140-AA70: Allowing Makers to Adopt Certain Markings for National Firearms Act
When you Form 1 an NFA item, you will no longer have to engrave it with the owner’s name, city, and state if the item already has the engraving of its original manufacturer on it.
1140-AA84: Clarifying Delivery to a Common or Contract Carrier When Transporting Firearms
A common carrier is an airline, train, bus, cruise line, or similar. This clarifies that when you travel via such a service while “maintaining direct control” over your firearm, you have not delivered the firearm to the carrier. This eliminates some potential liability for those carriers that could have led their firearms to be stricter than they otherwise might be.
1140-AB04: Revising Definitions of “Adjudicated as a Mental Defective” and “Committed to a Mental Institution”
The term “mental defective”, which comes from the Gun Control Act of 1968, is not used in modern medicine or law, and it’s not clear what it means. This rule clarifies that limited guardianships do not automatically trigger the firearm prohibition. It also details when somebody would be said to have been “committed to a mental institution” without being within the definition of “mental defective”, but it’s not clear what that distinction would do in practice since the prohibitions are the same for both.
1140-AA85: Clarifying Exceptions to the Brady Act Background Check Requirement
A state-issued carry permit exempts gun buyers from a NICS check. This rule gives administrative guidance to FFLs about how to validate those state-issued carry permits.
1140-AA64: Selecting Biological Sex on ATF Forms
This proposes asking for an applicant’s biological sex on ATF forms (such as the 4473), rather than gender.
1140-AA69: Definition of Business Premises
The ATF has historically been very strict that all of an FFL’s business has to be conducted on the FFL’s premises. This rule clarifies that premises can include “properties that adjoin each other or that are adjacent to each other and share a common parking lot, sidewalk, or road”. That’s useful for FFLs with multi-building facilities.
1140-AA78: Firearms Transactions and Straw Purchases
Pretty vague. The only meaningful info in the rule is that it “is intended to provide clearer guidance for licensees, including which transactions are not considered straw purchases, thereby supporting enforcement efforts against true straw purchases.”
1140-AA88: Creating a Definition of “Willfully” for Firearms Violations
In the 1998 case Bryan v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that to prove a “willful” violation of federal gun laws, the government has to prove an FFL knew their conduct was unlawful — but the government does not need to prove that the FFL knew the specific law or regulation being violated. This rule codifies that standard.
Align
1140-AA79: Conforming Change for Approving a Making Application
This simply codifies that the ATF performs a NICS check (i.e. background check) as part of its NFA approval process. Nothing new here.
1140-AA66: Export Control Reform – Conforming References to Department of Commerce
Some administrative changes saying that some export approval authority will move from the Department of State to the Department of Commerce.
1140-AA91: Update to Proscribed Countries for Import Restrictions
“The proposed rule would remove the existing, static list of proscribed countries from which ATF denies applications to permanently import defense articles and services, replacing it with a dynamic reference to the Department of State’s list of proscribed countries. This ensures ATF’s import restrictions remain current and consistent with State Department designations without requiring separate ATF rulemaking each time the list changes.“ Also, the ATF currently denies ~all permanent gun and ammo import applications for all former Soviet countries. This rule would leave Russia on the ban list but remove all other former Soviet countries.
1140-AA77: Adding Component Definitions Under the Arms Export Control Act
Changes terminology in the ATF’s regulations under the Arms Export Control Act to standardize on the terminology used in the United States Munitions List.
1140-AA31: Implementing PATRIOT Act Improvements: Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless
It’s the ATF, but this list has been all F so far. Here’s a little T. “The rule reduces the quantity threshold triggering jurisdiction under the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) from more than 60,000 cigarettes to more than 10,000; extends CCTA coverage to contraband smokeless tobacco for the first time; expands recordkeeping requirements and the class of persons subject to them; imposes reporting requirements on persons engaged in delivery sales above specified thresholds; and requires that cigarettes and smokeless tobacco seized and forfeited under the CCTA be used in law enforcement operations or destroyed. The rule does not apply to electronic cigarettes or other vaping products.”
1140-AA83: Changes to National Firearms Act Tax Remittance Provisions
This just codifies changes that Congress made to the NFA last year, most notably updating the ATF’s regulatory wording to reflect that tax stamps now cost $0 for all NFA items other than machine guns and destructive devices.
This week’s links
“State of the Ammo Industry Spring 2026” from AmmoSquared
Good market analysis from a company that is quietly growing into one of the most important companies in ammunition.
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All of these are good news. The Interstate Transport clarification is long overdue and much needed. Especially in New York State. Anything that knots up the Politicritters undies is welcome!
Asking for biological sex on the 4473 is going to be awkward, because most IDs don't state it - so either I as an FFL am not validating that it matches ID, or I am denying everyone who has an ID that doesn't specify biological sex (many state IDs, US passports, etc).