General
ATF’s firearm destruction policy requires destruction of the entire firearm, including all parts. ATF does not resell firearms or firearm parts. ATF recognizes that state and local law enforcement agencies may have different laws and policies governing their disposition of seized firearms. If the policy of a state or local law enforcement agency is to lawfully dispose of firearms through destruction, the recommended best practice is to destroy the entire firearm, including all parts (slides, barrels, etc.). This is particularly important given the increasing criminal use of untraceable privately made firearms (“ghost guns”), which are often assembled with used firearm parts.
3-D Printing Technology of Firearms
It is unlawful for any person to produce a firearm as proscribed in 18 U.S.C. 922(p).
"It shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer, or receive any firearm—
(A) that, after removal of grips, stocks, and magazines, is not as detectable as the Security Exemplar, by walk-through metal detectors calibrated and operated to detect the Security Exemplar; or
(B) any major component of which, when subjected to inspection by the types of x-ray machines commonly used at airports, does not generate an image that accurately depicts the shape of the component. Barium sulfate or other compounds may be used in the fabrication of the component."
The term "any other weapon" means any weapon or device capable of being concealed on the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive, a pistol or revolver having a barrel with a smooth bore designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell, weapons with combination shotgun and rifle barrels 12 inches or more, less than 18 inches in length, from which only a single discharge can be made from either barrel without manual reloading, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire. Such term shall not include a pistol or a revolver having a rifled bore, or rifled bores, or weapons designed, made, or intended to be fired from the shoulder and not capable of firing fixed ammunition.
Yes, an "any other weapon" category is an NFA classification which requires an individual to register the item with ATF.
The applicant must submit ATF Form 7(5310.12)/7CR(5310.16), Application for Federal Firearms License, with the appropriate fee, in accordance with the instructions on the form to ATF. This form is for all FFL types, including type 03 Collector of Curios and Relics. An application packet may be obtained by contacting the ATF Distribution Center. If you have more than one Responsible Person (RP), you must also submit a Supplement to ATF Form 7/7CR, for each additional RP.
Any person "engaged in the business" as a manufacturer must obtain a license from ATF.
The term "engaged in the business" means— (A) as applied to a manufacturer of firearms, a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to manufacturing firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the sale or distribution of the firearms manufactured.
ATF makes every effort to keep abreast of novel firearms technology and firearms trafficking schemes.
When ATF receives credible information regarding the illegal possession of firearms, it will investigate and take appropriate action. If individuals neglect to follow Federal laws and regulations surrounding firearms, ATF will investigate their activities.
An individual may generally make a firearm for personal use. However, individuals engaged in the business of manufacturing firearms for sale or distribution must be licensed by ATF. Additionally, there are certain restrictions on the making of firearms subject to the National Firearms Act.
ATF enforces Federal firearms laws and, currently, these laws do not limit the technology or processes that may be used to produce firearms. However, ATF enforces existing statutes and investigates any cases in which technological advances allow individuals to avoid complying with these laws.
Yes. ATF routinely collaborates with the firearms industry and law enforcement to monitor new technologies and current manufacturing trends that could potentially impact the safety of the public.
AFMER - ATF Form 5300.11
On the Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form, Instruction 2 (a) defines "production" as firearms manufactured during the calendar year, to include separate frames or receivers, actions or barreled actions, disposed of in commerce.
A manufacturer who acquires these items from another licensed manufacturer in the assembly and production of complete firearms will include the manufacture of these firearms in their own report. Separate frames or receivers, actions, or barreled actions are to be included in this report when they are exported or disposed of in commerce to a person other than a licensed manufacturer.
Examples:
If you manufacture and sell a firearm to a non-manufacturer, you are to report it in the year you sell it.
If you manufacture firearms and send them to another licensed manufacturer to finish assembly, and the other manufacturer sells the firearms into commerce or exports them, then you do NOT include these firearms on your report.
If you manufacture a firearms part, send it to another licensed manufacturer for further assembly, and the other manufacturer returns it to you and you then sell it into U.S. commerce or export it outside the U.S., then you do include the firearm(s) on your report, in the year they entered commerce or were exported.
No, the AFMER is not a tax form. It is used for statistical purposes only.
Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) data is compiled into an annual statistical profile and released each year on this website's Data and Statistics page.
The final release is deferred by one year. For example, 2015 data was not released until January 2017. Published AFMER data is referenced by academic researchers, industry trade associations, regulatory agencies, the media, private interest groups, and others having an interest in the scope, vitality, and diversity of the U.S. firearms industry.
Additionally, ATF industry operations investigators verify compliance with the AFMER filing requirement and the accuracy of data reported to ATF, when compliance inspections of licensed firearms manufacturers are performed.
You may file an amended Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form with ATF at any time. Write the words "Amended Report" across the top of the AFMER form and be sure that you clearly and accurately identify the period for which you are amending your data (item # 7a).
If you file your Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form using eForms, you will have access to a record of your submission in the system.
If you mail your report, you will not receive confirmation of receipt from ATF.
Your Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form can be submitted via eForms, ATF's free online filing system. We encourage you to submit this way, as it is the fastest way to report your information.
You can also submit your AFMER form by mail to:
ATF - FFLC
AFMER Program
244 Needy Road
Martinsburg, WV 25405
You can print or download a fillable AFMER form from ATF’s Forms Library or obtain them from the ATF Distribution Center by calling 703-870-7526 or 703-870-7528 and asking for ATF Form 5300.11.
No. You are not allowed to file your Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form before the calendar year ends, unless you have permanently discontinued business. If you have discontinued business, you must submit your completed AFMER within 30 days following the discontinuance of business.
Examples:
- You only manufactured and sold 2 firearms in March 2016. You decide to send in your 2016 report on December 15, 2016, while you were thinking about it, but then you sell a firearm on December 31, 2016. Your report would be inaccurate due to premature filing.
- You go out of business on July 1, 2016 so you submit your calendar year 2016 report on July 11, 2016, within the 30-day deadline. In this case, your report will be accepted because you have discontinued business.
ATF usually sends out the Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) filing notice to all licensed manufacturers in mid-February or early March. According to instruction 1(c), manufacturers have until April 1 to submit their annual report covering the preceding calendar year.
Example:
If you receive a request letter in the mail in February 2019, then the notice from ATF is requesting data for calendar year 2018.
No, you must still file an Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form.
A license to manufacture destructive devices also authorizes you to manufacture firearms, and any production and sale/export of firearms must be reported. Even if you produce only destructive devices, the filing requirement still applies to you, and you must file a report and reflect “0” (zero).
Whether or not you need to report this as production depends upon whom you received the firearm from and the nature of the modifications you make.
If you received the firearm (to include a firearm frame, receiver, action, or barreled action) from a licensee other than a type 07 or type 10 federal firearms licensee (FFL), or from a non-licensee, then you would not report it, provided your modifications did not change the firearm’s Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) firearm category.
If your modifications altered the firearm’s AFMER firearm category (as listed on the form items 8a-j and 9a-j), then you would include the firearm in your AFMER report in the category of firearm you have now produced.
If you received the firearm from another licensed manufacturer (type 07 or type 10 FFL), then production should be reported once you enter the firearm into commerce, or export it.
Examples:
- You are a licensed manufacturer and obtain a rifle from a licensee other than a type 07 or type 10 FFL, or from a non-licensee. You remanufacture the rifle by adding custom parts and accessories before selling it as a rifle. You would not include the firearm in your AFMER report since the firearm was previously reported by its original manufacturer, and your modifications did not change it into a different type of firearm.
- You are a licensed manufacturer and obtain a used rifle from a licensee other than a type 07 or type 10 FFL, or from a non-licensee. You strip off the parts and replace the receiver with a new receiver that you acquired from a licensed manufacturer, then sell the firearm. You would include this on your report as a rifle, since you entered the new receiver into commerce as a rifle.
- In contrast, if you had purchased the new receiver from someone other than a type 07 or type 10 FFL, you would not report it, since the original manufacturer would have reported the receiver previously when it was sold.
- You are a licensed manufacturer (type 07 or type 10 FFL) and obtain receivers from another manufacturer who sold them to you through their firearms dealer’s license. You use the receivers to manufacture rifles and sell them into commerce. This would not be reported, since the manufacturer of the receivers would have included them on their AFMER report when they first entered commerce through their manufacturer license.
- You are a licensed manufacturer (type 07 or type 10 FFL) and obtain a rifle from a licensee other than a type 07 or type 10 FFL, or from a non-licensee. You then remanufacture the rifle into a pistol and sell it. This would be included in your AFMER report because your modification resulted in a change to the firearm’s type (i.e. from rifle to pistol). This would also be reportable for rifles turned into short-barreled rifles, semi-automatic weapons turned into machineguns, or any other remanufacturing that changes the AFMER classification of the weapon.
All eForms functionality questions should use the "Ask the Expert" function within eForms.
According to instruction 3(b) on the Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form, firearms disposed of to another licensed firearms manufacturer for the purpose of final finishing and assembly should not be reported (reflect as “0” zero).
No. The Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form is used to report the number of firearms that are produced AND have entered commerce or have been exported, within the reporting calendar year.
Example:
If you produced 100 firearms but only 30 were entered into commerce during the reporting calendar year, then you would only report 30. The other 70 firearms are still in your possession (and on your books) and would not be reported until the calendar year that they enter commerce or are exported.
