Comment on FR Doc # 2026-09154

Docket No. ATF-2026-0336; RIN 1140-AB00 Joint Registration for Spouses Under the National Firearms Act 91 Fed. Reg. 25243 (May 8, 2026) CPAC submits this comment in support of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' (ATF) proposed rule under RIN 1140-AB00, which would amend 27 CFR §§ 479.62, 479.63, 479.84, 479.85, and 479.101 to authorize married couples to file joint applications to make, transfer or receive, and register firearms under the National Firearms Act (NFA). CPAC supports the rule, including: •An amendment permitting spouses to jointly make, transfer or receive, and register NFA firearms without creating a trust (27 CFR 479.101(g)); •The documentation standard for proving marriage under new §§ 479.62(b)(7) and 479.84(b)(10), including the acceptance of alternative evidence (e.g., affidavits, joint tax returns) where a marriage certificate is unavailable; CPAC urges ATF to finalize the rule as proposed and to adopt a standard for verifying common-law marriages consistent with the rule's existing evidentiary approach. Section 5841 requires that the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record identify the “person entitled to possession of the firearm,” but imposes no limitation confining that identification to a single individual and does not preclude joint identification of two spouses (91 Fed. Reg. at 25246). The proposed rule preserves every substantive requirement of 26 U.S.C. §§ 5811-5812, 5821-5822, and 5841: both spouses must still submit applications, undergo background checks, receive Attorney General approval, pay any applicable tax, and register the firearm. The proposal eliminates the intermediate step of creating and registering a trust to accomplish what two individually qualified, background-checked applicants could otherwise not do jointly. Under current law, only the individual, corporation, or trust listed on the approved registration may lawfully possess the item. A co-occupant spouse who exercises physical or practical access to that firearm, without being registered, risks a constructive-possession theory for possessing an unregistered NFA firearm. The proposed rule directly eliminates this exposure by allowing both spouses to hold a joint, ATF-approved registration. ATF's cost-benefit analysis confirms that the direct compliance burden is unchanged (both spouses already complete Form 23 as responsible persons of a trust), while the trust-formation and notarization costs of $161-$185 per couple are eliminated (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/08/2026-09154/joint-registration-for-spouses-under-the-national-firearms-act). ATF estimates that allowing joint spousal registration could save married couples approximately $14.2 million over ten years by reducing the need to create NFA trusts (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/08/2026-09154/joint-registration-for-spouses-under-the-national-firearms-act). CPAC recommends that ATF apply the same documentary standard it has already proposed for ceremonial marriages under §§ 479.62(b)(7) and 479.84(b)(10): a state-issued declaration or acknowledgment of common-law marriage where one is available, and, where no state document exists, an evidentiary substitute consistent in kind with what the rule already accepts for ceremonial marriages: joint tax returns, joint property or lease records, or sworn affidavits attesting to the marriage.