SayUncle v. Knox Co. Sheriff’s Office
So, I head downtown to get fingerprinted so that I can do an NFA transfer. For those unfamiliar with Knoxville, our downtown sucks. It’s inconvenient to get to. Hard to find parking. When you find parking, it’s spendy. Etc. I avoid it, generally. But I had to go to the KCSO to get printed. Seems the ATF requires their own special federal fingerprint forms and they must be done only by police and certified. Your regular old fingerprint forms done at the gun shop aren’t good enough. It’s like they make it hard to buy an NFA weapon or something.
Anyhoo, first bit is I found parking and it costs $5. Seems a bit high considering I figured my business would be concluded in thirty minutes. And it wasn’t convenient. It was near the federal building which across the other street from the city county building.
Then I walk past the federal building. I note the sweet, sweet irony of the bronze tablet displaying The Bill of Rights right next to the signs on the door that tell you that you’ll be subjected to an unreasonable search and the other sign telling you your right to arms is no good there.
I get to the city county building where I’m to empty my pockets and walk through a metal detector. I’m told by the officer working the station that he’ll have to keep my keys. I ask why and he says it’s because I have a handcuff key on there. I joke about them having to take it in case I’m arrested so that I can’t escape. He laughs and says that it’s because the jail is downstairs.
I get to the KCSO office and am a bit perturbed that fingerprints cost $25 for up to three (so far, this trip has cost me $30). I’m even more perturbed when I hand her a twenty and a ten and she says she has no change. Wow. This particular station exists to provide a service for money to the public and they don’t have the foresight to, say, get change. So, I have to go back upstairs to a coffee shop for change. I do. I come back. I pay up. Now, I have to go downstairs for prints. They have a fancy computer for doing that. They key in all my info and electronically scan my prints and no doubt save copies for their use, in addition to sending that info to every .gov agency in the world. No big deal, been printed before.
After he scans my prints, he hits print, and puts the fingerprint cards I brought in and tells the computer to make three copies. So, let’s make this clear. They charge $25 for up to three prints. You actually bring the fingerprinting cards with you. Their costs are minimal wear and tear on their printer and ink. For $25. What a gyp.
It’s like they make doing business with the public inconvenient and hard, or something.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:54 am
You idiot, you went though a lot of hassle for nothing.
Doing the form 4 to a revocable living trust gets rid of the requirement that you ask Miss Cleo for permission to own a suppressor. It also gets rid of the requirement for fingerprints. It also takes less time for the paperwork to come back from the ATF.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:56 am
All you have to do is run the willmaker thing, get it notarized and send it in (ie, a copy) with your Form 4. Oh, and a 200 dollar check made out to BATFE. You interact with the guy you are buying the suppressor from (to get the serial) and the ATF. No one else.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Or you could just go out to, say, Oak Ridge for your fingerprint cards where there’s no wait or hassle. Everything else with your local CLEO can usually be handled by mail by ColtCCO.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Yeah, yeah. Coulda, shoulda.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I’m surprised the guy printing the card didn’t have a tip jar.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Also, if it isn’t too personal a question, what are you buying?
August 14th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I’m keeping it quiet.
Heh.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:05 am
judging by my experience, it’s more likely they’ll immediately misplace them, never to be found again.
going through the INS, i was printed at least three times that i can remember — once or twice might have slipped my memory, the whole process took so long. always on those fancy hacked-up scanner/photocopier machines. three times; if they were really sharing data electronically, you’d think once would’ve sufficed.
i couldn’t just run downtown to get printed, either. each of those times was a day-trip downstate, for me.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:35 am
what are you buying?
I’m keeping it quiet.
Heh.
Yeah, it’s just between you and the ATF.
It’s good to know that you have been printed and are “in the system” – just in case you ever get amnesia or something.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:35 am
$25 is all? My County charges $50 and you have to make an apt. and wait when THEY are ready for you. You have it easy…
August 14th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Should have called me and I would have it all done for free in about 10 min. but I guess you are getting to old to ask ol DAD.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Dad, ya know, that didn’t even occur to me.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Without the trip, he wouldn’t have blog fodder….
And, actually, “Dad” – he’s probably still too young “to ask ol DAD”. 🙂
August 14th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
We are talking the same federal government that asks for your name, date of birth, and SSN on everything.
When it’s only going to take your time, there’s absolutely no incentive for someone to search through the database.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
They don’t have change, because
–it’s too much of a hassle
–sticky-fingered public servants might be tempted
–OMG we could get robbed!
–it’s not their policy…
August 14th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
The other good part of a trust is that if you make your wife a cotrustee, then she can use the stuff also.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I’m a young gunnie, but where can I find more info about trusts as gun shelters?
August 14th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
If he’s keeping it quiet then he’s getting the .50 BMG. Going to be awesome.
It’s expensive and complex to go through this process because THEY don’t ever have to do it.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I had pretty much the same experience, but with better parking. Had to make an appointment– they only do printing certain hours. When the guy taking the prints saw the BATF cards, he said, “So, you’re applying for job, then?”
I said, “No. This is an NFA weapons transfer.”
He then got real, real quiet, and did an internal, “Oooh, I don’t know what this is, but it must be something pretty hard-core. I’d better shut up.”
He had no idea what “NFA weapons transfer” meant. Nor do the vast majority of Americans.
Robert; 50 BMG rifles do not fall under the NFA. That is unless they are full auto or have barrels of less than 16″.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
LOL, a .50 with a 14″ barrel. My ears are bleeding just thinking about it.
I too would be interested in more info on this trust deal.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Search arfcom for trusts, NFA, and Nolo press Willmaker.
The info will pop up.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
You should have told the guy that wouldn’t let you take in the handcuff that you were not aware that the key fit the regular handcuffs. That you thought it only fit the one’s with the velvet lining.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Rifle? Hell, I mean a whole honking M2.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
be glad you dont have a .45 key chain like i do… i had the rent-a-cop at the courthouse take a few steps back and put his hand on his gun and ask “is that a real bullet?”
my reply “you sir are the one with the .357 on your hip, i sure hope you know what a real bullet looks like”
he then informed me that he was going to have to hold onto my keys… idiot
August 14th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
If he IS getting a 50 cal M2, I’ll send him a free headspace and timing tool I bought in a pawnshop at Ft Hood. Cute.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
“…put his hand on his gun and ask “is that a real bullet?””
That is just scary. I mean, it’s scary how dangerously retarded some people are, who hold positions of authority.
But I guess he had a legitimate concern– you could have thrown the cartridge at him, potentially bruising him, especially if it had the mass of all those keys with it. It reminds me of kids being expelled from school for drawing pictures of guns, or airline security harassing passengers because of the photos on the covers of books. The depths of insanity have no bounds.
Also; It is my understanding that corporations can purchase NFA weapons with less hassle too. It goes way back to the days of the labor riots. Some businesses kept Thompsons on hand for “labor relations” prior to the Act’s passage in 1934. I guess today we’d call it “Human Resources Management”. Yes ladies, it was understood in the ’30s that submachineguns were a part of running a business.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Keeping it quiet means buying a suppressor. I can’t wait till I’m working again so I can start to build a suppressed walther TPH. That will be super sweet. Also,. I need to get a 30 caliber can for my rifles.
Again, going the trust route helps you avoid a metric ton of retards.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Here in CT, if you need a fingerprint card to get bonded (or get your FL CCW) it’s $5. When you get your CT CCW it’s $25 for the exact same thing. Yup, that’s fair.
August 15th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
They gotta charge $25 to pay for that fancy machine. I got my prints done the old fashioned way (a burly policewoman breaking my fingers and telling me to stop squirming) and it was only $5.
August 16th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Here in NY, full auto or quiet are both preempted by state law. Oh, and the Brady scary gun law never went away. And here in (relatively) gun-friendly Eastern Long Island you need approval for a handgun, but rifle and SG are OK (within the confines of the Brady Bill. So a 10-round pump SG is OK, a pump SG mag with 50 rounds is OK, but a 9 round semi-auto SG or rifle is verboten.)
I asked my Dad, how do you deal with groundhogs? He said, “12-gauge.” I said, “What part of I live on Long Island did you not understand?”
And yes, I’ve asked on my street. Neighbors would freak if I discharged a 12 gauge on a groundhog.