If NFA Items Are Stolen...

I believe you must notify the authorities and the ATF immediately. You can always call them and ask. They are very helpful if you aren't dealing with the enforcement side.

They have a 24 hour number for emergencies only. That would probably fall within those parameters.

JSOC 24-Hour Contact

Joint Support Operations Center

24 Hr. Contact Numbers are to be used for Criminal Intelligence/Law Enforcement Matters Only (For Emergencies, Please call 911)

(800) 800-3855 (Toll Free)

Found from here: https://www.atf.gov/contact

you are required to notify the ATF as soon as you know.
If you don't, and that NFA item is used in a crime, or someone else is found in possession of a NFA item registered to you, YOU are going to be in a world of ****.

You may also be required to notify your state <police, dept. public safety>Im not sure about Utah but in Ky you are required to notify the state police if ANY FIREARM is stolen ASAP Notifying the ATF dose not excuse you for notifying the state.

Im not sure about Utah but in Ky you are required to notify the state police if ANY FIREARM is stolen ASAP Notifying the ATF dose not excuse you for notifying the state.

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That is not correct. There is no law in Kentucky that requires you to report a stolen firearm.

As far as I know, only 10 states and the District of Columbia require you by law to report lost or stolen firearms: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland (handguns and assault weapons only), Massachusetts, Michigan (thefts only), New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

Of those, only New Jersey has a law that specifically opens you to civil liability if your stolen or lost firearm is used in a crime and you didn't report it.

Now, there is a possibility in any state that regular negligence theories of common law apply to the situation where you fail to report to law enforcement that a firearm was lost or stolen. However, to prevail the complaining party would have to prove that reporting the theft or loss would have prevented the crime that your firearm was subsequently used in. That's a difficult burden. If you were negligent in storing your firearm and it led to the loss, then you might be considered negligent, but that's still a stretch since a criminal act (or two) is intervening. To be clear, I haven't researched the case law on this in any state.

I don't know if there's a specific provision of federal law that requires you to report a lost or stolen NFA firearm. (There may be, but I haven't researched it.) With that said, I would absolutely report a lost or stolen firearm of any type to my local or state police, and I'd absolutely report an NFA firearm that is lost or stolen to the ATF by at least their next business day by calling the NFA branch number (304-616-4500).

Remember: there's what you legally MUST do, and there's what you SHOULD do. Regardless of the law, you definitely SHOULD always report lost or stolen firearms to the relevant authorities.

Aaron

Well, you're not obligated to cry, but I certainly would.

I had a burglary many years ago and 4 NFA items were taken. I immediately notified local police, county sheriff, state police, and BATF. Lo and behold, the local police were the ones to recover my firearms from a couple of miscreants who tried to sell them to an undercover officer in a bar. I got them all returned to me pretty quickly.

As far as I know, only 10 states and the District of Columbia require you by law to report lost or stolen firearms:

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I'm fairly sure that Hawaii has a law on the books too.

rb288 said:

you are required to notify the ATF as soon as you know.
If you don't, and that NFA item is used in a crime, or someone else is found in possession of a NFA item registered to you, YOU are going to be in a world of ****.

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Citation? I've seen lots of people claim this, but I've never seen any reference to any federal law or any ATF determination that says this.

If one of my NFA items is stolen you're darn tootin' I'll be calling the ATF and anybody else who will listen. I paid way too much for that stuff not to try to get it back. Besides, if my silencer ends up laying beside a dead guy I want it on the record that it had been stolen!

I know that the ATF takes reports of stolen machine guns very seriously. I'm not so sure about things like suppressors, SBR's, etc.

They actually have a good track record of recovering stolen machine guns. I once sold a Browning watercooled machine gun to a guy, who then had it stolen out of the trunk of his car. The ATF recovered the gun pretty quickly, although they never found the spare barrel that was stolen at the same time.

It's to the owner's advantage to report a stolen gun quickly, especially an NFA gun. The longer it goes unreported, the less chance of recovery.

Ive know someone who had a machine gun stolen. The ATF got his information and it was entered into the database. If it ever comes up on a trace he'll probably get it back. Its been 12 years. No one is or has ever actively looked for it.