CLEO question

[avs11054]

I live in an incorporated city. If I want to get an NFA item, do I need the chief of police to sign off, the county sheriff, or can either sign off?

Thanks

 

[MasterSergeantA]

Chief of Police unless your 911 calls are answered by a Sheriff's deputy.

 

[BP44]

Chief of police as far as I understand..... What are you getting????

 

[avs11054]

I want to get a can for an ar 10

 

[AlexanderA]

Actually, there is no one specific person who has to sign as the CLEO. You have a choice. It can be the chief of police, the sheriff, a judge who has jurisdiction over criminal cases, or the chief prosecutor. Often, local custom designates the person who signs. Where I live, the chief of police refuses to sign, but the sheriff does. He even has a whole application procedure in order to get his signature.

 

[a-sheepdog]

In my jurisdiction, none of those will sign off so I went with an NFA Trust instead. I am glad that I did, made things much easier.

 

[MasterSergeantA]

Actually, there is no one specific person who has to sign as the CLEO. You have a choice. It can be the chief of police, the sheriff, a judge who has jurisdiction over criminal cases, or the chief prosecutor. Often, local custom designates the person who signs. Where I live, the chief of police refuses to sign, but the sheriff does. He even has a whole application procedure in order to get his signature.

You are certainly correct about judges, etc. And I suppose that in the city you could choose between the CoP and Sheriff. In my case, since I do NOT live in the city limits of Sierra Vista, I have to use the Cochise County Sheriff...or another of the legal beagles. I should have probably made that distinction.

Luckily, given our proximity to the border and the mindset that goes with living here, the Sheriff has never had a problem signing off on NFA paperwork.

 

[AlexanderA]

It should also be noted that the CLEO signoff requirement is probably going to be removed by the end of the year. ATF has never liked the proliferation of trusts. Removing the CLEO requirement would get rid of the biggest reason people use trusts in the first place. At the same time, ATF would make trusts harder to use, by requiring photos and fingerprints of all "responsible persons" in a trust. This pending change should figure, one way or the other, in your timing of your NFA transactions. Either hold off on the transaction (if you don't plan to use a trust), or speed it up (if you do plan to use a trust).