27 CFR Part 478:
ATF Firearms Regulations

27 CFR Part 478^[1] contains the comprehensive regulations implementing Title I of the Gun Control Act^[2], governing commerce in firearms and ammunition. It covers licensing, importation, record-keeping, transfers, and exemptions.

FFL Types and Fees

• Dealer license for firearms other than destructive devices costs $200 initially and $90 for renewal, for 3-year terms.
• Manufacturer of firearms (other than destructive devices): $50 per year
• Importer of firearms (other than destructive devices): $50 per year
• Collector of curios and relics: $10 per year
• Pawnbroker license for firearms other than destructive devices costs $200 initially and $90 for renewal, for 3-year terms.

Record-Keeping

ATF Form 4473 (Firearms Transaction Record) is required when a licensed importer, manufacturer or dealer transfers a firearm to a non-licensee, except when a firearm delivered solely for repair or customizing, or a replacement firearm, is returned to the person from whom it was received. The Acquisition and Disposition Record (Bound Book) is a chronological log of every firearm acquired or disposed of. Retention: until the business or licensed activity is discontinued, when the records are delivered to ATF or to a successor licensee. Sales or other dispositions of 2 or more pistols or revolvers to the same unlicensed person at one time or during 5 consecutive business days must be reported to ATF and to the State police or the local law enforcement agency where the disposition took place by the close of business on the day the multiple disposition occurs. Returns to the person from whom the firearms were received do not require this report.

Transfer Procedures

A NICS background check is required before any transfer to a non-licensee. The three-business-day "default proceed" applies when NICS has not denied the transfer, unless NICS notifies the licensee within that period that cause exists for further investigation of a purchaser under 21. Enhanced checks for under-21 purchasers: up to 10 business days including state juvenile and mental health records (post-BSCA 2022). FFLs may sell handguns to non-licensees only if they reside in the FFL's state. Licensed importers, manufacturers and dealers may sell rifles or shotguns to nonlicensed residents of other states if the purchaser meets the licensee in person at the licensed premises, the required background-check and Form 4473 procedures are followed, and the sale, delivery and receipt comply with the legal conditions of sale in both states. Licensed collectors may make such sales only for rifles or shotguns that are curios or relics.

2026 Definitional Updates: Bump Stocks Removed from Federal "Machine Gun" Definition

An ATF final rule effective May 6, 2026^[3] removed language in 27 CFR 478.11 and 479.11 that had classified non-mechanical bump-stock-type devices as machine guns. The rescission implemented Garland v. Cargill (2024),^[4] which held that the device before the Court did not make a semiautomatic rifle fire more than one shot by a single function of the trigger. The rule does not establish that every device described as a bump stock is lawful under every federal or state provision.

Massachusetts independently prohibits bump stocks at the state level. Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024 amended MGL Chapter 269, Section 10(c) to name automatic parts, bump stocks, rapid-fire trigger activators, and trigger modifiers, and added Section 121 definitions of automatic part, rapid-fire trigger activator, and trigger modifier. The Section 121 definition of bump stock was added by St. 2017, c. 110. Possession of a bump stock in Massachusetts remains a felony under state law, and federal lawfulness is not a defense to a state-law charge. See MGL Chapter 269, Section 10(c) for the state-law treatment.

Massachusetts Interaction

Massachusetts requires its own state dealer license (Section 122) in addition to the federal FFL. State requirements go further: approved firearms roster compliance, state sales records to DCJIS, assault-style firearm ban compliance, LTC/FID verification for all purchasers, and (under Chapter 135) reporting firearm transactions through the electronic registration system within 7 days, except loans to duly licensed or exempted people lasting less than 7 days and transactions involving firearms exempted by Section 121B(d). Massachusetts requires universal background checks for all transfers, which is more restrictive than federal law.