Is the chief law enforcement officer required to sign the law enforcement certification on ATF Form 1 or ATF Form 4?

No. Effective July 13, 2016, the final rule “Machineguns, Destructive Devices and Certain Other Firearms; Background Checks for Responsible Persons of a Trust or Legal Entity With Respect to Making or Transferring a Firearm” amends the regulations to eliminate the requirement for a certification signed by a CLEO and instead adds a CLEO notification requirement.  Prior to submission of the application to the Director, all applicants/transferees and responsible persons shall forward a completed copy of ATF Form 1 or ATF Form 4, or a completed copy of Form 5320.23, respectively, to the chief law enforcement officer of the locality in which the applicant or responsible person is located.  The chief law enforcement officer is the local chief of police, county sheriff, head of the State police, State or local district attorney or prosecutor.  If the transferee is not a licensed manufacturer, importer, or dealer qualified under this part and is a partnership, company, association, or corporation, for purposes of this section, it is considered located at its principal office or principal place of business; if the applicant/transferee is not a licensed manufacturer, importer, or dealer qualified under this part and is a trust, for purposes of this section, it is considered located at the primary location at which the firearm will be maintained.

Source ATF: https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/chief-law-enforcement-officer-required-sign-law-enforcement-certification-atf-form-1-or

Other NFA Gun Trust and ATF Related Blog Posts

  • .EFT File Error -  'T1_ORI' 1.8.1.1
    .EFT File Error - 'T1_ORI' 1.8.1.1

    If you are receiving - Code: 1013 | Description: Illegal characters found: " " in Field 'T1_ORI' 1.8.1.1, you will need to have the .EFT File corrected. If you have an .EFT File editor, you can edi...

  • ATF eForm's Site is Down - December 16th
    ATF eForm's Site is Down - December 16th

    As of December 16th, the ATF's eForm site is down for an unknown reason or amount of time.  The ATF's eForm site is normally down for maintenance on Wednesday's.  This issue is outside of the norma...

  • ATF Distribution Center Now Has Updated Form 4's, Form 5's, etc
    ATF Distribution Center Now Has Updated Form 4's, Form 5's, etc

    The ATF updated the ATF Application forms early this year [February 2024] which included the ATF Form 1, ATF Form 4, and the ATF Form 5. Since the revision took place in February, the ATF Distribut...