Justification for OMB 1140-0016 ATF Form 10 (5320.10)

Department of Justice
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Information Collection Request (ICR) Supporting Statement
OMB No. 1140-0016
Application for Registration of Firearms Acquired by Certain Governmental
Entities - ATF Form 10 (5320.10)
A. Justification
1. The registration of National Firearms Act (NFA) firearms is required by 26
U.S.C. 5841 and 27 CFR 479.101. Possession of an unregistered NFA firearm is
illegal and the firearm is contraband. There was no provision in the NFA for the
registration of unregistered NFA firearms, which were acquired by State and local
government agencies, during their official duties, such as by seizure and
abandonment.
In order to assist these agencies, 27 CFR 479.104 provides for the limited
registration of such firearms, for official use only. Registration is achieved by the
filing of Application for Registration of Firearms Acquired by Certain
Governmental Entities - ATF Form 10 (5320.10). The form is filed in duplicate.
ATF retains a copy of the completed final form and returns a copy of the finalized
form as the agency’s proof of registration.
2. ATF Form 10 is used by State and local government agencies to effect the
registration of otherwise unregistrable NFA firearms. Once registered, the firearms
cannot be transferred into commercial channels. If there were no means for
registering these unregistered NFA firearms, the firearms would have to be
destroyed or abandoned, thus hampering law enforcement agencies in performing
their official duties.
The information collected on ATF Form 10 is verified by ATF personnel
processing the completed application. These individuals check to ensure that an
unregistered NFA firearm is being registered, and that the applicant is a
government agency that is eligible to possess the firearm. The collected information
is also used by ATF to determine the lawful registration of an NFA firearm and/or
to pursue the criminal investigation into an unregistered NFA firearm.
3. The form is available as a fillable form on the ATF website for download and print.
It may also be completed as a hard copy. ATF Form 10 is available as an electronic
fillable eForm for completion and electronic submission on ATF’s eForms system
(www.atfonline.gov).
4. ATF uses a uniform subject classification system to identify duplication and to
ensure that any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for
use for the purpose of this information collection.

5. The information on the form is unique to the agency providing it and the collection
of this information has no effect on small business.
6. Respondents submit the form only as often as necessary to comply with statutory
and regulatory requirements. If there were no means for registering these
unregistered NFA firearms, the firearms would have to be destroyed or abandoned,
thus hampering law enforcement agencies in performing their official duties.
7. This collection is conducted in a manner consistent with the requirements in 5 CFR
1320.6.
8. No comments were received during the 60-day Federal Register Notice period.
However, a 30-day notice will be published in the Federal Register to solicit public
comments.
9. No payment or gift is associated with this information collection.
10. Confidentiality is not assured. The information from this application may only be
disclosed to Federal authorities for purposes of prosecution for violation of the
National Firearms Act. The information collected is classified as “tax return” or
“tax return information” under 26 U.S.C. 6103 and its release is severely restricted.
The information is kept in a secured location.
11. No questions of a sensitive nature are associated with this information collection.
12. In fiscal year 2022, 862 applications were received. Of these filed, only 489 were
electronically filed. Since the registration of a firearm or firearms on this form is an
independent event, we are treating each response as a separate respondent. Therefore,
both the total respondents and the total responses for this IC is 862. We estimate that
it takes each respondent approximate 30 minutes to complete and submit the form
for processing. As such, the total annual burden associated with this collection can
be calculated as follows: 862 total respondents * .5 (30 minutes or time/per
response) = 431 hours.
13. The cost to the respondent is postage. Therefore, the total cost burden is calculated as
follows: 862 (total respondents) * $.63 (current cost for
first class postage) = $ 543.06 or $543.
14. The total Federal Government costs associated with this IC is calculated as follows:
862 (total forms printed annually) x $.10 (printing cost/ per form side) = $ 86.20
15. The adjustment associated with this IC is a increase in the total respondents and
responses for this IC by 544 since the last renewal in 2019. Consequently, the total
burden hours and costs for this IC has also increase by 272 hours and $ 171.36
respectively, since 2019.
16. The results of this collection will not be published.

17. ATF does not request approval to not display the expiration date of OMB
approval for this collection.
18. There are no exceptions to the certification statement.
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
Not applicable.