Spouses can now jointly own regulated firearms without extra paperwork

The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives proposes allowing spouses to jointly apply for and register certain firearms. This means a married couple could share ownership of a regulated firearm without needing a separate transfer application each time it moves between them.

For decades, if a spouse wanted to share ownership of a firearm regulated under the National Firearms Act, they had to go through a separate transfer process, even within the same household. This rule change simplifies that, treating a married couple more like a single entity for these specific firearms. It removes a bureaucratic hurdle that effectively discouraged joint ownership among spouses.