JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Jacksonville attorney is paving the way for purchases of restricted weapons such as machine guns, short-barreled rifles, and silencers. They're legal in Florida, but only with direct clearance from an area's chief law enforcement officer. Attorney David Goldman figured out a way to allow gun buyers purchase fully automatic weapons without a judge or sheriff's permission.
Goldman said, "In our area of the country and many areas, law enforcement officers are refusing to determine whether it would be appropriate for you to have these items or not."
The National Firearms Act requires special permission for "an individual" to acquire those restricted weapons, but not a corporation or a trust.
So Goldman was the first to create "gun trusts" which allow groups of people to purchase a weapon. "There were people using trusts for this purpose. But they never rewrote the trust to deal with firearms," said Goldman.
Opponents say that allowing gun shops to sell fully automatic weapons to groups is a legal loophole.
Gun trusts also do not technically require background checks for purchases.
The vast majority of gun shops that sell these restricted firearms still require background checks for the person taking possession of the gun, but not for every individual within each gun trust.
Goldman told Action News that he's helped create more than 6,000 gun trusts in 43 states since 2007.