The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, licenses collectors of curios and relics. The ATF defines such firearms as those that have special value to a collector.The firearm must have one or more qualities you don't find in traditional firearms used for sport or as a defensive or offensive weapon. A curios and relics license is neither a license to carry or use a firearm, nor a license to operate a firearms business.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives uses several criteria for deciding to classify a firearm as a curio and relic. The firearm must be at least 50 years old at the time you apply for a license and cannot be a replica. The ATF will also recognize firearms as curios and relics if the curator of a municipal, state or federal museum that displays firearms certifies that the firearm is a curio and relic. The ATF will also recognize a firearm as a curio and relic if its value is substantively tied to its novelty or rarity or from its association with a historical figure, period or event.
To apply for a curio and relic license, you must submit an application form to the ATF and pay a $30 application fee. Along with standard information, such as your name, age and address, the application for a curios and relics license asks about every address you have had in the last 5 years, other firearms licenses you have, criminal record, drug and alcohol use and mental health. You must also certify that you will follow applicable state and local laws. Once issued, the license is good for 3 years.
Advertisement Article continues below this adOnce the ATF issues a curios and relics license, you can acquire curios from other licensed collectors. You can also dispose of curios and relic firearms to anyone living in the state where you live that the Gun Control Act of 1968 does not bar from buying, selling or owning firearms. The license only covers curios and relics and is not the license you'd need to buy or use other types of firearms.
While the ATF license lets you acquire and dispose of curios and relics, such acquisition and disposal cannot include money changing hands. In other words, this license does not grant you the authority to buy or sell firearms, whether they are curios and relics or not. To buy or sell firearms, you need to apply for a dealer's license.
Collectors of curios and relics do not need to run a background check on someone they transfer a firearm to. However, federal law bars you from transferring a firearm to someone you think may be a felon or otherwise be prohibited from receiving or possessing firearms. You do not need to keep records of the people you acquire firearms from or transfer them to, since yours is a license that allows you to collect firearms, but in no other way run a firearms business.