From the White House "Fact" Sheet (Which, incidentally contains very few actual "facts")
Today, ATF is issuing a new proposed regulation to close this loophole. The proposed rule requires individuals associated with trusts or corporations that acquire these types of weapons to undergo background checks, just as these individuals would if the weapons were registered to them individually. By closing this loophole, the regulation will ensure that machine guns and other particularly dangerous weapons do not end up in the wrong hands.
This could have significant ramifications for the acquisition of NFA items by trusts. If the terms "individuals associated with trusts" is read to mean the trustees (e.g., the people with the right to possess the firearm), then very little has effectively changed. However, if this vague terminology is construed to mean all parties to the trusts, then it becomes impossible to background check all beneficiaries, particularly in situations where the trust beneficiaries are presently unlicancealbe. For example, if the contingent beneficiaries of a trust are your children, but your children have not reached age 21 and do not have an LTC, can they be successfully background checked? What if provisions of your trust specifically dictate that the contingent beneficiaries do not have an actual right to the firearm; i.e., they will be sold, and they get the money, for example? What then? They are arguably an "individual associated with the trust", but would be practically impossible for ATF to background check every potential trust beneficiary.
Therefore, three possibilities exist: (a)This is an attempted end-run to nullify NFA trusts at the federal level (including NFA Trusts that are already established) by making it "impossible" background check all parties, and deny the acquisition; (b) this is not the intent, but reflects only sloppy drafting; or (c) we can expect to see additional guidance from BATFE on the legallity of NFA trust construction. However, this is unlikely, as BATFE has consistently stated that their primary concern is only that the trust be legal under state law. Therefore, my bets are on A or B.
Before the official keeper of the clock makes any decisions, though, this charlie foxtrot drafting needs to get sorted out.