Chapter 11 set out the NFA machinery — the occupational tax, the applications to make and to transfer, the registry. This section is what the same part does when that machinery is not complied with, and it is short because it mostly points elsewhere. Any person who violates or fails to comply with the requirements of 26 U.S.C. Chapter 53 is, UPON CONVICTION, subject to the penalties imposed under 26 U.S.C. 5871. The regulation does not restate those penalties, and neither does this book: the figures live in the Internal Revenue Code rather than in the part, so anyone who needs the number needs 5871 itself.

The records-and-returns limb is drawn slightly differently and is worth reading carefully. Any person failing to keep records OR make returns, or making — or causing the making of — a false entry on any application, return, or record KNOWING the entry to be false, is liable to fine and imprisonment as provided in section 5871. Three distinct failures sit in that one sentence: not keeping the records, not making the return, and falsifying either. Note where the knowledge qualifier attaches — “knowing such entry to be false” is fixed to the false-entry clause, and to that clause alone.

Missing a return does not make the return go away. If a person required to make returns fails or refuses to do so within the time this part prescribes or the Director designates, the return SHALL BE MADE BY AN ATF OFFICER upon inspection of the books — and the regulation adds the sting explicitly: the making of that substitute return does not relieve the person from any default or penalty incurred by reason of the failure. The obligation is satisfied by someone else, at their convenience, and the penalty stands.

Forfeiture reaches further here than under the Gun Control Act. Any firearm involved in any violation of Chapter 53 is subject to seizure and forfeiture under the internal revenue laws, with disposition of forfeited firearms in conformance with 26 U.S.C. 5872. Beyond the firearm, any VESSEL, VEHICLE, OR AIRCRAFT used to transport, carry, convey, conceal, or possess a firearm with respect to which a Chapter 53 violation has been committed is subject to seizure and forfeiture under the customs laws. The vehicle that carried it is exposed alongside the firearm it carried.