§5848 — Title 26 Internal Revenue Code | U.S. Code

§5848 Restrictive Use of Information

Title 26 › Subtitle Subtitle E— Alcohol, Tobacco, and Certain Other Excise Taxes › Chapter 53— MACHINE GUNS, DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES, AND CERTAIN OTHER FIREARMS › Subchapter B— General Provisions and Exemptions › Part I— GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 5848

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Information you provide when registering a firearm or keeping required firearm records cannot be used against you in a criminal case for a violation that happened before or at the same time as the filing. The shield does not apply if you furnish false information — prosecutors can still use the material in a case about the lie itself.

Title 26, §5848

Internal Revenue Code — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)No information or evidence obtained from an application, registration, or records required to be submitted or retained by a natural person in order to comply with any provision of this chapter or regulations issued thereunder, shall, except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, be used, directly or indirectly, as evidence against that person in a criminal proceeding with respect to a violation of law occurring prior to or concurrently with the filing of the application or registration, or the compiling of the records containing the information or evidence.

(b)Subsection (a) of this section shall not preclude the use of any such information or evidence in a prosecution or other action under any applicable provision of law with respect to the furnishing of false information.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 5848, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 727, as amended by acts Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85–859, title II, § 203(f), 72 Stat. 1427; June 1, 1960, Pub. L. 86–478, § 3, 74 Stat. 149, related to definition of a firearm, machine gun, rifle, shotgun, other weapon, importer, manufacturer, dealer, interstate commerce, transfer and person, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 90–618.