The reports have been flowing in from excited suppressor purchasers. The times for Form 4 individual applications have decreased by leaps and bounds, especially for new applications in 2024.
One South Texas hunter was elated his waiting time was just over a month, as the sheep hunter was waiting on a lightweight suppressor for his mountain trip. Another Dallas-area hunter waited just a few weeks.
While many who applied in 2023 and those who submitted trust applications are still waiting for at least 180 days, it appears improvement is on the horizon.
The change appears to be thanks to efforts by the American Suppressor Association working with the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
At the end of 2023, the ASA coordinated an Industry Roundtable with ATF to discuss problems and offer solutions to many of the underlying issues slowing down the eForms system. On March 15, the National Firearms Act Division hosted a webinar to discuss the processing improvements they recently implemented. These improvements have helped dramatically speed up Form 4 transfers. While there is still tremendous variability in transfer times, ATF said the new and improved processing times are the “new normal” and are expected to continue.
In order to process an NFA application, ATF must first receive a response from the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The NFA Division currently submits NICS checks to the FBI in large batches. Rather than approving transfers sequentially based on date received, NFA examiners are now focusing on rapidly processing applications as soon as the NICS response has been received. According to ATF, the “NFA Division is processing eForm Individual applications in real-time” and will quickly do the same for Form 4s utilizing an NFA trust.
The NFA transfer process also has been optimized to more efficiently process electronic applications. With roughly 96 percent of all NFA applications submitted electronically, more can be processed in a shorter period of time.
Perhaps the most impactful change is ATF’s departure from the “First In, First Out” approach, according to ASA. Rather than waiting for applications to be approved sequentially, NFA now focuses on approving applications as soon as the applicant’s background check has received a NICS “proceed.” Around 70 percent of background checks receive an instant “proceed” from NICS. The remaining 30 percent are “delayed” or “denied.”
The NFA Division said it also is working to implement improvements to the processing of trust applications that will all but eliminate the gap between individual and trust applicants. This will be especially true for applicants using “standardized trusts” sold by reputable companies which have already been thoroughly vetted by ATF.
