Form 4..

Yes, the unreasonable delay in Form 4 approvals is probably the biggest hindrance in the NFA market. Who wants to tie up their money for so long, and not be assured of ever getting the item? (You could die in the meantime, the dealer might disappear, etc., etc.) The delay may be a "feature" and not a "bug." Some people would not be unhappy if the NFA market was destroyed completely.

You bothered calling this early? I still haven't called on mine that was submitted back in early July of 2016! Haha. The last day before the rule change there were ten thousand form 4's mailed in from Silencershop alone!

I mailed off my NFA Trust paperwork for my MAC-10 and it's suppressor on July 5, 2016. The MAC's came in today and the suppressor had to be resubmitted due to the post mark on it being after the cut off. So, pretty much a year and two weeks.

I submitted two form 1's on July 1 and July 3, respectively... the wait time between my submissions, and those put in closer to 41f implementation is crazy! Lots of last minute applications.

Joshua M. said:

So, i called last week to see if there was any change on expected approval..and they said it was pending. I asked what he meant, and he said it should be a couple more weeks...Does that mean they are processing it now?

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No, it takes very little time but with a large backlog. It gets slower when people keep calling to check on the status because they're special and can't wait like everyone else...

Pending just means it's somewhere in between receipt and approval/denial.

If you are near the current expect wait time, I wouldn't call to check more than once a week.

Three weeks ago I received a Form 4 submitted 10/17/16 and last week received one submitted 11/15/2016.

The ninety days prior to July 13th, 2016 saw ATF receive more than 280,000 Form 1/4's..........that's more than 2009, 2010, & 2011 together and more than all of 2014.

With that in mind....why would anyone be surprised that wait times are long?

Joshua M. said:

So checking on it every couple months is too soon?
Last I called them, on June 19th, he said to call and check again if I'd like...So, 2 months later, I did...sorry if my call slowed everyone else's...

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Yup. You've set everyone back by at least a month. Probably two.

How can you live with yourself?

They don't go any faster by calling is all I'm saying. Unless you're well over the expected time I would just focus on other projects while you wait. If they have to answer 20,000 phone calls to "check in" then they aren't working on the actual forms. Just my 2 cents.

Joshua M. said:

So checking on it every couple months is too soon?
Last I called them, on June 19th, he said to call and check again if I'd like...So, 2 months later, I did...sorry if my call slowed everyone else's...

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I don't think you slowed anyone elses F4s at all, I've heard over and over that they have dedicated people answering phones specifically to give status. It's not like they would have been doing approvals if you had not called.... They just would have been taking someone else's call.

BTW, the check was cashed for my latest F4 at the beginning of August. I've heard that they are getting slowed down with rework on applications that were mailed after the change, but still came in with the old forms and trust info. Given how low submissions have been since 41F, and the fact that they seem to be keeping their current staffing levels for now, I'm going to bet on a 6 month transfer time, hopefully getting my stamp back at the end of January or beginning of February. I guess we'll see.

FWIW, I recall some years back when the anti's had the idea of bringing all gun sales under the NFA, and some people in the gun community thought it would be a great idea and criticized the NRA for opposing it!

Jim

Jim K said:

FWIW, I recall some years back when the anti's had the idea of bringing all gun sales under the NFA, and some people in the gun community thought it would be a great idea and criticized the NRA for opposing it!

Jim

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I would like to hope that if this had actually come to pass, it would have either 1) eventually lit a fire under congress's collective behinds and got more of the NFA repealed or 2) provided a better chance of the courts tossing it completely.

But, I doubt it would have played that way.

Sounds like the firearm hearing protection act will pass before they get caught up.

Jim K said:

FWIW, I recall some years back when the anti's had the idea of bringing all gun sales under the NFA,

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There are periodic proposals to bring at least "assault rifles" under the NFA, the same as full automatics. The last time I recall this happening is when Diane Feinstein proposed it in the wake of Sandy Hook. This idea was dropped like a hot potato as soon as even the antigunners realized how unworkable it was. The existing NFA system would simply be overwhelmed. It's not geared for millions of applications, and the required staffing at ATF (to deal with the backlog) would bust the budget.

Look at the bright side: expanding the NFA in this way would mean the end of the NFA. There would be a hue and cry to repeal the whole thing, or else it would just become a dead letter.

AlexanderA said:

This idea was dropped like a hot potato as soon as even the antigunners realized how unworkable it was.

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Yu may be guilty there of ascribing sense and logic that is unwarranted.
The true antis haven't a care in the world what hoops "we" leap through, as long as we kneel and scrape to out "betters" whims.
They would have been utterly happy to have made "AW" NFA and defunded the stamps, and been quite smug about it.

The plan was dropped when the number of politicians got get feedback on how many votes they would lose. Which threatens their rice bowl. higher motives are not nearly as important as in keeping their positions in the political sphere.

748 said:

Sounds like the firearm hearing protection act will pass before they get caught up.

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We can only hope!

Was your form 4 done as an individual or trust? Over on NFA tracker there seems to be a widening gap between trust and individual approval times, trusts coming in with check cashed dates from Sept. '16 while individual forms with dates as late as then end of Feb. '17 are being reported as approved.

Joshua M. said:

Well, they did beat their expected approval...by 5 days. Was approved 10/23. Maybe my next one won’t take as long now?

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Depends on the workload at the NFA branch. Unfortunately, each new form is started from the beginning, and nothing from older applications carries over