Since the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) instituted its new policy surrounding the processing of National Firearms Act (NFA) applications, the wait time for the ATF to approve an application and issue a tax stamp has been drastically cut down for those filing as individuals, but the process at the ATF used to process a trust remained unchanged. Though the trust process is still the same, a side effect of the improved processing of individual Form 4s has led to the wait time for trust Form 4s shrinking significantly.
The ATF rolled out its new method of processing NFA applications two months ago. The Bureau abandoned its “first in, first out” method of processing instead of electing to send all applications to the FBI for the NICS check before processing them. NICS has been the bottleneck in the process. By sending the applications to the FBI first, the ATF could process applications that come back “approved” in record time. This change meant that some people even got same-day approval.
The processing of trust applications is a different story. Since each trust has to be read in its entirety, it has to be processed by the ATF before the submitting party’s information can be sent off to the FBI to be run through NICS. A NICS check is only valid for 30 days, meaning that the processor wouldn’t have time to complete a review of the trust before the NICS check expires.
The wait times for trust are still significant, although, with the clearing of the individual Form 4 backlog, trust Form 4s have seen wait times slashed by an average of 40 days. This change is welcomed by the gun community, which has been facing wait times of up to a year or longer.
The ATF plans to streamline the trust approval process for standard trusts from companies like Silencer Shop and Silencer Central. Those trusts are “boilerplates,” meaning the only things that change are the item information and the customer information. This standardization should allow the ATF to process these trusts faster than a customized trust since customized trusts are all unique and will require someone to read through the entire trust to make sure it is compliant with federal law.
The ATF doesn’t have a timeline for changing the processing of Form 4s submitted with trusts, but it is working on a plan. The NFA division is at the mercy of other groups within the ATF, such as the Information Technology (IT) Branch, to implement changes to processing. But even with that process not in place yet, the cutting of wait times has been something that gun owners have been clamoring for.
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The shorter wait times should also help the suppressor industry. The vast majority of Form 4s are for suppressors. One key obstacle was the long wait. Gun owners didn’t like having to pay for something and then having to wait a year to get it. The market for suppressors has exploded, and the change to the ATF process will cause a significant bump in sales.
The ATF claims that the reduction of wait times is the new normal. Gun owners can only hope that this change is permanent, at least until suppressors are removed from the NFA.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. Mr. Crump has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
