Who knows the average response time of the ATF

[blume357]

I sent in my paper work back in Dec. and BAFTE cashed my check on Dec. 22nd... and now I'm thinking time is close.... anybody done this recently and what do you think the average turn around time is?

One reason I ask is the dealer I went through is not real good at calling... I left a barrel with him to thread and called a month later and his answer was.... yep, I got that ready for you.... keep in mind, I had not paid in advance... so the only way he was going to get his money was for me to come pick it up... so I went in got the barrel and paid him and left another barrel.... went by a month later and he said his compress was broken but he would have it done in two days..... I finally went back by two weeks later and .... same thing... Oh yeah... we got that done the day after you came by... seems this guy is not hurting for money.... Since, I've already paid him for the suppressor and all we are waiting on is the government paper work... I suspect when it comes in he won't call me on that either. .... in the mean time my suppressor sits in his safe... the place is a little out of the way and I don't want to be a bother.... but...

[Willie Lowman]

Six months +

[blume357]

I thought I was almost at 6 months... but it looks like next week is actually just 5 months.... I sometimes wonder about playing the government's silly games....

[Deja vu]

When I called (about a month ago) I was told 7 months.

[AK103K]

My dealer just got both of mine back today (25 weeks), and they were "in error". Seems the downloadable forms need to be printed front and back on "one" sheet of paper.

Back they go and we'll see how much longer they take.

[Rebok87]

Right now they are taking an average of 7 months.

[David Hineline]

Great dealer you got who does not even know the most basic of rules about the process of the paperwork. Let me guess he was the cheapest you could find.

[AK103K]

Great dealer you got who does not even know the most basic of rules about the process of the paperwork. Let me guess he was the cheapest you could find.

Im assuming this was directed at me.

Price had nothing to do with it, although the "deal" was a good one for both of us. He's just got into the NFA stuff, and I was the first one he did. The last couple I did were back in the 80's, and I just assumed the downloadable forms were the way things were now.

Its all a learning process, and if you dont try, you dont learn.

As far as dealers go, hes a good guy. Ive had "seasoned" dealers lead me the wrong way on more than one occasion before, so its not just inexperience with something new.

[Toxdoc]

Check nfatracker.com

It will vary by examiner, however. Around 6 months seems to the the norm.

[blume357]

If Strom Thurmond was still alive I think I could fix this.... not really joking here.

[TennTexan]

Hope is on the horizon! Look for wait times to start getting shorter in the near future. The NFA branch is bringing on about 12 temporary employees to help dig out from under the massive backlog of paperwork. We may see results as early as this summer.

[blume357]

solution to totally ridiculous policy that they could easily resend is to just hire more government employees to do the massive amount of redundant paper work that's created by the stupid rules....

sounds like a Mark Twain joke.

[Skans]

Depends. Are you trying to do something legal, or illegal?

[mingheemouse]

I filed my paperwork (Form 1) Oct. 5th and got my stamp in the mail yesterday, May 14th, the form says it was signed on May 9th. That's about as up to date as you are likely to get.

According to the BATFE office of the Chief Counsel, who oversee the processing of forms to assure legality and compliance, there have been just 10 people processing forms for the last decade or more, despite the fact that the number of NFA forms processed has risen from 41,579 in 2005 to 103,047 in 2011, that is an increase of 2 1/2 times the workload in 6 years.

At the 2012 National Firearms Law Seminar, they said that not only is the volume of forms increasing, but the number of Trusts they have to read through to determine if they are valid under state law has greatly increased their workload as well. They are finding that while many trusts may be invalid, many more which are valid, and thus have a stamp issued to them, have verbiage in them which will later cause problems for the trustees because it will bind them to do certain questionable things in the future.

One thing they pointed out, if you copied your trust from somebody's website, and just changed a few names and serial numbers in a few places, check to make sure that you didn't just give your NFA items to that internet guy's kid upon your death. The BATFE said they have literally hundreds of the same copied trust from people all over the country, leaving their machine guns and such to this one kid, who will be just crawling with machine guns in 20-50 years. They say they have already had to explain to a number of widows why they can't inherit their husband's expensive firearm collection after his death, because legally they became someone else's property.

[Willie Lowman]

Originally Posted by TennTexan

The NFA branch is bringing on about 12 temporary employees to help dig out from under the massive backlog of paperwork

What is your source for this info?

[TennTexan]

Willie, my source is Scott Bittner, president of the American Silencer Association (ASA). I've confirmed it with him, and know for a fact that at least some of the assistants are already in place and processing paperwork.

ASA has been actively working with ATF and members of Congress to address the ridiculous wait times for NFA paperwork.

[TennTexan]

blume357, I agree with you that there is a certain sick humor to the whole mess. Wait times are definitely going to get better with the introduction of additional help, though, which is no small miracle given the massive CF that is the entire NFA machine.

[mingheemouse]

TennTexan, it's good to hear some of the new workers are on the job already. They (the Chief Counsel's Office) told me when I talked to them in April that they had likely secured the funding to bring in some new help. I'm glad to hear that things have progressed.

[AK103K]

Quick update. Got my tax stamps today. Even with the little delay due to the paperwork snafu, today was 6 months to the day.

[Mrgunsngear]

Lucky bastard! Enjoy your new toys.

[AK103K]

I am!

We were just out firing up the burn barrel as you typed.

[CCCLVII]

I just asked my FFL guy and he told me that the people in my area are claiming 6 months after the feds cash your check. He says the feds typically cash there checks in 2-5 weeks.

[blume357]

It seems a little too convenient to me that it takes 6 months to process the paper work... me thinks there is a system in place that creates this. What I mean is a pile of paper work on someone's desk can't constantly stay that exact.

as I've said before the whole system is self perpetuating ..... not only does BAFT love it, 12 new employees needed, but the Class 3 dealers and manufactures do to.... the only ones who don't benefit from it are.... the common citizen and the constitution.

[Willie Lowman]

blume, me thinks you are wrong.

Transfer times were not always 6 months. When I first started buying NFA tax stamps, transfers were taking 2 to 3 months. My dealer told me that they used to take a year. These things weren't exact either, they were averages.

I don't know what BAFT is but they can love a long wait all they want. The NFA examiners are overloaded. Dealers are loosing sales when they mention "by the way it will be half a year before you can take this home." Manufacturers benefit from TV shows that feature NFA stuff and the internets spreading the good word that silencers, short barreled guns, and AOWs are legal to own, they haven't been done any favors by the longer wait times.

[5.56RifleGuy]

Hell, it took the dealer I bought from 3 months just to get an approval to ship to another dealer.