U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Welcome back to this special edition of The Legal Brief, the show where we CRUSH the various legal myths and misinformation surrounding various areas of the gun world. I’m your host Adam Kraut and today we are talking about breaking news in the NFA world. ATF is now using a barcode system to drastically improve data processing and therefore those annoying Form 4 wait times.
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Late yesterday, news broke that industry members Silencer Shop, Dead Air Silencers and Gemtech had been working with ATF to implement a system to streamline the processing of NFA paperwork in order to reduce the backlog at the NFA branch. Several weeks ago, the CEOs of Gemtech, Dead Air, and Silencer Shop met with ATF officials to test a pilot of the program which was met with overwhelming enthusiasm. More on the actual process in a moment.
As you likely know, currently ATF wait times for the processing of paperwork are on average at least 8 months with a number of forms taking up to and more than a year to process. This has resulted in a number of people turning a cold shoulder to all things NFA related, not just silencers. Fortunately for us, rather than waiting for legislation to pass, Silencer Shop, Dead Air and Gemtech took the bull by the horns and made moves which result in a win for the NFA community as a whole.
You may be asking, well that sounds great Adam, but when does this stuff start to work? The answer is right now. ATF has already acquired the necessary hardware in order to implement the system on their end and Silencer Shop has a letter from ATF approving the application of barcodes to the forms. In fact, there have already been over 3,000 Form 4s submitted with the barcodes. Guys this is legit, this is a great thing.
So how does it all work and what exactly are these barcodes? When a dealer uses the Form 4 Generator, it pulls data from several different sources, like FFL eZ-Check, and auto-populates the correct FFL number, address, etc., without additional input from the dealer. The buyer’s information and the firearm or silencer information are then entered by the dealer and the form is printed. The printed copies feature a barcode which encapsulates all of the information on the Form 4. For those of you using trusts or other legal entities, this is also true of the Responsible Person Questionnaires.
When the form arrives at ATF, rather than have a person sitting at a computer entering the data contained on the form, they are simply scanned and the fields auto populate the information contained on the form into the appropriate data fields on ATF’s system. Forms were previously sitting anywhere from weeks to months before reaching this step.
This reduces the amount of time it takes to enter the information into ATF’s system. It means that a single individual can process forms at a faster rate. Like I said earlier, Silencer Shop has already submitted over 3,000 forms using these barcodes and ATF’s processing time of them has improved tenfold. Further, it reduces the error rate of an individual entering data. The current industry-wide error rate on Form 4s post ATF 41F is about 50%, resulting in the delay of processing applications while they are sent back for correction.
The best part, even if your dealer does not use Silencer Shop to process their forms, they are able to use the Form 4 Generator free of charge. A link to the generator is available in the description down below. You’ll want to encourage your dealer to use the new system as it will reduce errors found in form submissions. It will also allow ATF to input the information into their system more quickly. The result? Faster form processing times for everyone!
So to recap, we’ve got a new complex barcode that’s being used on these forms. That barcode contains all of the information that was previously entered by the dealer while utilizing the new Form 4 Generator. Again, this is intended to reduce errors which currently has an obscenely high rate as well as speed up data entry at the ATF. Which again, in theory, will drastically reduce wait times for Form 4 processing. This is exactly the kind of relationship ATF needs to foster with the Industry, working together to improve processes under the current law.
Being the fan of NFA firearms that I am, this is big news and will hopefully result in me waiting less time to get some of my stamps back. If you’re tired of ridiculous wait times at ATF, you need to share this video and let people know this is changing. Don’t forget to hit that like button and if you aren’t subscribed already, you better make that happen. Be sure to ring that bell so you don’t miss an episode. Check out my website adamkraut.com.
And as always thanks for watching!
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nfa wait times are not dropping, it’s clear 41F was not really the problem, the reorganizing of the nfa turned out to be nothing, as did the bar code system
I filed the 41f August 2016. Now March 9th 2018 and I’m still waiting. This August will be 2 years! This is insane.
Yes, the wait times are still the same as they were last year at this time. The Bar code system was a good idea on Silencer shop part but it appears that the atf truly does not care about reducing wait times.
This is 100% HYPE. There has been NO EFFORT by the ATF to speed up ANYTHING related to this process. NONE WHATSOEVER. Two steps forward, one step BACK. The time it takes to receive approvals on a paper form 4 has actually INCREASED in 2017 by 20-45%. THAT IS FACT. The new ‘system’ with ‘bar codes’ may have been super overdue and legit, but THERE HAS BEEN NO FASTER ANYTHING AS A RESULT. This is government incompetence with industry approval at its finest. New ‘automated’ front-end processing and the ATF has added ‘hundreds’ of new examiners, yet the ‘pending’ wait… Read more »
It’s been some time now, over 6 months and it’s clear the writer was right,
It looks like the 41f that we were told was the problem in 2016 , didn’t change the wait time after they were processed, we were told last summer that the reorganizing of the NFA branch would cut wait times. ( it didn’t)
We were told the bar code system was going to cut wait times down to 3 month or less by the 1st of 2018. It didn’t.
Wait times have gone up.
@DIII, Phenomenal! I was thinking the exact same thoughts about you! I would never put it in writing to you though. Only a self hating, trite insult writing, trollish, pissing contest, ranting, boring, waste of air, know-it-all. Would go to all the effort to type all that.
@ Wild Bill, what rattled DIII’s cage. I did not see anything you said to bring on his wrath. From what I’ve read of his posts he gets right into anyone who comments on what he says. Keyboard commandos like him just need to be ignored. Not enough hours in the day to deal with miserable negative comments.
@tcat, I do not know, brother, but he is that way to lots of commenters. Always with the negative waves. Maybe he is Hillary Clinton in real life.
tomcat,
First off I don’t “say” anything. I am not speaking. Secondly, why don’t you post citations of all those remarks I made “….into anyone who comments on what he says.” ?
Reminder smart guy….I don’t “says” anything. I am not speaking. Learn your language.
Lastly my wrath on know-it-all Wild Bill has to do with his innuendo(s). Something he does regularly. He doesn’t cite specifics. He makes remarks for no reason other than his own mental masturbation.
In the meantime, back up your accusations with citations on my remarks you claim I make. I won’t hold my breath.
Wild Bill, You never did answer my question of you as to what your point was in citing my remarks and then asking if I had not written them. So, between your whining and shedding your tears of pain because I peed in your Corn Flakes, perhaps you can answer my question as to what your point was in addressing my remarks withoutq specifics and deliberate innuendo ? Oh, and thanks for regurgitating my remarks describing you and attributing my descriptions of you and throwing them back on me. Being original in your remarks alludes you, eh ? Now, re-read… Read more »
@D3, First, You do not answer mine. Second, I am not required. And finally, just calm down.
Bill,
You specificaly posted a remark and quoted said remark to me. Which was factual. Yes, I did post that remark. It was obvious. Yet you refuse to answer my question as to what purpose said posting of yours served. You know and I know that your comment was a denigrating innuendo. Yet you don’t have the ‘nads to admit your intent. Sadly, you are the weasel I’ve come to acknowledge you as.
Enjoy your continuing addiction to being an Internet troll.
Dan,
You (the accusatory You), bla bla bla.
Everything that you write drips with abhorrence. Even when someone agrees with you, you bombard them with your vitriol and insult. The illusion of everyone criticizing you is only in your own mind. You have demonstrated it, here. I doubt that you will ever get another conversation.
I am sure the barcode system will speed things up in the future, but i don’t think it will be anytime soon. they would (or at least should) have to get through the current back log of non barcoded forms before they even start to use the new system, so i think it will be awhile before times start to drop. Hopefully i am wrong.
It did not, it’s now March of 2018 and wait times are going up.
And please no more talk about 41f it’s been long gone
Bottom line is suppressors just need to be removed from the NFA period. That is where the effort should be put.
I’m sure that the new system will work to reduce time approving form4! Let’s give it a chance anything new takes sometime to adjust itself! If it doesn’t work try something else! We the people have spoken give us back our ears,
Did not all those dem-o-rats and rino’s put all of these dept’s in business to PROTECT THE PUBLIC FROM ALL THOSE BAD GUYS It’s always a new gun law to PROTECT SOMEONE. Like GUN FREE ZONES HA,HA,HA,
@Dan, I an not suggesting that you should do anything at all. I am just saying, hypothetically, that to clean out all the rats, one has to know who the rats are. Is there such a “fedgov directory”? If the “fedgov directory” that you have given me really does exist. I will not rely. Finally, lots of people like my posting. I try to contribute information that they do not have, add a humor, and point errors that I come across. And when people, like your self find some deficiency with me, I try to self examine. Do you know… Read more »
Opps should read, “I will not delay.”
Hahahaha….is this story what one can call “fake news” ? A friend of mine just received (1 AUG 17) from the thugs at BATFE, his permission slip, the tax stamp, to take possession of a 1928a1 Thompson. Wait time ? Only 13 months ! Myself, I am still awaiting two BATFE permission slips. One for a Silencerco 556k suppressor. The other to “allow” me to have a barrel < 16" on my AR-malite lower. Both permission slip requests submitted at the same time. Current wait time….9 months….and still waiting. I am not holding my breath. "ATF wait times to drop."… Read more »
@Dan, The BATFE has a long history of dishonesty. That agency has to be decommissioned.
This is just more BATFE dishonesty. The BATFE had the four corner stall on. Now, they are hoping to head off Congressional action on mufflers by dropping wait times. Then BATFE will advise Congress a change in the law is not necessary. Long past time for the BATFE, NFA and GCA to go, and a Congress working for the People would repeal all of it.
Bill,
Look….until the citizens decide to freshen the Tree of Liberty with the blood of tyrants….BATFE, IRS, EPA, NSA, Chuck Schumer, Pelosi, McCain, Graham, Rubio, John Kasich, the US CON-gress and a host of fedgov scoundrels and agencies too numerous to list here….nothing will change for the better.
@Dan, They might be too numerous to list here, but a list of who they are and where they live is necessary.
Bill, “is necessary.”….for what ? Are you advising me that I should spend untold time, energy and resources to list the millions of scoundrels who make up fedgov ? I do hope that is not what you are advocating. A one-man Crusade will not fix the Republic, a Republic that no longer exists that has become nothing but an oligarchy. Until there is a rise up of the population as a whole, against the tyranny of the government of the United States, nothing will change in the fUSA, for the better. In the meantime I encourage you to take your… Read more »
@DIII, Aren’t you the one that wrote, “… until the citizens decide to freshen the Tree of Liberty with the blood of tyrants….BATFE, IRS, EPA, NSA, Chuck Schumer, Pelosi, McCain, Graham, Rubio, John Kasich, the US CON-gress and a host of fedgov scoundrels and agencies too numerous to list here….nothing will change for the better.” Yeah, I thought that was you.
Bill, Re: Your remarks to me at 14 SEP 17, 1451. Now, of course I wrote that. It is there for all to see. Yet you make emphasis asking if I had indeed written that. Seems you’re trying to make some sort of argument with me. Perhaps I am wrong. Nevertheless, what the hell is your point ? Bill, I am not a big fan of folks writing innuendo, such as you did at the referenced remark. Especially folks like those of us who remark anonymously at sites such as Ammoland. Now, if you’re looking to start a pissing contest… Read more »