Latest Class III: Guesses on Wait Time

[Capbyrd]

You miss my point - the ATF is deliberately not staffing up to meet the demand - thus they are responsible for the delays. It's quite curious that 6 months is the magic number but it can easily be made faster with more staff. Let's be honest - you don't need to be a highly paid and trained gov employer to a background check and stick a stamp in a paper- TICS does it for $10 in minutes

The entire government is under a hiring freeze. You are aware of that, right? Even if they wanted, they couldn't "staff up."

Secondly, 6 months isn't the magic number. Its around 7-8 months now. And its getting worse. The number of forms is increasing at a rate that they can't keep up with. They are moving some people around and giving assistants to the examiners but thats not gonna be a big help.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Their backgrounds are a bit more than the TICS backgrounds.

Take me for example. I have and have had several clearances. So when I submit my paperwork the see I no longer have clearances. So they have to determine why. This takes a little longer because of this.

When speaking with the guy at the ATF he said we all need to call our reps and demand funding if we want things to improve.

The time of 6 months has only been that way for 6 months. One year ago it took my form to clear in 97 days, door to door. Just wait until it becomes 18+ months like in the late 80's and early 90's.

Dolomite

[Johnny Rotten]

your crying over 180days right? the good old days took a yr +, beleive it or not congress doesn't want you to own anything NFA.

are you filing as individule or using a trust? that makes about a 4wk difference between the two.

I wouldn't compare a TICS background check to a FBI background check....BTW your the last person inline at the FBI, they have bigger fish's to fry and the BATF won't do anything w/o your FBI background check.

What's pending anyways?

[Capbyrd]

are you filing as individule or using a trust? that makes about a 4wk difference between the two.

Proof?

[Johnny Rotten]

Proof?

I'm guessing you have a trust, I wish when I started my dealer would have told me the differance, to late now!!

[Capbyrd]

I do not have a trust. Having a trust or going the individual route has no bearing on wait times anymore. It used to make a difference but not any longer.

[Johnny Rotten]

I do not have a trust. Having a trust or going the individual route has no bearing on wait times anymore. It used to make a difference but not any longer.

Since when?

My buddy and I purchased 1 item ea from out of state (this time last yr), both items arrived to our dealer in the same wk, since I had a serial # my dealer did all of my paperwork before the item arrived, I got my photo, cleo signiture and finger prints all done before it arrive. My buddy has a trust, we sent our paperwork off the same day, our checks cashed 2 days later, we both went pending 1 wk later (again same day, same pile of paperwork), he got approved 96 days from pending, myself 122 days from pending, remember same dealer and same exanimer, how do you explain the 4wk difference? The trust side steps the FBI BG check.

[Capbyrd]

Simple...

Forms aren't always processed in the order that they are placed on the desk. The examiner could have knocked over some stuff and got them out of order. If you take a LARGER sample than just you and your buddy, the general consensus is that both are about the same in wait times. download the spreadsheet from NFA tracker and check the data.

[Guest SpicyMchaggis]

your crying over 180days right? the good old days took a yr +, beleive it or not congress doesn't want you to own anything NFA.

When were these days? It was 30-60 days from the mid-90's until about '04.

Edited June 13, 2012 by SpicyMchaggis

[Guest SpicyMchaggis]

I just just had a Form 1 and 4 clear from December 14th submission. Almost 6 months exactly.

[Hershmeister]

Their backgrounds are a bit more than the TICS backgrounds.

Take me for example. I have and have had several clearances. So when I submit my paperwork the see I no longer have clearances. So they have to determine why. This takes a little longer because of this.

When speaking with the guy at the ATF he said we all need to call our reps and demand funding if we want things to improve.

The time of 6 months has only been that way for 6 months. One year ago it took my form to clear in 97 days, door to door. Just wait until it becomes 18+ months like in the late 80's and early 90's.

Dolomite

That's interesting - what's the difference in a TICS check and the NFA FBI background check?

[Hershmeister]

The entire government is under a hiring freeze. You are aware of that, right? Even if they wanted, they couldn't "staff up."

Secondly, 6 months isn't the magic number. Its around 7-8 months now. And its getting worse. The number of forms is increasing at a rate that they can't keep up with. They are moving some people around and giving assistants to the examiners but thats not gonna be a big help.

This is why this should be handled by a third pasty who can manage their staffing to meet the demand. The $200 tax is a self funding mechanism.

[Johnny Rotten]

When were these days? It was 30-60 days from the mid-90's until about '04.

early 90's

[bigwakes]

I understand the more specific background check, but my understanding is that a trust requires no background check. It doesn't make sense if they have the same wait time with nothing to do but stamp a piece of paper, review a trust document, and put it in the mail. I have a friend that sells class 3. One customer had 8 items pending at the same time. When the first one was approved he asked if they could approve the other 7 since they already did the background check on that customer and the answer was he will have to wait like everybody else. Seems like an easy way to clear someones work load if that's what they were trying to do.

I had checks cashed on April 24th and 26th both went pending on May 29th and the ATF said look for them at the end of November or early December.

For those who don't see the checks cashed in a timely manner mine hit my account as a debit transaction. I kept looking for checks to clear, but it was processed electronically and hit my account as a debit. By the time I realised it I was already pending. Thought they lost my paperwork and check.

Edited June 16, 2012 by bigwakes

[Guest Grizzly Johnson]

Might want to check out American Silencer Association..... they have a site and page of FB where they post updates. There is a group from there that were in DC yesterday & today speaking with members of the BATF. Here is an update that was posted on their FB page yesterday:

We’d like to give everyone a field report for now. Yesterday, we met with our counterparts from the NFA Branch of the ATF at their HQ in Martinsburg, WV. While there, we toured their facilities, met a large number of the examiners, and we...re introduced to many of the temporary research assistants that they hired in April. We saw the stacks of boxes filled with forms, and even passed the mythical fax machines that must sometimes forward forms to the Bermuda Triangle.

We did leave the meeting with some good news. The ATF is currently beta testing an e-Forms program that they are looking to deploy by this fall. Once it goes live, we expect that processing times will decrease dramatically. We will continue to engage the ATF on this matter, and will assist wherever possible throughout its implementation. As noted before, they have also hired 12 temporary research assistants to aid in the processing of forms. While they are having a positive impact on approval wait times, which will take several months to notice, their contracts end in April of 2013.

Today, we are meeting with the offices of three Congressmen and one Senator to discuss our plans to reform the approval process, and alleviate the inexcusable wait times. We will be posting another field report following our meetings.

These are just the highlights. Next week we will send out a full newsletter discussing our trip in depth, so be sure to sign up for our email list, or membership at: www.AmericanSilencerAssociation.com.

[Guest Grizzly Johnson]

Word down the pipe is times should be getting faster...... in a few weeks it should be down to 5.5 months.......

[RoDan]

They cashed my check the 1st week of January, and I got my can on July 3rd (which is oddly enough my birthday, lol). 7 months. But it was worth the wait! AAC TiRant .45

[JohnC]

Why the heck do they make this process so silly other than to deter regular folks with the wait and $200 tax?

It seems like if you can pass a background check and buy a firearm, you should be able to have a carry permit and any class 3 toy you want.

It's kind of silly to me - with say a short barrel AR pistol being class 3. It does the same thing as a long barrel AR and if I wanted to conceal I could buy a pistol.

And none of this class three crap would ever stop a criminal from illegally modifying an AR in to a pistol or making a home made can if he really wanted to.

Just pouring out my thoughts here.

[samson7x]

They cashed my check the 1st week of January, and I got my can on July 3rd (which is oddly enough my birthday, lol). 7 months. But it was worth the wait! AAC TiRant .45

How is the TiRant? Im waiting on one in .45 also...should be here by Sept. What is your host weapon?

[Guest Grizzly Johnson]

Why the heck do they make this process so silly other than to deter regular folks with the wait and $200 tax?

It seems like if you can pass a background check and buy a firearm, you should be able to have a carry permit and any class 3 toy you want.

It's kind of silly to me - with say a short barrel AR pistol being class 3. It does the same thing as a long barrel AR and if I wanted to conceal I could buy a pistol.

And none of this class three crap would ever stop a criminal from illegally modifying an AR in to a pistol or making a home made can if he really wanted to.

Just pouring out my thoughts here.

I agree, would love for the legislation to be changed...... If they want the $200 tax stamp..... so be it on the first purchase.... waved thereafter..... as long as you are legal to own/purchase such items and weapons.

[pete]

My check was cashed Feb 28 2012. I just got more forms last week to fill out from my FFL guy. They wanted me to answer 3 questions. All were are you an American citizen and what country were you born.

My FFL said this is something new and usually you get your suppressor after you send these forms back in, in 3-4 weeks.. Sounds like more red tape to me.. Least i'm getting close.

[Capbyrd]

Sounds like the Certificate of Compliance that you should have included in the original package.

Is this the form?

http://www.atf.gov/forms/download/atf-f-5330-20.pdf

[pete]

Yeah that was it. Thanks... The ffl guy must have forgotten it. Hope it doesn't delay getting my stamp too much.

[Hershmeister]

The COC is redundant to the form 1/3 paperwork. Classic government bs

[Capbyrd]

Yeah that was it. Thanks... The ffl guy must have forgotten it. Hope it doesn't delay getting my stamp too much.

Actually, if they noticed the error, it means that they finally got to you. If you sent in the CoC yesterday, I would expect that you will get your stamp back this month.