I hate to break it to you but you have a long way to go. I would realistically expect to wait probably another 3-4 months at least.
The last stamps I got back (a Form 1 and a Form 4 transfer) the checks were cashed back in August 2011. They were sent off together and they were both approved in February 2012.
Wait times are now predicted at 6-8 months.
They were at 4 months at the beginning to mid of 2011 but then from mid 2011 to now there has been a huge surge of people applying for transfers so the wait times are longer.
There are only 10 NFA examiners to process everyone's transfers in the US.
Lucky for you, you live in South Carolina. Suzanne Santamaria is the NFA examiner for that area and she is only responsible (unless something changed) for SC and GA.
My examiner has 10 states to deal with by comparison.
Don't blame the examiners, I know we all like to hate on the ATF but these people do work their butts off, they have to put up with a lot of crap, they are severely understaffed and over loaded and their bosses wont hire any more people to help them out. Due to the Federal Govt. hiring freeze. There used to be 12 but 2 went out due to retirement and or maternity leave.
There is a number you can call to at least check on your status and get the dates your forms went from checked cashed, to pending to approved.
I would wait at least 4-5 months though before calling and then don't call them every day or you will just make them mad , I would do any subsequent calls maybe once every 4 additional weeks or so as they have to deal with everyone else calling about the same thing it just slows them down.
The number is 304-616-4500, it's the NFA Branch in Martinsburg, WV where their office is.
Be sure to have your items serial numbers, and your Class 3 FFL/SOT information ready.
Try this site, it is pretty accurate as a predictor of how long you have to wait.
My best advice and I know it's hard (especially if this is your first time going through the NFA transfer process) is to just forget about it and pretend like you never bought it.
Eventually who ever is doing the transfer either the individual who you bought it from and has current possession of it or your FFL/SOT will get the paperwork back and get up with you.
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It's not always the size of the dog in the fight. Often it's the size of the fight in the dog.
Wait times are painful now. Mine was right at 5 month in early 2011. Used to be 12 examiners. 2 retired and the economy has put a federal hiring freeze in place. Sucks the wait is so long but if you can, buy multiple things and put it on 1 form 4. All get approved at the same time. I'm doing my dads Ar15 lower as an sbr and my 308 can on the same form 4.
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The right to bear arms is WAY less ludicrous than the right to arm bears!
My goal is to have an ATF form 1 (to make a silencer) pending right after I get one approved. This means I will be awaiting approval of applications for a long time to come. When I run of out guns to suppress, then I will no longer need to wait.
Ranb
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People that support the MG ban to preserve their investments are self-loathing anti-gun zealots.
I'm ok with the wait and tax. I'm not ok with the 86 ban. The original nfa law was put in place because of a dumb law that was eventually repealed. Our govt at work. Sticking us in the rear 90 yrs ago.
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The right to bear arms is WAY less ludicrous than the right to arm bears!
It's not my first dealing with an NFA item, but my first was 20+ years ago.
It didn't take much time at all back then, less than a month.
So how long does it take to process a request? 10-20 minutes?
If the investigators can do 3 an hour (worst case) that's $600 an hour.
The income alone can easily justify new hires/transfers.
Instead Holder and Obama are wasting ATF agents time for Fast and Furious Bordering walking...
FENCE UP THE BORDER and LOCK IT DOWN
I don't have a problem with most of the ATF agents.
I have serious problems with their leadership as well as DOJ.
ATF was meant to be a tax collection agency not Law Enforcement.
The 1986 ban is totally anti-Second Amendment!
BTW - Thank You for the Input!! This will be my first suppressor and hoping it will be as advertised.
It's not my first dealing with an NFA item, but my first was 20+ years ago.
It didn't take much time at all back then, less than a month.
So how long does it take to process a request? 10-20 minutes?
If the investigators can do 3 an hour (worst case) that's $600 an hour.
The income alone can easily justify new hires/transfers.
From elsewhere but he does a really good job explaining the process.
Quote:
Okay, here's the process, yes there are some gaps, sorry:
Your tax-paid form goes to the bank in Atlanta where the payment is stripped out and processed. Once it's stripped out, all documents get stamped with the first letter of the transfer's or maker's name, the day of the year, and the number of that letter for that day. The first form for the letter A on February 1 is A03201. If it's an individual transferee or maker, a P is stamped in front of the A, and the two types of forms are segregated.
The forms get sent to Martinsburg where they go through data entry. There are six data entry techs, so this takes about a month. They input the info on the transfer form into the NFRTR, not the examiner. Once they are in the system, the forms get assigned to the examiner by letter. Yes, they do still do that. It's a little fluid due to workload issues. Note that being assigned a letter means that all agency transfers/registrations by states with that letter are also that examiner's responsibility.
Once it gets assigned to an examiner, things get a little hazy. Fingerprints are scanned and sent off to the FBI for processing. This takes time because FBI is backlogged, and if the prints are rejected, processing all other individual applications at that examiner gets stalled while that is resolved.
What the examiner actually does when they process an application: they examine who the parties to the transaction are, and whether they are allowed to take part in whatever they're trying to do. For individuals that means checking the print results. For legal entities that means going down a state-specific checklist to make sure everything DOJ's lawyers say should be there are actually there. If not, it gets sent over to legal for review by one of their lawyers. Once that's done, they check the history of the weapon (if there is one) to ensure it's allowed to be possessed by whomever is trying to possess it. Dealer samples, Form 10 guns, etc. They also look at the reason for possession. Current orders are that "cute" ones are to get sent to legal - another delay point.
Once that's done, they check to make sure the payment was good. If it was not, then all applications for that day/letter combo are held until it's resolved.
Once everything is settled, they stamp their name (and their supervisor's name) on the form and send it to the mail room. They update the NFRTR to reflect the new registrant. Done.
It should be noted that examiners spend a lot of time resolving errors. Bounced checks are extremely common, as are improperly made out ones (yes, it really does matter who you make the check out to, at least at some level). People sending in one-sided forms happens all the time. Unreadable fingerprints and invalid trusts are also big issues. It takes time to fix that, and time spent fixing people's mistakes is time not spent processing transfers.
It takes a fair amount of time - the branch record for transfers processed in a month by one examiner is a little over 4k, and that's with working weekends. It's not rubber-stamp work; they're expected to be able to resolve issues without having to go to a supervisor every five minutes. Which could easily happen with all the frankly bizarre stuff that comes across their desks on a daily basis.
As an interesting aside, the transfer tax money goes into the general fund, but is earmarked for HUD. That's right, we're paying for the projects.
On another reason why processing times are long and will be longer:
There are currently eleven examiners and two supervisors, handling approximately 85k applications per year. However, there are in reality nine examiners now, as one is out on maternity leave and another is on long term disability. By the end of the year, two will have been promoted to supervisory positions, one will have been promoted to a specialist position, and one will be retired. So figure on six examiners and two supervisors. There are currently no plans for a hiring cycle.
I will add that the examiner who was out on maternity leave has returned.
That info was from 2010 but most of it is still valid, with the caveat that just like the huge surge in gun sales, there has been a huge surge in NFA transfers too.
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It's not always the size of the dog in the fight. Often it's the size of the fight in the dog.
they are training outsourced contractors. wait times might actually start shrinking by the end of the year. groups such as the ASA are working with the ATF and congress to help reduce times and requirements for NFA items.
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The right to bear arms is WAY less ludicrous than the right to arm bears!
3Likes
, I would do any subsequent calls maybe once every 4 additional weeks or so as they have to deal with everyone else calling about the same thing it just slows them down.
