Yesterday I got a call from the guy I use for NFA items. He’d just spoken with the NFA branch about a transfer I have pending. Here’s the key background points:
I have a gun trust-- I’m a lawyer and I drafted my own trust after doing a lot of research. My trust (and copies of it drafted for clients) has been approved for five previous transfers for me, and numerous other transfers for clients.
Last fall I bought another .22 can and submitted the required paperwork to BATFE.
Last December, they cashed my $200 check.
My form went “pending” in February 2013.
My FFL guy called the NFA branch in mid September and was told he should have my approval in hand by October 17.
My FFL called them again today to check the status.
He was told that the new time period for NFA transfers is 15 MONTHS FROM THE DATE IT GOES PENDING! That’s right, 15 ****ing months from the time it goes pending! That will be almost a year and a half AFTER they cashed my ****ing check. I know I shouldn’t be shocked, but holy shit! The worst part is I don’t know what, if anything, I can do about it.
Has anybody else heard this? Is it true, or was he given bad intel?
I was told 15 months yesterday also when I called and checked the status of my suppressor. I guess when the Gov shutsdown for 2 weeks it delays everything 6 months.
Just called to check on mine. I was within 2 weeks of getting it before the shutdown. I was told wait times are now 15 months, and she wasn’t sure if mine made the cutoff for the previous 9 month wait.
I was told 15 months as well. I was a mere 1-2 weeks away from approval (according to NFAtracker) until the shutdown…lame. I was hoping to have it for hunting season.
I just called (a rare occurrence for me) and asked about the 15 month wait time, and if there was some rough threshold for the pending date of forms when they would begin to take that much longer. She said that all they were told is to say that “it could take up to 15 months from when they’re received”. Then again, I was told last year it could take 90 days from approval to the stamp being sent out, and my experience is it takes just a few days, so these estimated figures aren’t intended to be remotely precise.
Everything we know in the community as far as wait times is retrospective, and keep in mind that there was a huge increase in all firearms-related purchases earlier this year surrounding the AWB hysteria, and that even more recently, there has been an NFA buying spree related to the upcoming trust changes. Add to these factors the lay-off of the examiner assistants following the “sequester”, and the 2-week federal shutdown, and the paperwork queue must be at unprecedented levels. Of course, since we can only see how long our forms TOOK after the fact, we would only now be seeing the effects of all of this.
One might also speculate that this announcement to the NFA branch staff could be in anticipation of the additional processing time needed for the “responsible persons” background checks in the proposed trust changes.
15 month F1s and F4s plus 4 month F3s is crazy. Somehow something could be done. I’m going to write my Reps and Senators. It probably won’t help, but I’m at a loss as to what else to do?
I honestly think this is just a knee jerk reaction, and that they do not have an accurate estimate. However if the 15 month F1 and F4 wait + 4 month wait for F3’s is true, then it will be very hard to sell suppressors.
What I was told today is that they’re no longer going by pending date to determine wait time; rather, they’re now going by receive date.
In other words, 15 months from receive date. That contradicts what the OP was told.
I wonder why they’re going by receive date? How do they determine receive date.
My guess on the why is that it is related to the trust rule changes. Checks are cashed before they go pending. And if they have to determine a cutoff for Trust rule changes it makes sense to them to cut off based on receive date. That way they don’t have to issue refunds.
As for how? I don’t know.
Then again I could be wrong and it’s actually 15 months from Pending and the guy who I talked to told me wrong.
