They have been taking progressively less time. Put shop had one in 10 days, then 7 days then 3 days. Mine this week took 44 hours, 5 minutes.

The NFA has made a change in how they process applications. Provided it is a) e-filed, b) is for an individual, and c) the SSN is included, the ATF will immediately request the FBI NICS check.

In the past they took the first in, first out thing literally, not submitting the next application for an FBI NICS check until the last one cleared. In essence if an applicant in a batch of requested checks had a delay or an open investigation to clear up something in the background check it held up the entire line until it was resolved.

I don’t want to sound like a cynic but that was clearly an overly literal application of the “first in, first out” probably intended as a delaying tactic.

Now, with immediate submission for the FBI NICS check, the ATF will immediately process the Form 4 when it comes back with a “proceed”.

You still might get a slight delay in the submission process as they still submit in batches. If the timing is right, your Form 4 will be attached with a batch ready to go out, while if it’s not good timing it might sit a few days before the next batch goes out.

The ATF has also started bundling multiple Form 4s. They have realized that if there are multiple Form 4s waiting for approval for an individual and they get a “proceed”, they can use that proceed to approve all of them. The fact they we’re not doing this before again suggests using an overly narrow read to require a separate FBI NICS check for all pending Form 4s as a delaying tactic - probably much to the annoyance of the FBI repeating unnecessary checks.

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Trusts still require all of the trust documents be manually read to ensure it’s a legal trust, and all of the questionnaires for responsible persons still need to be reviewed, but they are also being approved much faster.

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It’s forcing shops to change their business models.

With Form 4 approvals coming in just a few days, shops are selling a lot more suppressors. It’s March and our local gun shop has sold almost twice as many suppressors as it did all last year.

In the past shops could sell the suppressor and then order the required accessories to accommodate the firearm(s) it would be used with while waiting for the approval. That’s no longer the case as it takes longer to order and receive the accessories than it takes to get the Form 4 approved.

With the increase in sales, accessories are now more likely to be out of stock, and that won’t make a customer happy if they can’t use the suppressor they just bought.

A shortage of suppressors is also very likely if the latent demand for suppressors by customers who didn’t want to wait the better part of a year in the past is large and sales continue to remain high.