ATF Update: More Transferrable MGs and One-Week NFA Transfers

All the best firearms history channels streaming to all major devices:

Two pieces of surprisingly good news regarding the NFA :

First, ATF has recognized that about 4,000 machine guns imported prior to 1986 for police agencies were mis-classified as dealer samples when they should have been fully transferrable. Those guns are being reclassified as transferrable now, and lots of dealers have already probably noticed the change. We are still waiting on written confirmation from ATF, but this has been a project years in the making between NFATCA and the ATF, and it has finally come to fruition.

Second, with some changes to their internal processes and fully exploitation of the eForms digital system, processing waits for Form 4 transfers (ie, transfers to individuals) are down to one week or less. This assumes that someone uses the electronic eForms system with digital fingerprints and pays the tax stamp electronically as well, and that there are no errors on the form. Given those conditions, the previous standard of +/- 9 excruciating months is now down to a few days.

Would it be better for the NFA to be repealed entirely? Yep, but I will take incremental improvements in the meantime!

[hoppinggnomethe]

ATF got drunk and did this
We need to give them more beer

[randomgames]

I don’t know what’s more shocking, the ATF actually making some fire arms accessible, or the fact that they are ACTUAL machine guns, either way great news!

[Andrew-psxe]

The ATF is about to face several enormous losses in court, so by improving timeframes, they hope to appear tolerable instead of facing consequences for their past blatant sandbagging.

[awrenceofarabia]

I think some folks realized that 9+ month wait was an existential threat to the NFA in the courts. I'm glad the wait times are lower but it actually reduces the chance we ever see them disappear entirely.

[michaelaustin]

Sounds like the ATF is trying to prepare for supreme court arguments

[pARabellmm]

Oh goody. More MGs means the price will come down. Might even knock a whole 5 bucks off the price of a 20 or 30 thousand dollar firearm....

[logicplague]

Registry should never have been closed in the first place.

[dgoodman]

After 27 years of government service I can tell you with absolute certainty, that top officials weren’t sitting around in a meeting asking each other what we can do to make things easier for the good citizens of this country that pay our salary. Only changes a bureaucracy will make is when it’s in their best interest to do so, not yours. Short term, it’s a good thing, long term I guarantee it’s not a win for the end user. Most in the comment section seem to understand that the changes are going to be in their best interest not ours and they are correct. 👍🏼

[garethfergusson]

And In a unrelated story Ian has taken out a second mortgage for unknown reasons 😂

[sicskillz]

As an nfa dealer I can tell you 100% there have been hundreds of customers that had always held off on buying a can because of the wait times and now they are buying cans like popcorn Only thing that bugs me is people are still so impatient that they wana call us everyday trying to get an update. Like bro this used to take a year, go home binge some tv and check your emails you will see it when we do. Ps. If you are complaining and being outraged to your nfa dealers over atf Eforms issues, the employees hate you, we have been dealing with the stupid system for a year now we are just as frustrated if not more frustrated than you. We don’t wana see you everyday. We would much prefer it to go through easy because then we don’t have to deal with you being an asshole to us. If you have complaints take it up with ATF EFORMS. Good luck new buyers.

[Jimtheneals]

Take this with a grain of salt, the only reason they are doing this is because someone in Idaho, I think, is suing the feds because he wanted to make a machinegun and the ATF naturally said no, and it's in the 10th circuit court of appeals. There have been a few cases that the ATF has tried to get dismissed for standing by saying all you have to do is go through the process of registration, by doing this they can argue the plaintiffs have no standing as they are suffering no harm, and by making the process fasted and easier they can show that to the supreme court. This is just one more attempt at damage control.

[vaillencourt]

Now, all we need is someone well-funded enough to bring a lawsuit in the 5th Circuit arguing that the closure of the machine gun registry is "arbitrary and capricious" in light of this new action by the ATF. After all, if several thousand additional machine guns can be made available to the civilian market without it being an undue threat to public safety, then they're basically admitting that there was never actually a compelling government interest in limiting the supply of legally transferrable machine guns.

[CenlaSelfDefenseConcepts]

I kept hearing rumors that ATF had lawsuits nipping at their heels over the NFA processing times which is why they finally sped things up

[raefordguns]

I just checked my Eforms and my Presample M78 Valmet in 5.56 is now Transferable! 😁

[sgtmoose]

The only news I really want to hear is that the NFA is deemed unconstitutional.

[knightofavalon]

This feels like the set up for something. Like justification for regulating AR pistols as SBRs because "filing form 1 is no longer burdensome" or some shit.

[Nimrodwithagun]

I feel like the only reason the wait times were reduced is because of the Bruen SCOTUS decision. It's only a matter of time before the NFA in its entirety is challenged on 2A grounds and it would be very difficult for the ATF/Feds to argue that it isn't completely unconstitutional if you have to wait 6 months to 2 years to get the things you wanted

[TheSicGamer]

Thank God our benevolent masters let us have more scraps 🙏

[stevegee]

"I'll take a week over nine months.." - 'That's what she said.'

[philrab]

If ATF can get the NFA transfer time down to a week, they always had the power to speed it up. And they likewise have the power to slow it down again.