Rant/Whine about my suppressor process

I think the whole NFA process is garbage and indicative of typical government ineptitude. But, this is also my fault (-ish). I bought this suppressor two years ago. But I dragged my feet on the paperwork because I was counting on hearing protection act to come through. With that failure, one year ago in June, I did the paperwork for a Form 4 Trust, did the fingerprints, etc. and waited 11 months. I just got notified today that it was done.

How in this day and age of computers does reviewing a form take 12 months? Background checks take _minutes_, and if there's an issue when buying a firearm, you still get to pick it up after three days. The fact that very few people get questions asked about their trust means it's really a rubber-stamp after the background check. It's just an intentional- or ineptitude-based delay.

And the final rant- the patent for the automobile muffler was granted in 1897, the same technology was used for the patent for the suppressor, granted in 1909.



The fact that I'm required to have a car muffler, and prevented from having a firearm 'muffler' is ridiculous. The same stupid reasoning of 'prevent the to prevent crime' is BS- should we require cars to have open tailpipes to help catch bad guys driving away from a bank heist? No, the societal impacts of noise pollution are too great for this minor case for its use. I am upset that when I hunt with my son, he's going to have to use a firearm, that if he takes a shot at a deer, would have an OHSA violation because the sound level is damaging to hearing.

For fun: here's the not-the-same as the monocore or bafflestack diagram from 1909 that this new suppressor is. It is a far different design.

Sas quatch said:

How in this day and age of computers does reviewing a form take 12 months?

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It doesn’t.

It takes months and months to get to the box your form is sitting in. The review itself is fairly quick.

Sas quatch said:

I think the whole NFA process is garbage and indicative of typical government ineptitude. But, this is also my fault (-ish). I bought this suppressor two years ago. But I dragged my feet on the paperwork because I was counting on hearing protection act to come through. With that failure, one year ago in June, I did the paperwork for a Form 4 Trust, did the fingerprints, etc. and waited 11 months. I just got notified today that it was done.

How in this day and age of computers does reviewing a form take 12 months? Background checks take _minutes_, and if there's an issue when buying a firearm, you still get to pick it up after three days. The fact that very few people get questions asked about their trust means it's really a rubber-stamp after the background check. It's just an intentional- or ineptitude-based delay.

And the final rant- the patent for the automobile muffler was granted in 1897, the same technology was used for the patent for the suppressor, granted in 1909.

The fact that I'm required to have a car muffler, and prevented from having a firearm 'muffler' is ridiculous. The same stupid reasoning of 'prevent the to prevent crime' is BS- should we require cars to have open tailpipes to help catch bad guys driving away from a bank heist? No, the societal impacts of noise pollution are too great for this minor case for its use. I am upset that when I hunt with my son, he's going to have to use a firearm, that if he takes a shot at a deer, would have an OHSA violation because the sound level is damaging to hearing.

For fun: here's the not-the-same as the monocore or bafflestack diagram from 1909 that this new suppressor is. It is a far different design.

Click to expand...

You answered your own question before you even asked it.

Just think, if you had bought 3 different suppressors you would think that after the paperwork went in that they would all be approved at the same time...nope. They are separated and given to different processors and end up in their stacks. But even then you’d think “Hey, I wonder if John Doe has anymore in the system, I can approve them too!...Nope! They pay 3 people to do the background 3 times! Talk about mismanagement of government money! I’ve got 2 cousins that work for ATF in Martinsburg, WV who work in that department.

It doesnt take that long. Form 1's take 3 weeks and thats with you mailing in fingerprints. Form 4's take a year because they want them to take a year.

Hammer21b said:

Just think, if you had bought 3 different suppressors you would think that after the paperwork went in that they would all be approved at the same time...nope. They are separated and given to different processors and end up in their stacks. But even then you’d think “Hey, I wonder if John Doe has anymore in the system, I can approve them too!...Nope! They pay 3 people to do the background 3 times! Talk about mismanagement of government money! I’ve got 2 cousins that work for ATF in Martinsburg, WV who work in that department.

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So true...I got 1 stamp back that was filed 3 months after the 2 I’m currently waiting for. That has been more than a month ago that I got that stamp back too. At this point, those two stamps are more than 4 months behind...if you use logical thinking. This is .gov, so throw all that common sense jive out the window!

Hammer21b said:

Just think, if you had bought 3 different suppressors you would think that after the paperwork went in that they would all be approved at the same time...nope. They are separated and given to different processors and end up in their stacks. But even then you’d think “Hey, I wonder if John Doe has anymore in the system, I can approve them too!...Nope! They pay 3 people to do the background 3 times! Talk about mismanagement of government money! I’ve got 2 cousins that work for ATF in Martinsburg, WV who work in that department.

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Unless they do decide to batch them. Plenty of cases of that happening as well as it not.

Ive done 12-14 form 1's in the last few months. I lose track. None were batched. Some coming in before others that were filed earlier. one of that batch left and then 2-3 more I ve been meaning to file before the election and all hell possibly breaks loose.

not much reason to batch on form 1s. That process is decently streamlined all things considered.

Form 1 will be my next attempt at this, though there's no reasoning it should take any longer (or shorter) than other NFA items. Actually form 1 builds should be more scrutinized (by an engineer?). In any case, it looks like there's a business opportunity for suppressor manufacturers to sell 'kits', and then rebaffle them when the Form 1 is done.

That happens to an extent already. I know an 02/07 that gets new tubes filled with a piece of broomstick to put new baffles in.

Sas quatch said:

In any case, it looks like there's a business opportunity for suppressor manufacturers to sell 'kits', and then rebaffle them when the Form 1 is done.

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A tube with an adapter on one end and a drilled end cap on the other is classified as a silencer, even if the tube itself is empty. So you can get it to that point, not waste a penny on internals you never plan to use, and have it recored by somebody like ECCO.