Actually, no…that’s not what I’m suggesting.
All they need to do is first in, first out. FIFO…it’s an accounting term. They could do any efile system beta testing w live customers that they want. They can accept both paper and efile all they want. BUT, then they all go into the same queue and the oldest submittals get handled before newer ones.
I would ask you what justification the ATF has for processing and approving efile Form 4's sent in early Feb 2022 before a year old Form 4 like mine or the poor fella above who is at 500 days. IMO, nothing explains this but typical gov incompetence.
I think you’re swinging at the wind with incomplete information.
First let’s take the guy still waiting at 508 days and counting. We don’t know the details of his submission. Does he have a very common name like Smith, Jones or Brown, did he include his SSN on his submission? Everyone doing a Form 4 I would implore to include your SSN with your submission! Why? It narrows the possibility of mismatch errors with someone else that has a criminal record with the same or similar name!! It also eliminates unnecessary initial searches in databases with no connection to the submission. How? An example would be if you are a civilian having never served in any of the armed forces, when the search is submitted to the DoD it will likely be cleared immediately because no SSN in the DoD database will be found, eliminating the many relevant databases they have that would need to be searched for someone who is active duty or a veteran.
As far as the concern that the ATF will have both DOB and SSN and if hacked you’re at high risk of identity theft. Just assume someone has your ID already; the Equifax, Home Depot etc. et al. data breaches have made necessary that everyone have credit monitoring service, accept it like car and homeowners insurance and keep your credit report locked at all times and only unlock for the few minutes you apply for new credit and relock it immediately. Everyone doing these submissions should absolutely include their SSN.
If the 508 day submitter has never called the NFA branch that is unfortunate and an oversight on his part. At this point he should be calling both US Senators in his respective state, and his district US Congressman’s office. His situation is an extreme outlier. Likely there was a snag with his submission and it has been setting idle.
Onto your FIFO comment. All submissions and by extension approvals do not rest with the ATF alone, they outsource to the FBI and other agencies and wait for the all clear and if they don’t get it, then it likely sets in limbo. Here’s a common rant on Reddit from guys that have security clearances, they complain that they get no special status and their approvals actually take longer and their point of view is, “I’m cleared with the nation’s most sensitive secrets just give me my damn can.” Again that‘s the simplistic view, has anyone thought or considered that it is likely that someone with a security clearance is in ADDITIONAL government and law enforcement databases that in their particular situation must be cleared as well that the general Joe Blow isn’t subjected to those additional reviews?
FIFO is just not a good way to define the review process for your submission. It’s great for CPA’s and companies that operate in physical inventories, it just isn’t a good way to look at this process.
Here is another likely component in the ATF application that they use. I will call it, “search from inception.” Say you are in your 60’s having never purchased a firearm or NFA device. When the search begins the software is thinking, ‘hey I have never seen this person before EVER, I am going extra deep on this search,’ so it goes back further and further in time looking at all relevant databases at the Fed, State and any additional criteria they use to be thorough and then it finds something from 1965, an arrest that there is no clear information as to the disposition of that event, it is immediately flagged for further review, a request is sent out to that government entity and if the ATF does not get a response it sets. What I just mentioned actually happened as I spoke with a compliance person who gave me that example of an actual case he was working to resolve, but the concern was raised by the customer wondering why it was taking so long for his can to get approved and that was the information the ATF conveyed to the compliance person. Now take that same person and his first can or firearm was approved, then with each subsequent submission the search goes faster as the application knows, “this guy has purchased 4 cans and his last approval was March 2020, so if I am right the ‘search from inception’ would no longer be going back to beginning of time, but just back to March 2020 to the present, thus making the approval much faster. So this is just not a simple one submission fits everyone FIFO process. To be clear, by the beginning of time I mean the relevant time for that person; a 21 year old’s search would be only going back a few years to the point where he could have been convicted of a crime; whereas someone 50 years old, back to the beginning of time for them would be 33 years or so to 17 to the age someone can be charged and convicted as an adult.
You want and everyone else wants their can approved ASAP and that is understandable, but I think you are mistaken that the examiners are a bunch of jackasses setting around a lot of the time eating donuts. Do your own research ATF examiners actually attend an academy and I would say they have to be above average intelligence to pass and their work cannot be sloppy or careless, no matter how much the public bitches. The most serious infraction for an FFL licensee to commit is releasing a firearm to a felon. The search criteria is extremely scrutinizing for NFA devices.
The only way the general public is going to get a complete understanding of the ATF review process and why it takes so long is to file a FOIA request and even then, all the details may not be revealed for some security reasons that they don’t want defeated. I do think FOIA would provide alot of additional clarity of why it takes so long and why a one size fits all approach of FIFO does not and cannot apply to each submission.
I’ll end with this: I think it is abundantly clear there are not adequate numbers of examiners. And your reply and that of others may be, “Then why the hell don’t they hire more people, I’m paying them $200 a pop for everyone of my cans!” That is a question for a congressional hearing and I think it is a valid one to ask.
I would like to ask you a rhetorical question and this is for everyone reading this: Do you ever call your congressman or senators about any issues? I know many would say, “it won’t make any damn difference.” You might be right, but I am absolutely certain you are wrong too, it does make a difference even if you what you call them about they don’t move or act on as you wish, but they do sometimes and that is part of being a responsible citizen. If you call and get active in the legislative process at least you’re trying and you can have a clear conscience. But if your going to bitch for the sake of bitching, then maybe you might want to reflect on that.