Sounds like excuses to me.
Horsehockey....it would be excuses if ATF was saying that, they aren't.
Five minutes of research and you'll find that ATF has requested additional NFA Examiners in their budget at every opportunity. But anything firearms related is a low priority with Congress so they dont get what they want.
They are a regulatory agency with no desire to operate efficiently to provide services.
Again, horsehockey.
In case you've been napping, ATF HAS increased efficiency. ELECTRONIC Form 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 5330......only the Form 4 remains as "paper only". While I'm dissapointed with that one remaining Form........most certainly ATF has increased efficiency.
If you want to obtain these things legally, you are required by law to work through this agency. And let's call it what it is- they don't really want you to have the device.
To be clear, ATF doesn't really give a rats rear end whether you have NFA toys or not and whether they "don't really want you to have the device" is immaterial.........you pay the tax, submit the form, pass the background check, you will get the stamp. CONGRESS is the one who passed the National Firearms Act. Blaming a government agency for administering a federal law is kind of silly. Blame Congress, blame the judiciary.
If my LGS can approve me through the FBI in a few minutes to obtain a firearm by the use of modern IT enablers, there is no reason they need 10 months or more to do the same thing once a packet and ransom check has been received.
Really?
How much reading have you done on the NFA process?
The months long delay has less to do with the background check than it does with data entry of paper forms.
eForm 1.........as little as two weeks. (and if the ATF didn't want us having NFA they would surely make it more difficult than a whopping two week wait wouldn't they?)
Paper Form 1.......ten months.
See the issue? (its not the FBI NICS check
)
What the GCA'68 requires of a licensed dealer vs what the NFA '34 requires are literally apples and oranges. Even the background check, while essentially a NICS check is not entirely the same as the one performed by your dealer at the LGS.
Title I gun: Dealer is not prohibited by the Brady Law from transferring the firearm after the third business day.
Title II gun: No. Such. Exemption. ATF cannot approve a Form 1 or Form 4 until the applicant has received a "proceed" response from the FBI. This is why some people wait over a year. When FBI NICS runs the background check, if it is not immediately a proceed.........that form gets placed in a stack where it may sit until the FBI feels like taking a look at it. Unlike Title I firearms there is no time constraints on the FBI NICS and no federal law even requires them to do background checks via NICS...hence my comment above about FBI vs ATF. That there is no federal law is whose fault?............yeah, Congress again.