For years, lawful firearm owners submitting National Firearms Act applications learned to expect months-long wait times from the federal government. Not anymore.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by NSSF and that showed the volume-weighted average processing time for its four highest-volume forms has plunged from 73 days in fiscal year 2021 to approximately 18 days today. ATF Form 4 processing has fallen from roughly 150 days to about 18 days over the same period.
The ATF accomplished that while application volume nearly tripled.
More applications. Dramatically less waiting. That’s measurable progress for lawful firearm owners and the firearm industry — and the result NSSF has spent years pushing the federal government to deliver.
A Decade-Plus Push for Faster Processing
Long NFA processing times weren’t merely inconvenient. For firearm owners purchasing suppressors and other NFA-regulated products, government paperwork could delay a lawful transfer for months.
NSSF began pressing ATF to institute electronic NFA form processing in 2013. NSSF also worked with allies in Congress to ensure ATF’s NFA Division had sufficient resources to handle growing application volume.
Those efforts produced results.
By April 2024, NSSF reported that average electronic Form 4 processing times dropped to 53 days, down from previous waits of between 90 and 190 days. Paper Form 4 applications averaged 245 days, down from nearly 280 days.
Now even those improved numbers look ancient.
ATF says its modernization, process improvements and increased operational efficiency have allowed the agency to handle substantially greater application volume while continuing to cut processing times.
That’s exactly what firearm owners and the industry should expect from government. If Washington, D.C., insists on requiring Americans to navigate a federal regulatory process before taking possession of lawful products, administering that process efficiently should be the minimum expectation.
Demand Explodes, Backlog Doesn’t
The most revealing part of ATF’s announcement isn’t simply that processing is faster. It’s that the improvement came while Americans were submitting far more applications.
The ATF says volume among its four highest-volume forms has nearly tripled over the past five years.
The bureau’s latest posted monthly data illustrate the scale. ATF received 231,502 NFA applications in May, including 121,117 Form 4 suppressor applications. It finalized 233,843 NFA applications that month, including 123,143 suppressor Form 4 applications.
The median processing time for an individual electronic Form 4 was just six days.
Through July 1, ATF reported receiving more than 1.62 million NFA forms in calendar year 2026 and finalizing nearly 1.52 million. Form 4 applications alone accounted for 949,422 submissions and 894,938 finalized applications.
Suppressors are helping drive that extraordinary demand.
As NSSF reported last month, the suppressor market experienced 265 percent growth in registrations from 2020 through 2024 and the number of suppressors in circulation doubled during that period. ATF now reports more than 6.65 million registered suppressors in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR).
Americans aren’t losing interest in these products. They’re buying them in enormous numbers. In fact, Americans are submitting approximately 20,000 applications per day.
And ATF is proving that soaring demand doesn’t have to mean soaring wait times.
Better Processing, Same Unnecessary Burden
The improvement is especially welcome following the reduction of the $200 NFA tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns. Congress reduced the tax last year to $0, effective Jan. 1, 2026, removing a financial burden that had been imposed on lawful purchasers for generations.
However, the registration and duplicative background check requirements remain.
That’s why NSSF continues to support the Hearing Protection Act (H.R. 404/S. 364) and Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today Act (H.R. 2395/S. 1162), legislation that would remove those products from unnecessary NFA requirements.
Faster processing doesn’t erase the underlying policy problem. It does, however, make a meaningful practical difference.
For consumers, approvals that are measured in days instead of months mean less time waiting to take possession of a lawful purchase. For firearm retailers, manufacturers and distributors, faster processing means inventory moves more efficiently, customers receive products sooner and government paperwork creates less friction throughout the lawful marketplace.
But according to ATF Director Robert Cekada, there’s more to come.
“We are not finished,” Director Cekada posted to X in July. “We will keep improving and modernizing, earning the trust of the American people while staying focused on our core mission to reduce violent crime.”
ATF deserves credit for delivering the dramatic improvement, particularly while confronting historic demand. NSSF and its congressional allies also deserve credit for spending years pressing for the electronic systems, resources and efficiencies that helped make it possible.
But these numbers make a larger point. For years, months-long NFA waits were treated almost as an unavoidable feature of the system. They weren’t. Current form processing shows that there are nearly three times the applications with only a fraction of the wait.
That’s measurable progress for firearm owners and the industry — and proof that government-imposed delays shouldn’t be accepted simply because government has grown accustomed to imposing them.
Jenn Jacques is Public Affairs Manager at the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Democrats: “you must comply with our punitive and arbitrary bureaucracy!!!”
Also Democrats: “how dare you comply with our punitive and arbitrary bureaucracy!!!”