Couple years ago I started a thread on the new procedures for having the Utah Sheriff's sign off on your NFA paperwork. It got archived here http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_8_37/517291_BCI_and_NFA_items_in_Utah.html

It appears sometime between August 2014 and February 2015 they have changed their process again. The old way had you driving to BCI and getting a free letter that said you were a good person and then taking it to your sheriff along with your Form 1/4. Not all Sheriffs required this but SLC and Utah counties did along with reports of Weber, Davis and basically the urban counties.

The new process is easier. Your Class 3 dealer is now responsible for running a Brady Check on you, recording the control number, writing it up on this form and then giving you the form. You take the form to your sheriff and they sign off. Greatly simplified for a Form 4. In case your dealer doesn't know about this, the form they need is here. They run the check and circle the "Other Sale" line.

The problem arises with a Form 1 where you are the maker. There is no dealer involved and apparently, given the number of departments I had to talk to, no one really thought about it.  I finally talked to the Utah BATFE. The BATFE office (Agent T) recommended two options.

1) Pay for BCI to do a background check on you ($15). You can take the result of the background check to the Sheriff and that should work.

2) Find a CLEO that will sign off without the BCI check He said ultimately the CLEO can signoff using whatever criteria he wants for a background check. Agent T hinted that the whole BCI forcing everyone to use them as the background check source was ridiculous and that you should find a CLEO that doesn't care.

I thought up a third option and called back to the BCI and asked them if I could have a dealer run a check on me but not actually transfer a firearm/item. They said no, that would be a bad thing and then transferred me to someone else.

Linda, at the BCI Brady Check division filled me in on what they will do. It sounds like they just thought this up so it might change slightly. I'm using her name so if you run into issues at least you know who to talk to. Be nice to Linda, she was very helpful.

For a Form 1 you (the maker) simply call in (801-965-4867) and ask for a background check. They will do one, give you the control number and you simply take that to your Sheriff. Make sure he knows the control number is from BCI so he can call and verify it. Linda also said the BCI control numbers are only valid for 20 days.

I'm pretty happy with the new process, it saves driving to the BCI and utilizes the already in place phone system they have for processing firearm checks. Hopefully this saves someone some time when they want to do a Form 1. Yes I know about trusts, no I'm not getting one unless the trusts can make new machine guns, and when 41p kicks in (May 2015) you will all need this info anyway.

I had to drive to the BCI for a form 4 back ground check in late October, while I was at the BCI office I was told that the process was changing and I wouldn't need to drive there for the check "in the next couple months".

Yep, looks like the change happened. Probably the first of the year would be my guess.

I do wonder what prompted the change. I'm just one of those guys who likes to know the details. I'm also hoping they keep the process the same for a while instead of changing it every 2 years.

It's bullshit that they make you do this.  

Luckily I live in a county where the Sheriff doesn't require this nonsense.

What prompted them to even require this?

I've never heard of counties in other states doing this.

This is why I have a trust.