I'm in Florida and was hoping somebody that had a suppressor here in florida could tell me what kind of paperwork I needed to get started on to legally get/own a suppressor.

IM Osprey21. He knows. He knows everything........

Quoted: IM Osprey21. He knows. He knows everything........

Thanks -- I just sent off the IM!

I don't think FL is different than any other NFA friendly states.

First you need to find a Class 3 dealer.  You can buy a suppressor from him or mail order one and have it sent to him (adds 1-2 months more wait time).  You usually pay for the suppressor up front.

He can walk you through the paperwork but I'll tell you want you need to do:
Fill out an ATF Form 4 in duplicate, get your local Police chief to sign the form for you.
Get two sets of fingerprints taken by the PO (dealer should have the correct fingerprint cards)
Get passport photos taken for your ATF Forms (2 needed)
Fill out a Citizenship form (dealer should have it or you can print it off the ATF website)
Write a check out for $200 to send in with your ATF Forms
Send everything in to the ATF, then wait and wait some more (transfers typically take ATLEAST 4 months)

When it clears, your dealer will get the paperwork mailed to him from the ATF.

You go to him and pick it up and write another check out to him for the transfer ($50 is typical)

fq1234,
   Thanks for the lowdown on getting things rolling on the suppressor. I have a local FFL dealer I can work with but due to the long holiday weekend he is not available. I wanted to try and get all the different aspects lined up before I made the decision on building the rifle. You have been vary helpful and informative -- kinda what I was hoping for from a ARFCOM member!

No problem.

Just to be clear though, you can't use a standard FFL dealer.  It needs to be an FFL with an SOT stamp.  It is an additional tax that they pay so that they can deal in Class 3 stuff like suppressors and machineguns.

BTW - a great place to ask questions about suppressors is over on the M-16 forum.  If fact if you still need to find a Florida FFL/SOT and post there, I'm sure they can point you in the right direction.

Thanks again for the info on the SOT stamp! I'll contact the guy tomorrow and see if he has that SOT stamp. If he doesn't have the stamp he may be able to connect me with an FFL that does -- he has had in the past some really neat suppressed stuff so he's already been down that road.