Not trying to cut in line - just trying to figure out what's going on with my applications.

I seriously feel for your customers at a year plus now wait. And you are right, they should be contacting anyone and everyone they can about it.

I never would have called to check status before I saw this thread. However, once the lady told me "we're still waiting for the FBI BGC to come back" I was reminded quickly of the horror stories here. Hoping to catch it before it falls into a black hole.

I am roughly a month over the average return time per NFA Tracker. That's why I started looking into it. How much longer should I have waited to call? What is an acceptable amount of waiting before checking status? 6 months? 12 months? 18 months?

Check was cashed last October, the 1st or 2nd I believe. I understand he has no influence over the FBI. It could be that the background check is completed and the NFA branch is dropping the ball or the FBI is not letting them know it is completed. I am not sure, but he they are both approved now. With my last 10-12 Forms, they all averaged about 10 months or so and everything went smooth. These last two, They have been in background check for well over 7 months. The only difference is that I did these last two as an individual and did everything through silencer shop. All other were a trust and I did myself. It could be a coincidence, but I doubt it. You know more about this stuff than I do. I am not disputing that, but as a federal employee, I can whole heartedly state do not underestimate the incompetence of the federal government, especially the NFA and ATF.

Are your senators any better? If so, contact them instead.

That is not the case. "Pending" and "Pending FBI" are still 2 distinct statuses. You will get the standard "pending" line for the first average 6-7 month wait, and then you'll either get "approved" or "pending FBI background check" after that. If you get the "pending FBI background check" after your ~6 months of "pending", that's when you know you can safely tack on another ~6 months. This is only happening to people who get a "delayed" status on their background check instead of the typical instant approval. There has been no explanation yet for why so many people are getting delays now. Nor has there been any reliable explanation of why the FBI is taking their sweet time processing them other than "they're backed up".

The FBI is so "backed up" that they were able to complete my background check within 24 hours of my congressman's office contacting them.

I guess it's a 6month + cooling off period so you can't buy anything in anger.

That is correct, because back when it was 12-14 months that was the ATF timeline being backed up. This is something entirely new, this has nothing to do with ATF.

It has always been standard practice for the ATF to send off the form at the end of the approval process for a background check. Those have always typically come back instantly or in a few hours except in some very rare cases when there would be a delay. But those cases were just as rare as they are today with gun store purchases and the backlog of them was relatively small, meaning even when it did happen, it would still get dealt with relatively quick.

The problem now is that after the ATF has already "approved" these applications and sends them off for the background check, an inordinate amount of people are getting "delayed" status (for no explainable reason). And because the FBI does not adhere to the "3 day law/policy" with NFA purchases, they get around to manually processing it whenever they damn well please - which = slow.

The ATF process itself is still fairly straight forward and measurable. Timelines right now are still between 5 and 7 months and *this* is the timeline that things like NFA tracker are still useful for. There are still plenty of people getting items back in this standard timeline - those people who get instant approvals on their BGC.

The problem is, after you've waited and gone through the 5-7 month "pending", if your BGC comes back as "delayed", the ATF sticks your form back in the drawer and doesn't finish approving it until they hear back from the FBI. And right now, the FBI isn't dealing with these in a timely manner. Most people are experiencing something like 4-8 months of additional time.

I understand you've been doing this for 15 years. I've admittedly only been doing it for 9. But this is an entirely new thing. FBI delays have always been a thing, there's just no explanation why they're happening to so many people and why the FBI is taking 4-8 months to deal with them instead of a week or two. It's a lottery at this point. You either "win" and get *only* the ATF pending time or you "lose" and get ATF pending + FBI background check pending. Just to repeat, this is an *entirely* different thing than when standard wait times were 12-14 months - that was *all* ATF pending time.

The ATF is aware of the "anomaly" but they have washed their hands of it and couldn't give a rat's ass. To them, they send off a background check, they get back a delay, they move on to the next one. In their opinion it's not their problem.

The FBI on the other hand, it's not clear if they're aware of the anomaly. They certainly have been contacted by enough congressmen at this point about it that you'd think it'd be raising some red flags, but who knows how much red tape that's going through or how many different people. There's no reliable way to directly contact the FBI and get answers about the issue, even with an FFL. And those that have magically gotten through have received nothing but nonsensical explanations that provide no reasonable justification. So other than writing to congress and using that back channel, it's a black hole at this point.

As far as I'm aware, there has yet to be one single person in this thread who's heard back from their congressman and *haven't* had their BGC magically approved in less than 48 hours. So other than being annoying, it seems to be working *if* you can find a rep who's willing to help and contact them.

And just to be clear, there's plenty of people that have NFA items submitted at the *same* time and some of them get FBI background check purgatory and some of them don't. Which means, for example, that people are submitting 2 cans right now at the same time and getting one of them back in 7 months and the other in 13.

Yeah, I mean I think we all know that it's a bullshit line at this point. I'm only repeating it because it's the only semi-official answer we've gotten.

We still don't know:

1. Why an inordinate amount of people are getting "delays" on NICS checks
2. Why the FBI can't seem to process those for NFA items in less than 4-8 months
3. Why the ATF's policy is to send the stuff in for a background check anyway

The only answer we really have at this time is to:

1. Stay on top of sites like NFA tracker or Reddit and understand when the average ATF pending time is.
2. Call once every week or every 2 weeks when you're app is getting close to that timeline.
3. Make a note of when you stop getting "pending" and instead get "waiting for FBI background check"
4. If you're stuck in that status for longer than a couple weeks, start contacting a representative and see if they're willing to help.

Several hours ago I emailed my local rep for some help with some help/info from RLunyATL.  I'm right around 400 days in total...

A buddy of mine called today to check and they said pending.

Already got a reply, he sent me a form to fill out giving him permission to check on things on my behalf.  Off to a good start!

I have to disagree. I think if you call and hear Pending BGC I thing you should get the ball rolling. Why wait until you're at 12 months to do anything?

I give it not even 2 weeks and youll hear back with an attached letter from the FBI that your background check was just magically completed the same day they were contacted....

Also my only conclusion (the only one anyone can have) is that the FBI has malicious intent here.

They give ZERO fucks, and unless you get someone with more power than them they will throw your check in the corner, and say fuck you.

And?

My bet is that this is all on the BATFE. And what I mean by that, is that I believe the FBI has always treated NICS checks for NFA firearms like we are currently seeing. I think that the BATFE was treating delay responses from the FBI like your local dealer can (i.e. a delay doesn’t mean a denial) and there was an unwritten intra-ATF policy change to correct that little problem. It’s the only other possibility that makes any sense, as we know the BATFE is fucking clownshoes. Even in comparison to the FBI.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to call them after about 3 or 4  months to make sure it's there and pending.  Then about 200 days I'm calling once a week to check the status.   That helped me because the SOT I did several transfers through went under right after the third one was disposed.  They've closed down but moved their safes to another dealer's location.    I don't think they're terribly good at contacting people.   If I know it's approved I can check w/ them (my only contact method is Facebook) and setup an appointment.   It only takes a couple of minutes to call in and check the status on a transfer.

That was in response to the ATF isn’t saying pending anymore just pending FBI

Got a call from Quiet Riot this afternoon that my stamps arrived.

BE THE SQUEAKY WHEEL

Email I received today from the second "pro 2nd amendment" congressman's office in my district that I contacted after the first congressman provided no results other than "spoke with the atf/fbi and it should be any day now" BS. That was over a month ago.

"I’m in receipt of your e-mail.  To make an inquiry to the FBI/ATF on your behalf, you will need to complete a privacy release(p/r).  Attached is a p/r. To use, you will need to print it, complete the top half, sign and return to me. I will attach your e-mail sent to our office and request an update.  Please understand congressional offices have no jurisdiction/authority over federal agencies. We cannot make them approve or deny your request. We never have access to your files. However, the p/r,  we can request updates from time to time."

Whatever.

ETA: I am by no means implying that contacting you rep is a waste of time. I'm just saying that you shouldn't expect too much from these shit heads that, in my case at least, couldn't care less about your delay.

You have to fill out the form before they can do anything. Others that have followed through have seen results PDQ

I'm aware of that as I have already done this with my other rep, that went no where.

I emailed this congressman nearly 3 weeks weeks ago, and I'm not getting the warm and fuzzies with that email they just replied back with.

Not to mention, the email I sent them that they want to attach to the inquiry isn't exactly complimentary of the atf/fbi.

IDK, I'm just beyond frustrated.

Keep emailing, writing whatever you have to do. Don't let up.

Who cares if your email wasn't complimentary to tha atf/FBI, they surely don't deserve any praise

It's a week out from the election, consider that they're all busy campaigning.

This. Cut them a little slack right now. I made sure to remind him in mine that I just had the pleasure of voting for him a few days ago lol.

Just talked to an examiner

Have 2 that went pending feb 26 2018
They both went fbi pending aug 6 2018

He gave me both NTN numbers.

Ill sit on them for a few days until the fbi goes over 3mo and send some emails.

My suppressor is currently at 6 months since check cashed and mine is "pending"

My buddy who is currently at 9 months since check cashed and his is "pending FBI background check"

Oh boy

This is why nobody can say anything about this situation with any surety

I was assured by my examiner that getting the NTN was impossible, couldnt be done. Yet I've seen at least two people in this thread get them

I got a response from my senator Tod Young's office yesterday. After his request my FBI background check was finalized on November 2nd.

I was pending since February 22, 2018.  Next time I will wait about a month and if I am in the FBI background check hell I'll contact him immediately.

Chuck

Funny how that works isn't it?

Glad they were able to help you out.

Was yours pending or fbi bending feb22?

FBI pending.

Called today after speaking to my rep about the issue a few weeks ago. Still pending FBI background check.

Is your congressman pro-2A?

Yep, A+ rating from NRA.

Check cashed 12/31, I've been Pending FBI Background Check for several months now. In PA, I'm not really sure who to contact. My area (District 5) is literally all Dems.

Have your info ready and call this # 304-616-4500.  Ask to speak to an ATF supervisor.

Cheers, I called earlier but didn't specifically ask for a supervisor. Same runaround as usual.

In the mean time, sent a letter to Toomey. He's not pro-gun in any way but he is a Republican and used to have an A rating.

So, I had emailed Ted Clutter last week about my Form 4.  He emailed back within an hour, and said he would look into it, and get back to me.  I received an email today from an individual named China that went like this:

In response to your correspondence to Mr. Clutter, your application still remains in a delayed status with the FBI.  Your background was not generated for review until 6/2/18.  FBI is currently processing applications submitted for review on May 1st.  Let me know if you have any additional questions.

My Form 4 was sent 11/26/17, and the check was cashed 12/16/17.  So, hopefully early next year is what it is looking like...this is ridiculous.

Sounds like an email for a senator to me.

That's fucky. Mine had a check cashed date of 12/16/17 as well. The response my congressman's office got from the FBI was "we just completed his background check today, tell him to call the ATF and let them know".

I had two check cashed dates of 12-17-17 and received them both back within a week of each other in Oct.

Has anyone stuck in "pending FBI background" with paper form 4/1 successfully efiled a form 1?

X2 asking on the behalf of a good friend.

He called the other day and checked the status of 2 stamps 1-F1 1-F4.

They said one was pending examiner and the other was pending FBI BGC.

The one that is pending examiner does that mean it has passed thru the BGC?

Something very similar happened to me today. I was told basically the same thing. My application went into a delayed status 08/15 "and the FBI just started applications from May. You're probably looking at another 6 months."

I wonder if my republican Senator that just go voted out might be of any help on his way out of his office?

I think he misheard or misunderstood

As far as filing an F1 while another form is stuck in Pending BGC, yes, multiple people have had forms filed after the stuck one go right through