Well this is certainly unexpected!
As the Justice Department moves to regulate bump stocks like machine guns, it’s also proposing to shorten the wait time to transfer such items.
For “combating violent crime,” the Justice Department proposedincreasing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ budget in Fiscal Year 2019 by $13.2 million “to ensure timely execution of National Firearms Act transfers.”
The proposal would also boost ATF’s NFA branch with 25 new positions, according to ATF’s request. The goal is process applications for items like machine guns, silencers, short barreled rifles or shotguns, and firearms deemed Any Other Weapon within 90 days.
According to ATF data, wait times for NFA items vary depending on the item but the agency currently puts average processing time at nine months, or about 270 days. That figure falls within ballpark estimatesgenerated by NFA groups using aggregated data.
The ATF has tried to address the backlog with new funds multiple times, but never referred to it as specifically addressing “violent crime,” according to a review of budget proposals available on the Justice Department’s website.
For FY2018, ATF sought an additional $4 million specifically for “expediting NFA applications.” Last year, the agency reorganized the branch to improve performance by creating a dedicated body to focus entirely on consumer requests and another on law enforcement.
Gun control supporter Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who advocates for legislation to ban firearms dubbed “assault weapons,” called making NFA transfers a priority “unconscionable.” She suggested the money should be directed toward hiring more agents or the federal background check system.
But gun rights advocates disagree. “ATF is overwhelmed with NFA paperwork,” Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told ABC News. He argued the backlog has been a “significant problem” and that ATF has been chronically understaffed.
The total number of NFA items circulating in the U.S. is north of 5.2 million, according to the most recent ATF data. But the majority of the items are silencers, since there’s a finite number of machine guns circulating in the U.S., which makes them both scarce and expensive. Federal law prohibits…