Government Not Processing Suppressor-Transfer Forms During Shutdown, Says ASA

The American Suppressor Association (ASA) said this week that the department that handles suppressor transfers is not currently processing paperwork due to the government shutdown.

“Unlike the actual approval/denial of NFA applications, tax payments for NFA transfers are processed directly by Bank of America. Because Bank of America employees do not work for the government, the $200 tax payments are still being processed as usual,” notes ASA.

“After the checks are cashed, the forms are still being mailed to the NFA Division in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Under normal circumstances, this part of the process accounts for the first one to two weeks of the average NFA transfer. As a result of the shutdown, forms are stacking up as they are received by the NFA Division.”

ASA went on to say that purchasers can expect to “see a short term increase in transfer times while the backlog builds” but that one shouldn’t worry too much because once our elected officials get things up and running again in Washington, “NFA examiners and contractors are known to work extensive overtime, including holidays and weekends” and the ATF has been known to assign “non-NFA staff to temporarily assist NFA in reducing past backlogs.”

SEE ALSO: No, Hillary, Suppressors Would Not Have Made Las Vegas More Deadly

In other words, once the shutdown ends things should return to normal in short order. Of course, there is no telling when the shutdown will end. Democrats on Thursday tried to introduce spending bills that would partially reopen the government for business.

“Let’s separate our disagreements over border security from the government shutdown, reopen all the government agencies unrelated to border security, and let’s continue to work to resolve our differences,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “Do not hold all of these workers as hostages, as pawns, as leverage.”

However, this effort was snuffed out by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

“This will not produce a result,” noted McConnell. “It won’t solve the problem because the president has made clear he won’t sign them.”

Despite the stalemate on Capitol Hill, ASA is encouraging purchasers to sill go ahead and continue submitting transfer forms because “shutdown or not, NFA forms will be processed in the order in which they are received.”

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