The process of legally acquiring firearm suppressors in the United States has undergone significant changes in recent years.
Regulated under the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934, suppressors require approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) before purchase. As these devices have grown in popularity among shooting enthusiasts and hunters, the approval process has attracted increased attention and scrutiny.
NFA wait times were infamous for the snail’s pace at which applications are processed. But why is that the case? Is there a way to speed up the process, and is there hope that the ATF might actually process applications in a timely fashion someday? It is happening now!
Historical Context
Before 2016, suppressor approval times routinely extended beyond 9 months, with some applicants waiting more than a year.
These delays stemmed from understaffing at the ATF’s NFA Division, paper-based application systems, and rising application volumes. The cumbersome process required submitting ATF Form 4, fingerprints, photographs, a $200 tax payment, and local law enforcement notification. This bureaucratic process deterred many potential suppressor owners and created widespread frustration.
Ben Hiller, the acting NFA branch leader, dove into the Form 4 approval process, finding that as much as 80% of the process being done manually was redundant, as a computer program had already done it.
The eForms Revolution
The relaunch of the ATF’s electronic filing system (eForms) in late 2021 marked a turning point for suppressor approvals.
After struggling with technical issues during its initial 2013 launch, the revamped system promised dramatic improvements in processing efficiency. The firearms industry greeted this development with cautious optimism, as initial data suggested that electronic submissions could reduce wait times from over a year to just a few months.
This digital transformation represented the first major procedural update in decades.
Current Approval Timelines
The average wait times are super low now as of April 2025. Just 17 days for a trust filing and 7 days for an individual filing! My most recent suppressor purchase was approved in that short timeframe. There are two ways to submit the Form 4.
You can send in a paper version through the mail, which is going to take a long time for approval (last reported at 286 days based off current data from the ATF). The preferred fashion is the eForm 4, which makes up the bulk of submissions these days. The process for approving eForm 4s is being looked at all the time, according to sources within the ATF and NFA.
However, the ATF Director was recently replaced, and some changes to federal employment have caused a slight delay in some approvals. The average approval time for individual filing went up from 24 days to 26 days.
We have been assured that the changes and delays are being sorted out and the ATF will get back on track with increasingly faster approvals, so don’t worry. Things will get better.
Regional and Dealer Variances
Interestingly, approval times can also vary significantly based on geographical location and dealer experience. Some regions consistently report faster approvals than others, though the ATF maintains that applications are processed in the order received.
Submissions through established, high-volume dealers often move through the system more efficiently than those from occasional sellers. Application quality matters significantly—forms with complete, accurate information typically avoid delays associated with correction requests.
Trust vs. Individual Applications
Following rule changes in 2016 (known as 41F), the approval time advantage previously enjoyed by NFA trusts has diminished considerably. The primary remaining advantage of trust ownership relates to succession planning and shared use rights rather than approval efficiency. This shift has led many buyers to reconsider their application strategy, with individual applications becoming increasingly common.
Per the ATF and other reports eFile Form 4 wait times average just 31 days for trust filing, and close to real time approvals for individuals, with an average of 26 days.
In some cases, people have seen Trust approvals coming in within a matter of days. On the flip side, some individual approvals are taking longer, usually due to name similarity issues.
The bottom line is simple – It is taking less time for you to get your suppressor, which is great news for shooting enthusiasts and hunters!
While reading about all those quick wait times, I had never experienced one. My last Form 1 took 6+ months and I was beginning to wonder if I was in some kind of trouble, despite there being a sorta-explanation on the form.
Then a can I just ordered came back approved in a few days, including a weekend!
Good to see the improvements are keeping up but still mind boggling some people will not get them when their state doesn’t outlaw them. Ah well maybe they will be off the list by the time I can move for good.
Last August I started the process to purchase two suppressors through a local firearm store–using the onsite Silencer Shop kiosk to create my single-item trusts and submit the electronic Form 4 applications to ATF. Approval time was approximately three weeks. Then I simply printed my approved Form 4s with their tax stamps and picked-up my suppressors at my local firearm store.
While the process was a bit complicated, my local firearm store staff and the Silencer Shop guided me through every step which took about one hour total time.
I have said it at least a half-dozen times on this site: go buy at least one suppressor as soon as you can–you won’t regret it.
Everybody online brags about how Silencer Shop is sooo amazing and the only way to do it. To me, it was like a comedy sketch of a complex and inefficient process.
-Create an account at the kiosk, where you do your fingerprints.
-“OK, I’m done. Which button do I push to take my photo?” Oh, no, you can’t do that here. Come over here, download this app on your phone, sign in, and store guy takes your photo. Because putting a $20 webcam in the kiosk would have been too hard?
-Now go to the store’s computer, create and sign into a website account (which is different from the app account), then finish the paperwork (because putting a $30 keyboard on the kiosk would have been too hard?) –
-Except, you weren’t actually finishing, because the next day the store calls needing you to log into the ATF website to finish.
Then, after ATF gets back to me in a handful of days, Silencer Shop waits weeks and sends me FOUR duplicate e-mails announcing that I’ve been approved (long after I’ve picked up and used the can).
Umm,
No question the process is a bit convoluted no matter how you do it. In terms of attaching a keyboard to a kiosk, that could be problematic (e.g. keyboard fails or someone walks away with the keyboard). And a camera on the kiosk would be too low unless they added some sort of tower to it–which becomes unsightly and unwieldly.
My main point is that the process to electronically file a Form 4 for a single-item trust takes about an hour (two hours at most) and then you receive your ATF approved Form 4 and tax stamp in about two to four weeks.
Of course the ideal process would be no process at all. Alas that is not the world that we currently live in.
I lucked out. I filled out the forms on a sunday morning and got the approval monday afternoon. The only reason i did the check was because my ffl said he had another guy get his in under 24 hours.
I recently sold a Wolfman suppressor to a buddy , because the back blast on my face was way too much as a lefty shooter.
We did a paper form 4.
It took nine months to get approved.
I did go shooting with him so he could use the suppressor while we were waiting.
The only advantage is you get an actual tax stamp on your paper form
I purchased my first suppressor, through a trust, in December. It arrived in January. Not bad, I thought.
Then I ordered a couple more a month ago, also through the trust, and the ATF approval took three days. Nice!
FWIW, I went through Silencer Central, and the process was pretty smooth.