Last month the American Suppressor Association reported discussing the future of ATF 41P with the ATF. From their conversation they determined that action is not expected until at least May of 2015 and maybe as late as December of 2015. If you have been watching this and timing your entry into the NFA market, you have been given a little more breathing room.
The delay in ATF 41P is not necessarily dilatory. The ATF has been known to take nearly a decade from notice of rule making to the issuance of a final rule before. Some of this delay and the accompanying work may help them overcome procedural arguments that they violated due process or didn’t follow the rule making requirements. The extra time may also bleed dry the initial fury caused by the proposed rule and leave those regulated by the rule use to the idea of the new regulation.
One thing is for certain, if the timing was purely political, the ATF would have issued the rule as soon after the midterm elections as possible. The longer they wait, the closer the presidential elections. And then the ATF may face multiple political pressure not to hand a rallying cry to the gun rights voters.
eForms to Return
On a positive note, the ATF is ambitiously planning to open a revamped eForms by SHOT Show. However, more realistic expectations would be seeing a new system sometime later this year. It is worth the extra wait if the ATF can get the system correct this time and dealers do not experience the delays, downtime, and lost forms associated with the original eForms system.
See the full ASA article here