The ATF hasn’t been able to process NFA Form 4 applications ever since the Schumer Shutdown began, because the ATF examiners tasked with handling those applications have not been deemed essential employees.
When I spoke with American Suppressor Association President Knox Williams for Monday’s Bearing Arms Cam & Co this morning, he mentioned that the group had been working with the White House and the Trump administration to bring those examiners back to work. Shortly after we concluded our conversation, the ASA released this post on X, and it sounds like that will happen at the start of next week.
🚨 BREAKING: Following our work with @POTUS, @TheJusticeDept, @WHOMB, @Jim_Jordan, and @RepBenCline, the ATF’s NFA examiners are returning to work Monday to resume application processing.
This is a major relief for lawful gun owners and a win for 2A rights amid the shutdown. pic.twitter.com/MkzTGsQoqZ
— American Suppressor Association (@AmSuppressor) October 17, 2025
This is great news, and a welcome relief to all those who’ve been waiting for several weeks now for their applications to be approved. Through the use of eForm 4s the ATF has brought down processing times for NFA items to just a matter of days, but that all came to a screeching halt a couple of weeks ago. With no end to the shutdown in sight, and the $200 tax stamp on suppressors going away as of January 1, Williams told me that he was deeply concerned that the ATF would have a huge backlog of applications to wade through if examiners were kept off the job until the shutdown concluded.
The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System has been up and running throughout the shutdown, so retail sales of firearms have remained uninterrupted, and ATF field agents and investigators have remained on the job as well (though they won’t collect back pay until the shutdown is over). In fact, the vast majority of the more than 100,000 people employed by the Department of Justice have been reporting to work, but the NFA examiners were part of about 10,000 employees deemed non-essential.
The change in position comes after several dozen members of Congress sent a letter to Acting ATF Director Daniel Driscoll urging him to designate ATF examiners as “excepted during a government shutdown.”
🚨UPDATE🚨
Yesterday, 30 GOA allies on Capitol Hill led by @RepBenCline urged ATF to recall NFA examiners to work.
“This is not what the Framers intended,” it read. “To be sure, the National Firearms Act unquestionably violates the Second Amendment.” https://t.co/nFibpX6t3s pic.twitter.com/5HUNdH5fUU
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) October 17, 2025
The representatives rightly noted that “under federal law, Second Amendment rights cannot be fully exercised without the involvement of the federal government,” adding that “this is clearly not what the Framers intended, but it is this country’s unfortunate reality.”
To be sure, the National Firearms Act unquestionably violates the Second Amendment. But in enacting this statutory scheme, Congress tasked the Executive Branch with issuing application determinations. The President, therefore, has a constitutional imperative to ensure that Americans can exercise their Second Amendment rights even during periods of government shutdown. Otherwise, constitutionally enumerated rights rise and fall with congressional appropriations.
This is yet another positive move by the Trump administration to protect the right to keep and bear arms. In previous shutdowns those ATF examiners remained off the job until the government fully re-opened, so the administration is bucking the status quo here.
Kudos to Virginia Rep. Ben Cline, Illinois Rep. Mary Miller, and the dozens of other representatives who signed on to the letter to Driscoll, as well as to the Trump administration itself for recognizing the impact that the shutdown has had on the exercise of our right to keep and bear arms and taking steps to ensure that the shutdown doesn’t deprive anyone of their 2A rights.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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