The ATF has officially approved new barcode and form generator technology designed to streamline and speed up the Form 4 application process for suppressors.
Developed by Silencer Shop in conjunction with Gemtech and Dead Air Armament, the new system reduces data entry processing delays and allows for an “error free” data exchange between dealers and the NFA processing center, a press release says.
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The hardware for the new barcode technology has already been acquired by the ATF and the system is set to go into effect immediately. The form generator is accessible on the Silencer Shop, Gemtech and Dead Air websites and can be made available free of charge to any other interested industry members, the press release says. True to its name, the form generator generators a barcoded Form 4 for NFA product transfers.
Here’s how it works: a dealer logs onto an industry member’s website to fill out a customer’s Form 4 using the form generator. That form generator then pulls data from multiple sources and auto-populates the right FFL number, address and other mandatory details. After that, the dealer enters in the buyer and product information, and prints out the form. The printed copies feature a 2D barcode on the ATF’s copy of the generated form. All of the information in the Form 4 is contained in the barcode. None of the info is transmitted, saved or accessible to any supporting industry members.
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Once the NFA processing center gets the barcoded form, it’s then scanned into the ATF’s system. Guess how long that process takes? That’s right, mere seconds, with “virtually no error rate,” according to the press release.
The new system enables the ATF to drastically reduces resources it usually uses for data entry—non-barcoded forms usually spend anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months waiting for data entry—while consumer wait-times are sped up. Sounds like a win-win on both sides.
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