Originally Posted By: 1loboIt could be inefficient and biased. Inefficient and they don't care to improve it. It's no wonder it takes so long to process applications. I'm not sure they operate by date on the form like they say they do. I have a friend that bought the same suppressor model at the same time I did, ran into delays with his class 3 dealer and ended up getting the paperwork turned in a couple of weeks behind mine. He got his approval on Mar 18 and mine was given on April 1. I express mailed my forms to the ATF so there would be no delay. Lot of good that did! The wait times seem to vary all over the map. I have another friend that sent in as an individual and it took 13 months with no errors or issues. I think it all depends on who at the office gets the assignment.
Effective and efficient are certainly different things. The gubment is certainly effective, they get things done on a massive scale, but you could never accuse them of being efficient.
I would agree that it certainly seems like there are folks in those offices that are more efficient and timely than others. I had a situation come up and had to contact the ATF to get it sorted out and that actually seemed to speed things along. I am by no means advocating incorrectly doing your paperwork, but getting in touch with a live person sure seemed to speed things up.