ATF Failed Yet Again

And Failed Quite Miserably

As of yesterday, Thursday 1-1-2026, the $200 tax stamp fee has been waived for short barreled rifles (SBR) and suppressors. Knowing this was coming, I had several guns set aside just waiting until yesterday so I could submit for free tax stamps and SBR them.

I have submitted multiple SBR applications in the past and never encountered errors with the ATF eForm website. It was ridiculously slow and clunky, just like every other government website, but it worked.

Yesterday, I completed 3 of the 4 applications smoothly with no problems, but one of them just would not go. I kept getting this error message (pictured). This morning, I deleted the saved draft version of that application and started over from scratch, but once again, same error message.

In talking with my friend Will, the NFA guy at Boise Black Rifle, yesterday he had attempted to submit 8 suppressor applications for customers and his success rate was far worse than mine. Of the 8 submission attempts, only 1 was successful.

Between the two of us, 12 applications submitted, only 4 actually made it. That is a 33.3% success rate, which is a very solid F.

The ATF knew this day was coming. They had since July 4th to get the website ready for this. All they had to do, and the only difference I found, was that they disabled the “Pay” the $200 fee button at the very end of the application process. I did not see any other changes in the application process.

In what has become typical government fashion, they failed, miserably.

And yet there are people out there who want the government to run our healthcare system...