At Silencer Shop, suppressors and technology literally flow through our veins. Okay, maybe not literally, but we continually strive to make silencer ownership as simple as possible for you via new technological innovations. Our latest advancement benefits both owners and dealers alike by streamlining the suppressor ownership process even more!

Form 4 Barcodes

What exactly are we up to? Glad you asked.

Barcodes

We’ve been working closely with the ATF to take all the information contained on Form 4 and embedded it into a barcode on the first page. This ground-breaking setup allows ATF staff to simply scan this barcode, which instantly populates the appropriate fields of the ATF database. By utilizing our barcoded forms, the ATF data entry personnel will no longer need to manually type tedious information into their system. A quick scan turns what would’ve taken several minutes into mere seconds, and then they’re on to the next form. This newly approved system will benefit both the consumer and dealer by:

Increasing ATF Speed

  • In testing the new barcoding system we’ve already submitted over 3,000 Form 4’s to the ATF, and the ATF time to process these forms has improved tenfold.

Increasing Efficiency

  • Silencer Shop error rate for submitting post-41F Form 4’s with the ATF was close to zero before and now with the newly approved process, it’ll be even lower.

The industry-wide error rate is close to 50% for forms submitted post-41F to the ATF, which we’re also working to address with our Form 4 Generator.

Form 4 Generator

Form 4 Generator

Our goal is to advance the entire industry by introducing beneficial technology to all dealers and their customers. That said, we realize some dealers don’t use Silencer Shop to process their forms, so we’re now offering a free Form 4 Generator on our website! Forms generated through this web service will contain the embedded barcode once the user clicks “submit” at the end. The idea being that the more people who use this submission method, the better it’ll be for everybody because it reduces the number of ATF resources required to both enter data and handles problem forms.

The online Form 4 Generator also solves the largest culprit for mistakes that the ATF sees on submissions: the field that contains the dealer license number. We’ve tied in the FFL eZCheck system into our form generator to autofill and validate the FFL/Dealer’s information. Though that may not sound like a big deal to some of you, we’re actually quite proud of this feature in a very nerdy kind of way!

In Summation

Barcode f4Bringing the form filling procedure into the 21st century by working closely with the ATF is something Silencer Shop takes great pride in. For those of us “lucky” enough to encounter the previous system, information was manually typed and submitted by industry experts. Not to take their hard work and dedication for granted, but sometimes unforeseen mistakes were introduced, which resulted in delayed ATF Form 4 submission or approval. Our barcoding scanner virtually eliminates all potential errors by auto-filling your information into the ATF’s proprietary system. Efficient and clean… Done and done.

The wait times will be dramatically reduced with this new barcode system because it enables the ATF data entry staff to improve form processing by utilizing this highly-efficient tool. Instead of accepting the old system—solely because it was the norm—Silencer Shop strives to address industry issues and apply the necessary technology to improve a myriad of situations. We understand the wait time is frustrating, and we’re continuously developing ways to improve the ownership process. Our new ATF-approved system is just one area we’re helping the industry… More efficiencies to come!

For additional information regarding this topic or any others, please contact us. We look forward to discussing our latest advancement with you and answering your questions.