The Form 4
Suppressors & NFA Items
Suppressors are legal to own in Georgia. Buying one is not hard — it is just slower, because the federal government has to approve the transfer before you can take it home. Plan on paying up front and waiting. Here is what the wait is for.
The Process
Six steps and one long wait
01
Choose it and pay for it
Same as any other purchase, with one difference: it stays in our safe until the ATF approves the transfer to you. That is not us being careful, it is the law — the item is not yours to possess until the paperwork clears.
02
We file the Form 4
ATF Form 4 is the application to transfer and register the suppressor to you. As the dealer, we file it — electronically, through the ATF’s eForms system. This is not something you can do yourself; the transfer runs from our licence to you, so the application is ours to submit.
Before we file, you decide whether it is registered to yourself as an individual or to a gun trust. A trust lets anyone named on it possess the suppressor legally, and it makes passing it on far simpler. An individual registration is quicker to set up.
Georgia does not require an attorney to create a gun trust. Plenty of people use one anyway and that is a reasonable choice, but do not let anyone tell you it is mandatory here. Come talk it through before you decide — it is easier to choose correctly now than to re-register later.
03
Fingerprints and a photo
Both go with the application. We do not take prints here — we will point you at a local partner we trust, and you bring the cards back to us.
04
Pay the $200 tax
The federal transfer tax. It is $200 per NFA item, paid with the application. It is a tax, not a fee we charge, and it is not refundable if you change your mind.
05
Wait
This is the part people ask about most, and the honest answer is that it varies. eForms approvals have been dramatically faster in recent years than the paper era, but the number moves and anyone quoting you a firm figure is guessing. We will tell you what we are currently seeing when you file.
06
Pick it up
Once approved, we let you know, you come in, and it goes home with you. Keep a copy of the approved stamp with the suppressor.
Before You Arrive
What to bring
Less than you would think, because we do the filing. Bring these and we can start the same day.
A valid Georgia photo ID
Showing your current address.
Your trust documents
Only if you are registering to a trust rather than to yourself.
Set Expectations
Three things films get wrong
A suppressor does not make a gun quiet. It makes it hearing-safe. Anyone who has been told otherwise by a film is going to be disappointed.
You can travel with it inside Georgia freely. Crossing state lines with an NFA item has its own rules — ask before you go.
One stamp, one item. Every suppressor is its own application and its own $200.