Questions and Answers

Yes. The latest version of BATS includes icon-driven wizards and decision trees to quickly create an incident in a matter of minutes with the option to enter additional information in the future.

The Activity section allows fire investigators to track their Certified Fire Investigator (CFI) training, re-certifications, courtroom testimonies, peer reviews and other non-incident responsibilities such as code enforcement.

BATS requires that if an Activity entry is part of an Incident, that related incident MUST also be entered into BATS. For example, an explosives Disposal (Activity) of Recovered Explosives (Incident), or a Fire Scene Examination (Activity) of a Fire (Incident). The USBDC reserves the right to remove access to BATS due to not reporting incidents.

Federal law (18 USC 846b) requires all federal agencies to report incidents involving arson and the suspected criminal misuse of explosives to the USBDC.

In 2004, the Attorney General directed the consolidation of all Department of Justice (DOJ) arson and explosives incident databases into a single system, which is now known as BATS. As a result, the ATF Arson and Explosives Incident System (AEXIS) and the former FBI Automated Incident Reporting System (AIRS) have been consolidated into BATS.

In August 2010, the Deputy Attorney General’s Office directed the FBI and ATF to ensure the participation of all state and local law enforcement agencies that partner with FBI and ATF in explosives investigations, in order for BATS to be a "comprehensive" database.

BATS is part of the national curriculum for bomb technicians at the Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama and the National Fire Academy’s Fire/Arson Origin-and-Cause Investigations course in Emmitsburg, Maryland. In addition, BATS is part of the FBI’s Model for Bomb Squad Standard Operating Procedures.

BATS “links” agencies to the U.S. Bomb Data Center (USBDC) which Congress and the Attorney General have entrusted with maintaining the national repository of arson and explosives incidents. BATS is central to the USBDC’s mission to standardize the reporting of explosives, bombing and fire incident information from law enforcement and firefighting authorities to facilitate case analysis and comparison in order to provide investigative leads and intelligence.

The USBDC is staffed with a team of special agents (criminal investigators) and intelligence research specialists with many years of specialized arson and explosives investigative experience.

No, the AFMER is not a tax form. It is used for statistical purposes only.

Whether or not you need to report this as production depends upon whom you received the firearm from and the nature of the modifications you make.

If you received the firearm (to include a firearm frame, receiver, action, or barreled action) from a licensee other than a type 07 or type 10 federal firearms licensee (FFL), or from a non-licensee, then you would not report it, provided your modifications did not change the firearm’s Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) firearm category.

If your modifications altered the firearm’s AFMER firearm category (as listed on the form items 8a-j and 9a-j), then you would include the firearm in your AFMER report in the category of firearm you have now produced.

If you received the firearm from another licensed manufacturer (type 07 or type 10 FFL), then production should be reported once you enter the firearm into commerce, or export it.

Examples:

• You are a licensed manufacturer and obtain a rifle from a licensee other than a type 07 or type 10 FFL, or from a non-licensee. You remanufacture the rifle by adding custom parts and accessories before selling it as a rifle. You would not include the firearm in your AFMER report since the firearm was previously reported by its original manufacturer, and your modifications did not change it into a different type of firearm.

• You are a licensed manufacturer and obtain a used rifle from a licensee other than a type 07 or type 10 FFL, or from a non-licensee. You strip off the parts and replace the receiver with a new receiver that you acquired from a licensed manufacturer, then sell the firearm. You would include this on your report as a rifle, since you entered the new receiver into commerce as a rifle.
  • In contrast, if you had purchased the new receiver from someone other than a type 07 or type 10 FFL, you would not report it, since the original manufacturer would have reported the receiver previously when it was sold.

• You are a licensed manufacturer (type 07 or type 10 FFL) and obtain receivers from another manufacturer who sold them to you through their firearms dealer’s license. You use the receivers to manufacture rifles and sell them into commerce. This would not be reported, since the manufacturer of the receivers would have included them on their AFMER report when they first entered commerce through their manufacturer license.

• You are a licensed manufacturer (type 07 or type 10 FFL) and obtain a rifle from a licensee other than a type 07 or type 10 FFL, or from a non-licensee. You then remanufacture the rifle into a pistol and sell it. This would be included in your AFMER report because your modification resulted in a change to the firearm’s type (i.e. from rifle to pistol). This would also be reportable for rifles turned into short-barreled rifles, semi-automatic weapons turned into machineguns, or any other remanufacturing that changes the AFMER classification of the weapon.

According to instruction 3(b) on the Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form, firearms disposed of to another licensed firearms manufacturer for the purpose of final finishing and assembly should not be reported (reflect as “0” zero).

Your Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form can be submitted via eForms, ATF's free online filing system. We encourage you to submit this way, as it is the fastest way to report your information.

You can also submit your AFMER form by mail to:

ATF - FFLC
AFMER Program
244 Needy Road
Martinsburg, WV 25405

If you file your Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form using eForms, you will have access to a record of your submission in the system.

If you mail your report, you will not receive confirmation of receipt from ATF.

No. You are not allowed to file your Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form before the calendar year ends, unless you have permanently discontinued business. If you have discontinued business, you must submit your completed AFMER within 30 days following the discontinuance of business.

Examples:

• You only manufactured and sold 2 firearms in March 2016. You decide to send in your 2016 report on December 15, 2016, while you were thinking about it, but then you sell a firearm on December 31, 2016. Your report would be inaccurate due to premature filing.
  
• You go out of business on July 1, 2016 so you submit your calendar year 2016 report on July 11, 2016, within the 30-day deadline. In this case, your report will be accepted because you have discontinued business.

You can print or download a fillable AFMER form from ATF’s Forms Library or obtain them from the ATF Distribution Center by calling 703-870-7526 or 703-870-7528 and asking for ATF Form 5300.11.

No, you must still file an Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form.

A license to manufacture destructive devices also authorizes you to manufacture firearms, and any production and sale/export of firearms must be reported. Even if you produce only destructive devices, the filing requirement still applies to you, and you must file a report and reflect “0” (zero).

Yes. On the Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form, instruction 2(a) states that separate frames or receivers, actions or barrel actions are to be included in your report when they are exported or disposed of in commerce to a person other than a licensed manufacturer.

The licensed manufacturer who provided you the firearm would not include it on their own report. Instruction 3(b) states that firearms disposed of to another licensed firearms manufacturer for the purpose of final finishing and assembly would be reported as “0” (zero).

Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) data is compiled into an annual statistical profile and released each year on this website's Data and Statistics page.

The final release is deferred by one year. For example, 2015 data was not released until January 2017. Published AFMER data is referenced by academic researchers, industry trade associations, regulatory agencies, the media, private interest groups, and others having an interest in the scope, vitality, and diversity of the U.S. firearms industry.

Additionally, ATF industry operations investigators verify compliance with the AFMER filing requirement and the accuracy of data reported to ATF, when compliance inspections of licensed firearms manufacturers are performed.

On your Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form, you should report all firearms that were manufactured and exported under section 9, for exportation.

Example:

• If you manufacture 1,000 firearms then sell 300 into U.S. commerce, export 600 out of the U.S., and dispose of the remaining 100 to another licensed type 07 or type 10 federal firearm licensee, you should record 300 in section 8 and 600 in section 9. The remaining 100 would not get reported at this point, since they were not sold into U.S. commerce or exported.

ATF usually sends out the Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) filing notice to all licensed manufacturers in mid-February or early March. According to instruction 1(c), manufacturers have until April 1 to submit their annual report covering the preceding calendar year.

Example:

• If you receive a request letter in the mail in February 2019, then the notice from ATF is requesting data for calendar year 2018.

All eForms functionality questions should use the "Ask the Expert" function within eForms.

On the Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form, Instruction 2 (a) defines "production" as firearms manufactured during the calendar year, to include separate frames or receivers, actions or barreled actions, disposed of in commerce.

A manufacturer who acquires these items from another licensed manufacturer in the assembly and production of complete firearms will include the manufacture of these firearms in their own report. Separate frames or receivers, actions, or barreled actions are to be included in this report when they are exported or disposed of in commerce to a person other than a licensed manufacturer.

Examples:

• If you manufacture and sell a firearm to a non-manufacturer, you are to report it in the year you sell it.

• If you manufacture firearms and send them to another licensed manufacturer to finish assembly, and the other manufacturer sells the firearms into commerce or exports them, then you do NOT include these firearms on your report.

• If you manufacture a firearms part, send it to another licensed manufacturer for further assembly, and the other manufacturer returns it to you and you then sell it into U.S. commerce or export it outside the U.S., then you do include the firearm(s) on your report, in the year they entered commerce or were exported.

If you were able to successfully submit your Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) without issues and the report appears in the “SUBMITTED / IN PROCESS” folder in eForms, your submission is final. No further action is needed.

Yes, you must file an Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form to let ATF know that you had no reportable firearms (enter “0” zero).

A lack of activity is just as important as significant activity because it helps provide an accurate, overall statistical profile of the firearms industry in the United States for a particular period.

No. The Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form is used to report the number of firearms that are produced AND have entered commerce or have been exported, within the reporting calendar year.

Example:

• If you produced 100 firearms but only 30 were entered into commerce during the reporting calendar year, then you would only report 30. The other 70 firearms are still in your possession (and on your books) and would not be reported until the calendar year that they enter commerce or are exported.

You may file an amended Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report (AFMER) form with ATF at any time. Write the words "Amended Report" across the top of the AFMER form and be sure that you clearly and accurately identify the period for which you are amending your data (item # 7a).

The yearly mailing goes out to ALL type 07 and type 10 manufacturers. If you have already mailed in your form or submitted via eForms, you can ignore the letter.

The Alcohol Beverage Control Board in your state or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at 1-888-463-6332 or www.fda.gov .