Questions and Answers

You may apply to any job; however, you may not be eligible for the job if you do not fall into one of the required categories. If you are not eligible, your application may not be considered. For example, any U.S. Citizen is eligible to apply to positions that are “Open to the Public”. Look for the "This job is open to" section in the job announcement to see who is eligible to apply.

The job announcement will list who is eligible by using one or many USAJOBS hiring paths. Visit the USAJOBS hiring paths page for more information: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/.

The following informational packet provides detailed information about the ATF special agent position to include major duties, basic qualifications, conditions of employment and specific requirements: Special Agent Informational Packet.

For this job announcement there probably were other applicants who by law must be considered before your application (e.g., certain veterans or displaced federal employees). The last time you applied for the position there may have been no other applicants who were required to be considered by law before other applicants may be considered. Veterans’ Preference is a federal law that essentially requires agencies to hire qualified veterans before qualified non-veterans. Therefore, we cannot consider non-veterans for employment, until those who are entitled to Veterans’ Preference are either hired or withdraw from consideration. You may have also not scored high enough on the assessment if category rating was used to evaluate applicants. Only applicants who are placed in the highest category can be considered for employment.

No. If you received a rating of eligible or tentatively eligible, but you were not referred, it means you did not score high enough on the assessment to be referred or there were other applicants, who by law, must be considered before you (e.g., displaced federal employees, certain veterans). However, this rating does not mean that we have found you qualified for the position. If additional positions become available, we may review your application materials further to determine your eligibility and referral status. USAJOBS Resource Center, and the USAJOBS Resume Writing Video Tutorial.

No. Although you were previously deemed qualified for a position at a certain grade, there is no guarantee that you will be found qualified for like positions. Each vacancy announcement or position has different experience and/or education requirements. Just because you were qualified for one position, does not mean you will be automatically qualified for all other similar positions. It is important to review each vacancy announcement in its entirety, and ensure your application meets all the requirements. Additionally, different Human Resources professionals will most likely review your application and may have different opinions about your qualifications or any prior determinations. Human Resources professionals at ATF help find the best candidates for certain managers and different managers have different needs.

No, real people, Human Resource (HR) specialists, do look at resumes to validate the information in the application package.

No. If the review determines that changes are needed, the proposal will be published.

The goal of the review was to execute the President’s Executive Order, which sought to ensure that every regulation ATF enforces is legally sound, operationally effective, clearly written, and fairly administered. 

This package of proposed and final rules is simply a compilation of those regulations for which all reviews and clearances were achieved. Neither the rules themselves nor their compilation is meant to reflect any particular regulatory priority or administrative aim. ATF is still conducting legal reviews for other rules and, when those proposals are ready to be released, they will be. 

Per the Executive Order, we will continue to analyze our regulations to ensure that they are clear and reflective of court rulings and modern business practices. Additional proposals will be released for public comment as they become ready. 

The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) generally requires agencies to publish proposed rules (NPRMs) and allow for public comment before finalizing them. Most rules in this package follow that process and were published as NPRMs. The APA also contains limited exceptions that allows an agency to forgo notice and comment for good cause. ATF relied on this exception to issue a few final Rules where the changes are technical in nature and do not alter substantive rights or legal obligations of the public. ATF used these alternatives only where legally appropriate and where the record supported the conclusion that a full notice-and-comment process was not necessary. 

This is not about politics; it’s about the law. These rescissions involve rules that federal courts, who operate independently of the administration, have vacated or enjoined. Other proposed rules reflect a legal and operational review that concluded the prior approaches didn't achieve their objectives. That is how regulatory governance is supposed to work.

None of these rules were drafted directly or indirectly by any member of the gun industry. The ATF review was directed by Executive Order 14206, signed by President Trump. ATF conducted the regulatory analysis internally, with DOJ oversight. Through the normal course of outreach, ATF has heard from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry, law enforcement partners, and legal experts, regarding their concerns on regulations and guidance.  As with any rulemaking process, ATF has considered these concerns when developing its regulatory proposals, but no single group drove the outcome.

ATF is legally prohibited from predetermining the outcome of a rulemaking. The comments received are part of the administrative record that any final rule must be based on. Courts have repeatedly vacated rules where agencies failed to genuinely engage with public comments. ATF will seriously consider any relevant comments from all parties, regardless of affiliation or their position on any of the proposed rules as drafted.

No. Regulatory modernization and enforcement are separate functions. ATF remains fully committed to enforcing all applicable federal laws governing firearms and explosives, including the Gun Control Act, the National Firearms Act, and the Safe Explosives Act. Updating regulatory text to reflect current law, court decisions, or technological capabilities does not diminish ATF’s enforcement authority or intent. In fact, clearer, more legally durable regulations support more effective enforcement, reducing the risk that prosecutions are undermined by challenges to the underlying regulatory framework.

The NFA examiners are assigned specific application types. For example, certain examiners will be assigned to process individual applicants while others are assigned to process trust applicants. Further, applications that are put into problem status will be processed at the end of the week. Examples for when an application is placed into problem status include failure to submit fingerprint cards, failure to submit photographs, failure to submit a responsible person questionnaire, or to research whether the applicant may make, possess, or receive the firearm under State law.

Due to the high volume of NFA application submissions and ATF's limited resources, NFA Division submits background checks to FBI-NICS in batches to maximize efficiency. As the number of pending NFA applications decreases, the background checks will be submitted to FBI-NICS closer to when the NFA application was received by NFA Division. Currently, background checks for individual applicants are sent to FBI-NICS the same week the NFA application is received by NFA Division.

NFA Division will not approve a NFA application unless it receives a “proceed” from FBI-NICS. Some background checks may take longer to process because FBI-NICS must perform additional research on the applicant’s background. As a result, two individuals who submit NFA applications at the same time may have their NFA application processed at different times because the background checks are completed by FBI-NICS and transmitted to NFA Division at different times.

While it is not required, the simplest way to help ensure your background check is processed timely and accurately is to provide your social security number with the NFA application. Without the social security number, FBI-NICS may have to perform additional research to ensure the applicant is not prohibited, thereby delaying the background check response to NFA Division. For example, without a social security number, FBI-NICS will have to perform additional research to properly identify the applicant when the applicant has the same name as someone else with prohibiting information in the NICS database.

We’d have to refer you to talk to them directly. What we can tell you is that ATF’s commitment to rooting out violent crime is stronger than ever. Our relationships with state, local, and federal law enforcement are central to our mission. Any concerns raised during the comment period, regardless of who they’re coming from, will be considered. 

The question of whether a weapon that is attached with something labeled as a “brace” is designed and intended to be fired from the shoulder is a factual question. ATF has to examine the individual firearm to make a classification. What ATF can and proposes to do is to remove a rule that courts found did not hold up. That is the appropriate action for a regulatory agency operating within the rule of law.

ATF is not targeting law-abiding citizens using braces. However, if a firearm meets the NFA’s statutory definition of a short-barreled rifle, NFA requirements apply. 

Yes. Please note that changes may not be made once the announcement closes.

As stated on our vacancy announcements, in order to be able to properly evaluate you experience and qualifications for the position, we need:

1. Job title.
2. Name of employer.
3. Beginning and ending dates of employment (month/day/year format).
4. Hours worked per week. We will assume full-time unless otherwise stated. We will prorate part-time employment in crediting experience.
5. Detailed description of job duties, related skills and responsibilities; including any supervisory/managerial responsibilities and number of staff supervised (if applicable). This information is necessary to determine whether you meet minimum eligibility requirements for the position. Please review the qualifications section in the job announcement closely and directly address the education, skills and experience required in your resume.
6. Series and grade or equivalent (if a federal position)

A CV listing positions and dates does not allow a Human Resources office to properly evaluate your qualifications. Your resume or CV must provide details thoroughly describing how your skills and experiences align with the criteria defined in the qualifications section of the job announcement and support your responses to the assessment questionnaire. Federal Human Resources professionals operate under various federal employment laws, rules, and regulations. We are prohibited from drawing conclusions or making assumptions regarding your experience or qualifications. It is up to you to describe your past work experience in detail by providing examples related to those listed in the requirements section of the job announcement.

It depends on the amount of information contained within your application materials and on whether you meet all the requirements specific to the vacancy announcement. See the Required Documents section of the vacancy announcement for information on resume writing and other application guidance.