Questions and Answers

Applicants or selectees who have completed part or all of their education outside of the U.S. must have their foreign education evaluated by an accredited organization to ensure that the foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the U.S. An evaluation is required before human resources can make an official job offer. We will only accept the completed foreign education evaluation.

The announcement will list details to help you determine whether you are qualified for the position. We encourage you to pay close care to these descriptions and guidelines so that you are fully aware of the specifics of the position and desired qualifications/requirements. We highly encourage you address the specialized experience requirements in your resume. Do not copy and paste the specialized experience into your resume; provide examples, illustrations and achievements instead, so we can better assess your experience.

Everyone hired for a federal job undergoes a basic background check of his or her criminal and/or credit histories to ensure that all federal employees are “reliable, trustworthy, of good conduct and character and loyal to the United States.” The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, a central agency that serves as the corporate human resources organization for the federal government, performs the majority of background checks. In addition, federal positions that include access to sensitive information generally require a security clearance. This clearance must be obtained to determine the applicant’s trustworthiness and reliability before granting him or her access to national security information.

Types of Security Clearances and Background Checks

Positions in the federal government are classified in three ways: Non-Sensitive Positions, Public Trust Positions and National Security Positions. Each of these positions requires some level of background investigation. The elements that make up a background investigation vary depending on the level of clearance that is deemed necessary for a position. Background investigations for lower risk levels generally rely on automated checks of an individual’s history. For a secret clearance in a national security position, the investigation requires agents to interview people who have lived or worked with the candidate at some point in the last seven (or more) years.

Once the agency has selected a candidate to hire, the applicant will typically receive a job offer contingent upon successfully obtaining a security clearance. The extensive background investigation takes place after the initial offer has been accepted.

The length and depth of the background investigation will depend on the position’s requirements, as well as the type of security clearance needed (if applicable) for a particular job or internship. This process may take several months or up to a year depending on backlog, need for more information, depth of the investigation process and other factors.

In order to help speed the process along, begin to gather relevant information now. Once you are offered the position, you’ll be asked to submit a series of forms and information about yourself. Gather this information now so you can save time on your end. You can view the forms for background checks (SF-85: Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions) and security clearances (SF-86: Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions) on the Office of Personnel Management’s website.

Once you have submitted the documentation, the designated agency will proceed with the investigation, depending on backlog and priority.

Licenses are not transferrable. A new ATF Form 7 must be submitted to obtain a different license type or a new license. However, fingerprint cards and photographs are not required for any Responsible Person (RP) listed on the previous license.

Please contact ATF’s Federal Firearms Licensing Center (FFLC) if you have questions about this matter at (866) 662-2750 or FFLC@atf.gov.
 

No. The effective date of the final rule is August 24, 2022. No grace period will be given, thus affected licensees requiring a new license type should act as soon as possible to ensure their business activities may continue uninterrupted.

Yes. Amended regulations 478.129(b), (d) and (e) require ALL licensees to retain ALL required records until the license is discontinued. Forms 4473 must be kept on paper or in an approved electronic format at the licensed business premises and accessible for inspection. A warehouse may be used to store paper records older than 20 years of age. That warehouse would be subject to inspection and cannot be used to conduct other firearms business activities without obtaining a separate license.

Licensees can no longer send their records older than 20 years to the Out of Business Records Center, National Tracing Center. They can only submit their records upon discontinuance of business under the license.

Licensees may mark PMFs themselves or they can take a PMF to any person, licensee or non-licensee, who has the ability to mark the PMF. However, such other person may only mark the PMF on-the-spot under the direct supervision of the original federal firearms licensee (FFL). This person shall mark the PMF with the original licensee’s abbreviated FFL number in accordance with 478.92(a)(2).

PMFs are marked “under the direct supervision” of the FFL who received or acquired the PMF when the FFL required to mark the PMF has not disposed of the PMF to the person doing the marking. In no case may the licensee who receives or acquires a PMF dispose of an unmarked PMF, whether to a licensee or non-licensee, until the firearm is properly marked, and the serial number is recorded in the record of the licensee who received or acquired the PMF.

The term “firearm” is defined in 27 CFR 478.11 to includes a weapon parts kit that is designed to or may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive, and would not include a weapon parts kit, in which the frame or receiver of such weapon is destroyed.

Licensees may voluntarily request a determination whether a weapons parts kit is a regulated firearm by contacting ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division (FATD).

A weapon parts kits that is determined to be a firearm shall be recorded as a “firearm” in the licensees’ A&D records and on ATF Form 4473.

Under federal law, it’s not unlawful for a person who is not prohibited from possessing firearms to make a non-NFA (National Firearms Act) privately made firearm (PMF) for their own personal use.

The term ‘‘receiver’’ in 478.12(a)(2) means the part of a rifle, shotgun, or projectile weapon other than a handgun, or variants thereof, that provides housing or a structure for the primary component designed to block or seal the breech prior to initiation of the firing sequence (i.e., bolt, breechblock, or equivalent), even if pins or other attachments are required to connect such component to the housing or structure.

The term ‘‘receiver’’ as stated in 478.12I shall include a partially complete, disassembled, or nonfunctional frame or receiver, including a frame or receiver parts kit, that is designed to or may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted to function as a frame or receiver, i.e., to house or provide a structure for the primary energized component of a handgun, breech blocking or sealing component of a projectile weapon other than a handgun, or internal sound reduction component of a firearm muffler or firearm silencer, as the case may be. The term shall not include a forging, casting, printing, extrusion, unmachined body, or similar article that has not yet reached a stage of manufacture where it is clearly identifiable as an unfinished component part of a weapon (e.g., unformed block of metal, liquid polymer, or other raw material). When issuing a classification, the Director may consider any associated templates, jigs, molds, equipment, tools, instructions, guides, or marketing materials that are sold, distributed, or possessed with the item or kit, or otherwise made available by the seller or distributor of the item or kit to the purchaser or recipient of the item or kit. The amended regulations examples that illustrate the definitions.

The term “readily” as defined in 478.11 means a process, action, or physical state that is fairly or reasonably efficient, quick, and easy, but not necessarily the most efficient, speediest, or easiest process, action, or physical state. With respect to the classification of firearms, factors relevant in making this determination include the following: (1) Time, i.e., how long it takes to finish the process; (2) Ease, i.e., how difficult it is to do so; (3) Expertise, i.e., what knowledge and skills are required; (4) Equipment, i.e., what tools are required; (5) Parts availability, i.e., whether additional parts are required, and how easily they can be obtained; (6) Expense, i.e., how much it costs; (7) Scope, i.e., the extent to which the subject of the process must be changed to finish it; and (8) Feasibility, i.e., whether the process would damage or destroy the subject of the process, or cause it to malfunction.

The absence of a serial number is irrelevant in determining whether a weapon is a firearm.

Licensees may voluntarily request a determination whether a receiver is a regulated firearm by contacting ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division (FATD).

The final rule clarifies that the definition of “firearm” includes a weapon parts kit that is designed to or may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. It also clarifies that the term “firearm” does not include a weapon, including a weapon parts kit, in which the frame or receiver of such weapon is “destroyed” as described in the definition “frame or receiver.” The final rule also explains that persons engaged in the business of selling or distributing weapon parts kits cannot avoid licensing, marking, recordkeeping, or other requirements to which federal firearms licensees (FFLs) are subject ‘‘by selling or shipping the parts in more than one box or shipment to the same person, or by conspiring with another person to do so.’’

Licensees who require a determination whether a weapon parts kit is a regulated firearm may contact ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division (FATD) for a determination.

No.

No. In cases where the acquiring FFL is contracting out marking services of PMFs to a licensed gunsmith (or unlicensed engraver), the gunsmith or engraver may only perform such engraving services on the spot under the direct supervision of the requesting FFL. The marking FFL need not record the PMF in his/her A&D records.

Yes. Licensees who acquire PMFs into inventory for any reason, including private party transfers, are required to mark those PMFs, unless already marked by another licensee pursuant to 478.92(a)(2).

The final rule does not require licensees to notify ATF when a PMF has been marked. PMF marking and corresponding recordkeeping requirements ensure traceability of those PMFs should they be recovered.

Any cost associated with marking PMFs is to be determined by the licensee and the customer.

Yes. Except for a firearm received for adjustment or repair that is returned to the person from whom it was received on the same day, any federal firearms licensee (FFL) who takes an unmarked PMF into inventory must mark the PMF in accordance with 27 CFR 478.92(a)(2).

The final rule amends 27 CFR 478.92(a)(2) and explains that an acceptable method of identifying a polymer frame privately made firearm (PMF) is by placing a serial number on a metal plate that is permanently embedded into a polymer frame or receiver, or other method approved by the Director.

A marking variance can be applied for under 478.92(a)(4), as amended, which states:
Exceptions—(i) Alternate means of identification. The Director may authorize other means of identification to identify firearms upon receipt of a letter application or prescribed form from the licensee showing that such other identification is reasonable and will not hinder the effective administration of this part.

No. Marking serial numbers on PMFs is a “customization” and a licensee’s return of a firearm, received solely for repair or customization, to the person from whom it was received does not require an ATF Form 4473 pursuant to 478.124(a) nor a NICS background check. However, licensees must record the acquisition and disposition of the PMF in the licensee’s A&D record.

Yes. A PMF acquired by a licensee, for any purpose, that is returned to a person other than the person from whom it was received requires the licensee to mark the PMF appropriately (if not already marked pursuant to 478.92(a)(2)), record the PMF as an acquisition and disposition in their A&D record, record the transaction on an ATF Form 4473, and conduct a NICS background check before transferring the firearm.

A licensee is not required to mark a PMF received for same day adjustment or repair that the licensee returns – on the same day as it was received – to the person from whom it was received. Furthermore, a licensee is not required to record an A&D entry, nor execute an ATF Form 4473, nor run a NICS background check when such firearm received under these conditions is returned to the customer from who received.

Licensees must legibly and conspicuously identify each PMF received or otherwise acquired (including from a personal collection) not later than the seventh day following the date of receipt or other acquisition, or before the date of disposition (including to a personal collection), whichever is sooner. PMFs must be identified by placing or causing to be placed under the licensee’s direct supervision, an individual serial number on the frame or receiver, which must not duplicate any serial number placed by the licensee on any other firearm. The serial number must begin with the licensee’s abbreviated FFL number, which is the first three and last five digits, as a prefix to a unique identification number, followed by a hyphen, e.g., ‘‘12345678-[unique identification number]’’. The serial number must be placed in a manner otherwise in accordance with 478.92, including the requirements that the serial number be at the minimum size and depth, and not susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered, or removed.

Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) must record “Privately Made Firearm” or “PMF” as the manufacturer in the A&D record and ATF Form 4473. If an FFL is remanufacturing a PMF, see question 33 for marking requirements.