The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on July 6 that would reduce the paperwork burden on individuals and NFA trusts registering National Firearms Act items, AmmoLand Shooting Sports News reported following publication of the notice. The proposal, docket ATF-2026-0397, modifies 27 CFR parts 478 and 479 and opens a 90-day public comment period closing around October 5, 2026.

Under current regulations, individual applicants filing ATF Forms 4 or Form 1 must submit two fingerprint cards and a passport-style photograph. The proposed rule would cut the fingerprint submission to a single card and replace the passport photo with a scan or photograph of a government-issued ID — two changes that would reduce both the time and cost involved in processing an NFA application.

The more consequential change, however, applies to NFA trusts. Under existing rules, all responsible persons listed on an NFA trust are required to submit fingerprints. The proposed rule would eliminate the fingerprinting requirement for trust applicants entirely. For the growing number of suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and other NFA items transferred through trusts — a purchase method that became popular precisely because it streamlines multi-user access — the change would remove one of the more burdensome steps in the acquisition process.

ATF Director Robert Cekada characterized the proposal as part of the agency's "New Era of Reform," a deregulatory initiative the ATF launched in April 2026 with a 34-rule package that included the formal rescission of the 2023 pistol brace rule and the removal of regulatory language incorporating bump stocks into the machine gun definition. That package followed the Supreme Court's Garland v. Cargill decision, which held that bump stocks do not satisfy the statutory definition of a machine gun under the National Firearms Act.

The American Suppressor Association, which has lobbied for NFA process improvements since wait times ballooned past a year during previous Form 4 surges, noted that removing the trust fingerprint requirement in particular addresses a persistent friction point that has deterred some buyers from the trust structure. The comment period gives industry groups, dealers, and individual gun owners until around October 5 to submit feedback through the Federal Register docket before the ATF issues a final rule.