ATF Turned FFLAlert Back On — Check the Short Code Before You Ignore It

The Outdoor Wire posted ATF’s FFLAlert notice on September 10, 2026, as an industry update carrying “A Message From ATF.” The Bureau said it had finished a five-month project to procure and install a new FFLAlert system so it can again send “time-sensitive, official information” to federal firearms licensees — firearm-theft prevention, disaster preparedness, and other administrative notices.

Alerts now go through ATF’s Broadcast Emergency Alert Communications Outreach Network, branded BEACON, on the Everbridge platform. ATF says BEACON can hit a phone number with a text-to-speech voice message, a text-capable number, or an email listed for FFL responsible persons. Notifications run between 10 a.m. Eastern and 8 p.m. Eastern. Emails will show noreply@everbridge.net. Text messages “will start with ‘ATF FFLAlert’” and come from short code 88911 or 89361; ATF notes other government public-safety texts may use the same codes and may include a link if the message is long. Telephone notifications will show caller ID 202-648-9999 and begin, “this is an official message from the Bureau of Alcohol. Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.” ATF’s own comma is missing in that script. The notice tells dealers with doubts to use atf.gov or their local field office, not the inbound number.

This is an IT cutover, not a rule. It does not change Form 4473, NICS, or inspection policy. It does mean a text from a five-digit code is now in the official channel, which is exactly the channel thieves already mimic. Save the codes. Do not call back a number that is not on atf.gov.