Letter to the AmmoLand Editor
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- In reading Andy Massimilian’s letter, dated August 26, 2019, concerning Universal Background Checks and the Federal Registry they would create, I am surprised that no one is concerned about the current “firearms registry” that already exists (in a form).
When a gun sale is handled at an FFL, the ATF Form 4473 we all fill out is then maintained (BATF requirement) by the FFL for “not less than 20 years.”
If the FFL goes out of business, the forms must be transferred to the BATF for their keeping. I wonder how many FFL’s actually take the time and effort to “clean out” their records when they have exceeded 20 years.
Law enforcement uses these records when a gun is recovered at a crime scene. They go first to the manufacturer with the model and serial number to find out which dealer received the gun. Then, an inquiry with the dealer reveals who they sold the gun to.
This method was used by authorities to discover the origin of a handgun, sold to an American farmer in 1985 (who died many years ago), disappeared, and now is responsible for use in 9 murders in Jamaica.
Of course, the ultimate movie scene that is more reality than fiction is from the original “Red Dawn” where the invaders send a person to the local gun store to get the records and then all arrest the gun owners and confiscate their guns (a liberal Socialist-Democrat dream).
Our nation already has a gun registry, mandated at the Federal level.
I’m not an editorial writer, but I do not see the regular writers addressing this concern.
Thanks – Steve
WHOA! Speak for yourself Will/RoyD. I have a huge issue with my guns being forced into this defacto gun registry, and now you gun registration apologist want to have universal background checks. No fucken way. The 4473 is a permission slip for a constitutional right and should be taken out an shot in the head. Thank you to Steve for having the guts to bring it up and point out how fucked it is to have this in America.
When a shooting happens on a Saturday night/Sunday morning (i.e. Pulse nightclub in Orlando or Dayton Oregon District), I am always amazed how quickly the firearm owner is identified. First once the firearm is first entered into the evidence in the wee hours of Sunday morning, someone at the manufacturer is woken up, gets to the office, and identifies the distributor. Then, this process is repeated at the distributor to find out the specific dealer it was sold to. Finally, the LGS is awoken and can determine the buyer of the firearm. All of this happens within hours of the… Read more »
Hopefully all FFL dealers I have a “Burn Notice”.. If Firearms become illegal, hopefully all FFL dealers will unite and burn their files in unison…
The ATF is requiring some, if not all, FFL dealers including pawn shops to copy all the forms 4473 they have at their own expense, and turn these over to the ATF before they will get their FFL renewed. This drove OK Pawn of Huntsville Texas out of the gun business. It’s illegal and I’ve called my congressman about it. 202-224-3121.
I had an FFL a number of years back and as such, if there is a “gun roundup”, I’ll be one of the folks at the top of the list along with all other FFL holders and former holders. We’re all on a government list somewhere.
The law says 20 years, but the BATF encourages FFLs to turn in everything over 20 too. My favorite LGS is closing after 35 years, all the 4473s will be turned over to the BATF because the owner doesn’t want to upset the feds. It’s sad, but most FFLs probably think like that.
NFA items are all on a nice list too. Shall not be infringed? The 2A has been slowly tread on since 1934 and probably will be crushed by 2034 since politicians just do whatever they want. We will have black powder guns only allowed to have in our homes.
That issue is regularly mentioned whenever “registration” is discussed. It was also an issue when the background check scheme and the Form 4473 was created. We have not been able to get that repealed, and we have been fighting many other “gun control” schemes, successfully, and not, ever since the NFA was enacted, and quite probably well before then, too. We certainly fought against “gun control” at the outset of our country, being as confiscation was what started the revolution.
SH_T !!! this is very concerning
It is about time for this realization…. a lot of people have a misconception that background checks are destroyed after a certain amount of time.. they have a huge database of every single background check… finally the word is getting around we had registration all along.. now they need to focus on the truth of all gun companies being forced to send initial ballistic testing results for every gun made to a national database.. some companies were doing it voluntarily before they were forced to (Ruger)..