Originally Posted by
MistWolf
That's a good point about E-Filing. I don't know how they handle the records of e-filed forms.
The point I'm trying to make is, LEO agencies cannot simply look up a firearm on their computer and find out who it belongs to, whether it's regular firearms or NFA items. The agency has to contact the ATF and have the ATF search their records. In order to protect our privacy, laws have been put in place to limit what the ATF can do to upgrade their filing system. Gun rights groups watch them closely.
The only file LEO agencies can access is the list of stolen firearms. When a police officer runs the serial number of a firearm, the only information they can get is whether or not it's been stolen and if it's stolen, they can find out who it was stolen from, when it was stolen and so on. If the firearm is not stolen, they only information they get is that it's not on the stolen list.
In California, the DOJ does keep a list of handguns sold through FFLs. Later, they created a registry of what the state defined as "assault weapons". I believe now, all firearms sold or transferred through FFLs are on record. The state started going through that list to see if any of the owners of record have, since purchase, committed an act that would bar them from the possession of firearms and were planning to confiscate them. I don't know if they've started confiscation or not