If I can go on the NY Times web site and an ad for 9 mm ammo on sale appears on the Times page or one for a CCW class along with the stories, I think someone knows I own guns. Gee, the post office photographs my mail and sends me pictures of it (we've had mail theft problems, so I signed up). The latest issue of Shooting Illustrated was photographed so they know I am ready for the Socialist Wave!!
What it really does is keep the good guys from enjoying them. This is a culture war. Diane Feinstein knows you and I aren’t turning anything in. She just wants to piss in your cornflakes.
Re your prior comment about 4473 s being ineffective as a registry, that is true but it is also by design.
The amount of 4473s out there is probably staggering. I laugh when folks bring up the correlation between background checks and the number of firearms in circulation. For instance, my current carry gun has been through the hands of at least 2 other forum members. That is at least 3 forms generated on that one firearm. Good luck tracing and building that registry. And since I am in Ohio, friend to friend, or face to face is a thing, I can trade, swap, buy and sell all I want amongst my friends. Have fun tracing that.
Taking a break from social media.
Great point. ATF traces are not based in 4473s. They go from the manufacturer to the distributor to the LGS who originally sold the gun. That’s it.
Last gun I traced for work went from an LGS to owner #1. That is all that that ATF trace provided.
Turned owner #1 traded it back into the LGS where it was bought by owner #2 from whom it was stolen in a home invasion. Owner #2 never reported it because he is now a prohibited person. Home invader then sold it to a third party who in turn sold it to my suspect. It has changed hands 5x since the original 4473.
This is pretty typical in my experience. Not much of a “registry.”
4473s aren’t a registry.
Your bank and credit card statements are a different story. If The Government wanted mass data on who owns what guns, all they need do is call the Fed and force every FDIC institution to cough up customer purchase data relating to firearms going back 10 years. Plug the data into a computer and boom, instant registry. It obviously won’t be 100% accurate, but it’ll be close enough for government work .
The Minority Marksman.
"When you meet a swordsman, draw your sword: Do not recite poetry to one who is not a poet."
-a Ch'an Buddhist axiom.
Something else that limits the practical usefulness of the 4473s is they are only required to keep them a certain number of years, I dont recall if 10 or what, though I dont know if very many dealers actually dispose of them after the time period is up.
As for what dealers do with their forms when they go out of business, I believe they can also give them to another FFL dealer rather then turn them over to BATFE.
Last edited by Malamute; 11-15-2018 at 07:23 PM.