Is the ATF Trying to Make a Gun Registry by Changing the 4473?

There's a video down below from a really good guy explaining what folks believe. Let me explain why this may be an issue... but it isn't a new one. For those who don't know, this is what the 4473 currently looks like: click here. The proposed changes: click here.

​I have heard about this from numerous sources, and you can hear everything in the below video. Apparently, this will "make it easier for the ATF to create a registry" because the agents are "photographing the 4473s with their phones."

Now, I'm not saying this isn't happening. It may be. But it would be far more efficient if they took snapshots of the bound books. They could get all your important info in a big list of 20 people at a time. 

Full disclosure here, I worked in a gun store for seven years. I was sales and eventually the person in the back room who dealt with bound books, traces, and the ATF. 

If you are a gun owner, take a look at the last box you brought home from a gun store. See those written numbers and letters on the label? That is where in the bound book your gun can be found. They are required by law so the ATF can find them in the books when they do audits. When guns are shipped into the store - from a wholesaler, manufacturer, consignment, purchase from a customer, or anyone else for a transfer; basically, any gun that comes into the store - their information is enter into a bound book. The store I used to work in had the books separated by handguns and rifles. The info includes make and model and serial number as well as where the gun came from. The rest stays blank... until you fill out a 4473 for it. At that point, your name, address, and other info goes into the bound book.  

The ATF does mandatory audits. If you happen to walk in to your favorite gun store and see ATF agents all over the place - since they don't even try to pretend and stay inconspicuous - no, your store didn't do anything wrong. These audits are routine and happen randomly once every certain amount of years. They check current inventory to make sure everything is in the bound book, and they match 4473s to the bound book. These audits take several days to complete. I have lived through several and never saw anyone take photocopies or snapshots. That's my personal experience, not saying it hasn't happened anywhere else. 

However, if they want to make a registry, having 20,000 pictures of 4473s in their phone is far more work and far less efficient than taking pictures of the bound books. It's been like that forever. 

Also, be aware... that 4473 is eventually going to the ATF anyway. The store holds on to them for 20 years. After 20 years, they go to the ATF. If the store closes before that time, they go to the ATF sooner than that. They do hang onto them for trace reasons. The bound books also go to the ATF. The store I worked in actually went out of business. My other favorite gun store closed when the owner retired. There are plenty of 4473s with my information currently sitting in the ATF archives. If you ever completed or began at 4473 and didn't finish, that stays, too. Maybe you got denied by NICS or you were stopped by the sales person for whatever reason. Those 4473s stay in the store and eventually go to the ATF, too.

I wouldn't hold it past the ATF to make an illegal registry, I really wouldn't. But the problem isn't a new one, and this doesn't make it more efficient. Whether this change takes place or not, an illegal registry would be pretty easy to create. 

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