ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions, Prevent Errors
 

ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions, Prevent Errors


Every year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finds thousands of licensed gun dealers in violation of federal law, often for very minor problems.

The agency, which conducts about 11,000 inspections a year, says it has come up with a way to eliminate many of those violations before they happen.

Instead of filling out the required ATF paperwork by hand, gun buyers and dealers will now be able to complete what officials say is a fail-safe electronic version of the document, known as Form 4473.

Speaking at a gun shop in Upper Marlboro where he announced the change, acting ATF Director Michael J. Sullivan said the new option would cut down on illegible answers and incomplete answers -- the most common causes of violations.

Such simple human errors account for about 60 percent of the violations cited annually by the ATF, and finding a way to reduce them has been a priority for the agency and the industry, Sullivan said.


Maryland has 554 licensed gun dealers and Virginia has 1,507, according to the ATF. There is one licensed gun dealer in the District, and at least one other business is applying for a license.

Officials emphasized that the use of the new software is voluntary and that the data entered on the form are not being used to create any sort of government database of gun ownership.

But Sullivan said he hopes that dealers and their customers will embrace the new electronic form, which dealers can download from the ATF's Web site at http://www.atf.gov/applications/e4473/.

"I think many people will see it as a very useful tool," Sullivan said.

Lawrence G. Keane, general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association, applauded the ATF, saying the new form would reduce the number of innocent mistakes made in completing the transaction forms.

Carl William Roy II, owner of Maryland Small Arms Range, where the new form was unveiled yesterday by ATF, said he has been pushing officials for years to change the way the document can be completed.

When the ATF is conducting an inspection or the police are looking for information about a gun, handwritten records can he hard to decipher, especially years later, Roy said.

"It can be a mess," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...111903726.html

Re: ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions, Prevent Errors
 

Of course not!
No doubt. I predict that this "voluntary" online program will be mandatory, once the ATF discovers "how efficient the program is". Does anyone know how long gun shops must hold the 4473 forms? 7 years? Forever?

Re: ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions, Prevent Errors
 

Right up until a accidental fire comes and burns all the gas soaked paper records that just happen to be sitting in corner file cabinet.:ok:


T

Re: ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions, Prevent Errors
 

You asked:

CHAPTER II - BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

SUBCHAPTER B - FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION

PART 478 - COMMERCE IN FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION

subpart h - RECORDS

478.129 - Record retention.



(a) Records prior to Act. Licensed importers and licensed manufacturers may dispose of records of sale or other disposition of firearms prior to December 16, 1968. Licensed dealers and licensed collectors may dispose of all records of firearms transactions that occurred prior to December 16, 1968.

(b) Firearms transaction record. Licensees shall retain each Form 4473 and Form 4473(LV) for a period of not less than 20 years after the date of sale or disposition. Where a licensee has initiated a NICS check for a proposed firearms transaction, but the sale, delivery, or transfer of the firearm is not made, the licensee shall record any transaction number on the Form 4473, and retain the Form 4473 for a period of not less than 5 years after the date of the NICS inquiry. Forms 4473 shall be retained in the licensee's records as provided in 478.124(b): Provided, That Forms 4473 with respect to which a sale, delivery or transfer did not take place shall be separately retained in alphabetical (by name of transferee) or chronological (by date of transferee's certification) order.

Re: ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions, Prevent Errors
 

Ask to see your local dealer's pile of NICS forms sometime.
It's a hoot, really.
One I saw was in a crusty basement and would have literally filled 30 pallets. They were all just stacked and sagging and falling everywhere. It looked like the biggest fire hazard ever.

Re: ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions, Prevent Errors
 

.......to prevent errors my azzz !

TRACKING - ALERT boyz !!!!

Re: ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions, Prevent Errors
 

No, it is to prevent errors... errors introduced into their tracking system by the currently insufficient tracking program in place.