Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters gun registering ???'s

I read in a local magazine today a few think that I want to know if are correct. The article was on gun registration. The article stated that there actually was no gun regristration. He said that the inforamtion that is called in when you buy a gun had to be erased from the governments database within I believe 24 or 48 hours. An that this was a law to keep the goverment from building a firearms database. He said that being so that a gun is never actually registered to anyone. I'll try and find the article again so I can give specif details, but is all that true. Thanks...

In Australia all firearms are registered. The police can come around with a list of firearms you own and mark them off. They did that about 5 years ago in the state of New South Wales. Every licensed shooter had to show the police their gun safes to make sure they comply with staorage requirements. The police also had a printout of the firearms registered in each person's name and checked and ticked them off. It's really not a problem as long as we do the right thing, which most people do. if you are caught with an unregistered firearm you will have all firearms confiscated and face a fine or gaol sentence.

Thank you very much.

There is gun registration at the local levels, usually in cities where most of the registered handguns have been confiscated, like New York City, Chicago, and Washington, DC.

The only legal federal firearms registration is Class III weapons like machineguns and submachineguns, suppressed weapons, and the handguns issues to commercial airline pilots.

The Firearms Owners Protection Act requires that all background check information which is no longer needed as evidence of a possible crime, be destroyed within 48 hours.

When a dealer goes out of business, his file of 4473 forms become the property of the BATF. The Clinton administration was illegally scanning those 4473s, and using OCR to read the text into a database and document management system, creating an illegal registration of firearms owners and firearms sales.

Attorney General John Ashcroft, upon being told of this illegal database, destroyed it and shut down the office. That is one reason the Democrats set about to destroy his career.

I was surprised to learn this. The last time I bought a gun, just a few months ago, the lady in the shop took my card, called in for the background check, then mentioned that the form we fill out just gets filed in the back of the store in a big box. I asked her if they didn't send it in to some govt. agency somewhere and she said they did not. They were just required to keep it in case the gun was stolen, involved in a crime, etc.

That may not be true in every state, but it is in Wyoming.

After 9/11 the ATF came around to a friend's shop and said "In 1991 you sold 5 SKS's to an Arab named resident. Let's see the paperwork.' My buddy says " I thought you guys destroyed those forms in 48 hours?" The answer was "Do you believe that?"

Ask you local FFL hold if any records are kept and for how long.

Here in Michigan handguns are registered, although it`s called a "safety inspection" for obvious reasons. (that`s easier to take then registering for some). I`m sure other places have similar.

I was asked by a gun shop owner if I had recently purchased a gun. I was in the process of ordering a new varment rifle. He said that if I had not had a gun check in recent years it may take longer. Take it for what it is worth.

From what all I know, I think Lee24 has it the way it is supposed to be.

From what I believe to be true though, I bet drducati is probably closer to being right.

I am constantly amazed that Australians are so cheerfully acquiescent to government regulation. One would expect a country with their history to be somewhat less inclined to bend over for authority. GD

The guys at my local gun shop say they have been contacted several times by the Feds about this or that firearm that they sold. When they tell the agent they're talking to that that information shouldn't be available to a government agency, they get the big government brush-off.

There is a paper trail (computer trail?) that follows each gun.

The factory documents the whole seller the gun was shipped to, the whole seller documents the retailer the gun was sold to and the dealer is required to have the purchaser fill out the Form 4473. The dealer has to keep these forms until he goes out of business, then he send the forms to the ATF.

If the police find a gun, they can contact the factory and find out the path of that gun all the way to the purchaser.

If you are the purchaser, and you sell the gun to an individual, and not a dealer, then the paper trail would stop there, unless you remembered who you sold the gun to.

In the county where I live, a Deputy Sheriff comes around to each dealer's place of business about once a month and examines all of the form 4473s. He also examines the records of where the dealer got the gun. I don't know if the deputy makes any permanent records of what he finds, but after a run in with the local so-called laws enforcment in this area, it wouldn't surprise me if the deputy doesn't make copies of all the information.

This would be a type of registration, and as far as I know, would be illegal, but the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights have been repealed in this area, and we ain't seen nothing yet.

A firearms dealer has a set of books, or registry that they have to inventory every firearm that comes in their door for either store stock or for orders. In that log lists who the firearm came from, lets say Davidsons in Arizona, and when it is sold .The buyers name and address is listed in that registry.

And, when ATF comes to do an audit they look at the registry and determine if the items not listed as sold are actually in the business location, and they better be. They have recently ,DURING Clinton,started photo copying all forms and I assume inserting the data into the data base mentioned above. When you close shop, you give all of your paperwork to the local ATF or mail it to the ATF In Wv, so they have every piece of paper generated by all closed businesses.......

And, I have been told police computers have information about all registered firearms so when the arrive they know how to enter the premises.... so don't come out of the house waving a firearm as the police will be ready to protect themselves due to the scanned information.

Allen

GD. It was either bend over or loose them. Most firearms holders were unhappy with the changes after Port Arthur, but actually the changes were quite sensible in some respects. If you are doing the right thing (all firearms registered and stored correctly) then there is no problem.

Thank you very much.

When a gun store here in Montana calls in a gun check to the feds, the feds ask if its a long gun or a hand gun. Thats all the info the feds get.
The 4473, that yellow sheet you fill out does have the gun info, ie serial number and make and model, and that stays in the gun store.

The problem with this sort of reasoning is it assumes they are also doing the "right thing," something which historically has not always been the case.