isfahan, how do you feel about gun dealers tracking who/where/when they sell a gun? like, not a searchable database for public use, but at least a public record for where guns are. like how you gotta register a car, and cops/dealers only access it when they have good cause to.icarus, April 03, 2013, 06:36:37 pm
Federal Firearms License holders (usually just called FFLs) are required by law as a condition of their license to keep a record of every gun for which they perform a transfer, in addition to the federal background-check paperwork (NICS) and any special state paperwork required for a transfer. As you might imagine, this paperwork is signed and dated and initialed all to hell, in addition to addresses of residence and driver's license numbers recorded. I'm only familiar with the requirements in my home state, but for regulated firearms—which are all handguns and semi-automatic long guns—there's the NICS background check and corresponding Form 4473 (this is done for
all transfers nationwide via FFL), the state background check and form for the transfer, and the mental-health affidavit implemented after Virginia Tech. The affidavit seems like a silly measure, because of course a crazy person who wants a gun is either not at an FFL in the first place or is going to swear to a piece of paper they're not crazy anyway, but it's more of a legal CYA for the FFLs than any real attempt to curb sales to crazies. Anyway, FFLs are required to keep a registry—like, actual binders and shit—of all these white-copy forms and be able to produce it for the ATF for inspection at any time.
cause from my point of view, it'd cut down on stuff like stolen gun sales. car registration helped some with car theft. i mean it's still there, but it's less of a rampant issue. and moreso, you don't wind up with like shady guys who have clean records but buy guns to resell them illegally to people who DON'T have clean records. like say some dude has a tiny apartment but winds up registering 700 semi-automatic rifles to it. he's probably not living with all 700 of them in his tiny place. it'd seem kinda worth looking into, right?
In Maryland there's a seven-day waiting period on regulated firearms between transfer (not purchase) and pickup which is built-in to the background-check process. On top of that, you cannot purchase more than one regulated firearm per 30-day period, ostensibly to prevent stockpiling like how you described. Not all states are like that, though. The practice you're describing is called a straw purchase, and it is indeed quite illegal. You have to affirm on your NICS paperwork that you are not performing a straw purchase, again a legal CYA. High-volume purchases by individuals (the exact amount varies by state) or numerous purchases occurring within a short time will bring up a red flag with NICS to investigate possible trafficking behavior.
i know some people get really like AAAAAA about the idea of keeping more careful track of gun sales, but i'm kinda head-scratching as to why. it wouldn't be preventing you from buying a new gun, or preventing anyone from selling you a gun. is it just about government being in personal business?
The reason people get AAAAAA about a federal-level firearms registry is because it's seen as slippery-slope legislation towards gun confiscation: authorities would have a ready-to-go list of guns and addresses they can visit and demand the surrender of guns X, Y, and Z, which are on record as being located here. If the owner cannot or will not produce the firearms, that's an arrest. In practice, of course, this would be an undertaking of such logistical heft that it would take years to pull off in addition to cramming probably thousands of people into prison. There are hundreds of millions of guns in the US spread across tens of millions of households.
