Washington Post: ATF Introduces Online Firearms Form To Ease Transactions

**MEH** · November 20th, 2008, 12:54 PM

By Henri E. Cauvin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 20, 2008; B03

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.

**Morel42** · November 20th, 2008, 06:54 PM

Just a sign that majority of things are becoming electronically based.

Too bad when someone perfects the EMF Bomb we'll lose every record we have.. lol

**HiredGoon** · November 20th, 2008, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by MEH

...

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.

Which of course means "that the data entered on the form are being used to create a government database of gun ownership"

**Kenshin** · November 20th, 2008, 07:23 PM

Well there being so subtle about it....

**MEH** · November 20th, 2008, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by HiredGoon

Which of course means "that the data entered on the form are being used to create a government database of gun ownership"

Depending on how it’s implemented… It’s possible that the ATF could use this the create the perfect database of gun transfers, or it could be as simple as filling out the form 4473 on a computer and then printing it with no electronic copies made.

But I don’t trust the government…

**ted murphy** · November 20th, 2008, 08:45 PM

There is a subtle threat in the article. The mention that the FFL holders get caught in violation.

In other words, it may evolve to "use the electronic version, or we'll crawl so far up your butt...."

Ted

**ThoughtCriminal** · November 21st, 2008, 01:40 AM

GOA sent out an alert a few months back about this new program. What is really disturbing is that this program was pirated from a small business that created it. They provided a copy to the ATF so that it could be approved and then distributed to FFLs. Instead the ATF copied their software and held them up so that they could offer their own version of this before the private business could, with a backdoor to create a gun-owners database I'm sure. Check out the GOA website, I'm sure there is still something on there about it.