Maybe it sort of depends on what your definition of "registration" and "database" are.rotor wrote:Do you have proof that this is being done?Grundy1133 wrote:...its bad enough they fingerprint us and put us in a database like sexual predators JUST to exercise our constitutional 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms, but every tim we buy a gun they put us in ANOTHER database so they can keep track of who owns what...
If I'm not mistaken (and please correct me if I am), when you buy a handgun from an FFL dealer, that dealer is required to keep a record indicating what gun was purchased and who purchased it. The dealer is required to keep that information for as long as he is in business. If he goes out of business, the dealer is required to transfer those gun sales records to the ATF.
In fact, records are required to be kept at every stage of transfer (manufacturer to distributor to wholesaler to retailer to end purchaser).
If a gun that was used in a crime is recovered, the Feds will contact the manufacturer to begin to trace the gun down to the retail dealer, who will then have to furnish their end sales info of that gun to the police. Granted, that only works for a criminal investigation. I don't believe the Feds are supposed to be able to just go fishing for information.
So, even though it may not be readily accessible from some bureaucrat's desktop computer (theoretically, right now), the information is there and is available. Of course, that only works for the original purchaser. If that original purchaser later sells the gun in a private sale, no records are required (at least in Texas) (at least until we get "universal background checks").