TexasCHLforum.com

Here is the reality of gun tracing: if police recover a gun at a crime scene, they find out pretty quickly which distributor sold it to which FFL. Finding out who bought it from that FFL will take some time (from hours to weeks), because an agent will have to sit down at that dealer and manually page through 4473s and/or the bound book.

I know that on TV, police can recover a slug and within 15 minutes have a "trace" on to whom the gun was "registered", even though 47 states have no registration. That's tell-a-vision, aka fiction.

Most of the time, tracing is tedious and a waste of time, and dead-ends at the first dealer to sell the gun.

Kevin

It's been known to happen, both legitimately and... "under questionable circumstances".

Just FYI, the 4473s are retained by the dealer for 20 years. If he goes out of business or doesn't renew the license, he has to send his records to ATF. If he sells the business, the buyer must get his own FFL, but can continue using the seller's records.

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#c6

C6) Must a licensed importer’s, manufacturer’s, or dealer’s records be surrendered to ATF if the licensee discontinues business? [Back]

If the business is being discontinued completely, the licensed dealer, manufacturer or importer is required, within 30 days, to forward the business records to the following address:

BUREAU OF ATF
ATF OUT-OF-BUSINESS RECORDS CENTER
244 NEEDY ROAD
MARTINSBURG, WV 24501

Failure to surrender required records is a felony and could result in the licensee being fined up to $250,000, imprisoned up to 5 years, or both. A licensee discontinuing business also must notify the Federal Firearms Licensing Center within 30 days.

If someone is taking over the business, the original licensee should underline the final entry in each bound book, note the date of transfer, and forward all records and forms to the successor (who must apply for and receive his or her own license before lawfully engaging in business) or forward the records and forms to the ATF Out-of-Business Records Center. If the successor licensee receives records and forms from the original licensee, the successor licensee may choose to forward these records and forms to the ATF Out-of-Business Record Center.

[18 U. S. C. 923(g)(4), 22 CFR 478.57, 27 CFR 478.127]



(C7) What records am I required to forward to ATF upon discontinuance of my business?[Back]

The records consist of the licensee's bound acquisition/disposition (A/D) records, ATF Forms 4473, ATF Forms 3310.4 (Report of Multiple Sale or Other Disposition of Pistols and Revolvers), ATF Forms 3310.11 (Federal Firearms Licensee Theft/Loss Report), records of transactions in semiautomatic assault weapons, records of importation (ATF Forms 6 and 6A), and law enforcement certification letters. If the licensee was granted a variance to use a computerized record-keeping system, the licensee is required to provide a complete printout of the entire A/D records.

[27 CFR 478.127]

O6nop wrote:I thought records were destroyed after 24 hours.

Only the record of the NICS check.