What Happens To Gun Background Check Paperwork?

Form filled out when purchasing a firearm in the U.Southward.

ATF Grade 4473, October 2016 revision

A Firearms Transaction Record, or ATF Form 4473, is a six-page form prescribed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) required to be completed when a person proposes to buy a firearm from a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder, such as a gun dealer.^[one]

Form 4473 contains the purchaser'due south name, address, engagement of birth, government-issued photograph ID, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background check transaction number, and a short affidavit stating that the purchaser is eligible to buy firearms under federal law. It also contains the make, model, or serial numbering the firearm. Lying on the form is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison^[2] in addition to fines, fifty-fifty if the transaction is denied past the NICS. Prosecutions are rare in the absence of a felony committed with the gun purchased.^{[ citation needed ]} Of 556,496 denied transactions between FY 2008 and FY 2015, federal prosecutors prosecuted an average of under 32 cases per yr, including 24 in FY 2013, 15 in FY 2014 and 20 in FY 2015.^[3] ^[4]

If a person purchases a firearm from a private private who is not a FFL licensed dealer, the purchaser is non required in most states to complete a Course 4473. All purchases of pocket-sized arms (handguns) from private individuals from some other country are required to take a Course 4473 completed before sale.^{[ citation needed ]} Some states (such equally California, Colorado, Nevada, New Jersey, and Washington) require individual sellers to sell through dealers.

These forms are given the aforementioned condition as a revenue enhancement return nether the Privacy Human action of 1974 and cannot exist disclosed past the government to private parties or other government officials except in accord with the Privacy Act. Individual dealers possessing a copy of the form are not bailiwick to the Privacy Human action's restrictions on disclosure. Dealers are required to maintain completed forms for xx years in the case of completed sales, and for five years where the sale was disapproved as a result of the NICS check.

eForm 4473 [edit]

In response to the Government Paperwork Emptying Act (GPEA),^[5] and based upon requests from the firearms manufacture, the ATF has developed the e-Grade 4473 to assist in the proper completion of the Federal Firearms Transaction Record (ATF Grade 4473). The ATF eForm 4473 is designed to assistance eliminate errors in completing Class 4473 for both the firearm purchaser and the licensed seller. The eForm 4473 is provided to the public, including major retailers, complimentary of charge via the ATF eForm web site. ATF eForm 4473 is a downloadable application that runs locally on the seller'south reckoner and supports both Windows and Mac Os X operating systems. (See "External links" section below.)

Acquisition and Disposition Log [edit]

The firearm dealer is required to record some data from the Form 4473 into a "bound-book", called an "Acquisition and Disposition Log".^[6] The dealer must keep the Form 4473 on file for at least 20 years, and is required to surrender the log book to the ATF upon retirement from the firearms business organization.

The ATF is allowed to inspect, besides every bit request a copy of, the Course 4473 from the dealer during the class of a criminal investigation. In addition, the sale of two or more handguns to a person in a five-day catamenia must be reported to the ATF on Form 3310.4.

Revisions [edit]

2016 [edit]

In 2016, the ATF made several changes to the form, including adding a warning statement that the use of marijuana is illegal under federal law, regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where the transferee/buyer resides.^[seven] ^[8]

2020 [edit]

In 2020, the ATF made farther changes to the form, including adding a warning that "any person who exports a firearm without a proper authorization from either the Department of Commerce or the Department of Land, as applicable, is subject to a fine of non more than $ane,000,000 and up to 20 years imprisonment." Equally of November ane, 2020, all FFL holders were required to transition to the new revision.^[9]

Additional changes made to the form include:^[ten]

Relocating questions relating to the manufacturer, importer, model, series number, blazon, caliber or gauge, and number of firearms to be transferred to a new Section A at the beginning of the form. These questions were previously located in Section D.
New options for questions relating to personal information, such every bit the selection to select Non-binary every bit a Sex, the choice to include an Appeals Direction Database Identification (AMD ID) as a Unique Personal Identification Number, and 2 new immigration-based questions.
Boosted criminal history questions, relating to dealings with a military court, misdemeanor domestic violence offenses, and orders of protection.

Convictions [edit]

According to the US Sentencing Commission, approximately v,000 to vi,000 people a yr are convicted of receiving or possessing a firearm against one of the prohibitions above.^[11] In 2017, over 25.2 one thousand thousand actual groundwork checks were performed in total.^[12]

References [edit]

^ See mostly subsection (g)(1)(A) of 18 The statesC. § 923 and subsection (a) of 27 C.F.R. sec. 478.124.
^ Encounter subsection (a) of xviii The statesC. § 922 and subsection (a)(1)(A) of 18 UsC. § 924.
^ https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/a1632.pdf^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
^ "As gun ownership increases, prosecutions for lying to get a gun fall". 30 September 2016.
^ Title XVII (sections 1701 through 1710) of Partition C of Public Law No. 105-277, 112 Stat. 2681, at 2681-749 (Oct 21, 1998), amending subsection (a)(1)(B)(6) of 44 UsaC. § 3504.
^ See generally subsection (g)(2) of 18 United states of americaC. section 923.
^ "ATF Form 4473 - Firearms Transaction Record Revisions - Agency of Booze, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives". www.atf.gov.
^ "Feds spell it out: No gun for you if y'all burn down upward in a pot-legal land". 23 November 2016.
^ "ATF Grade 4473 - Firearms Transaction Record Revisions | Bureau of Booze, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives". world wide web.atf.gov. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
^ "Alert! ATF Form Changes Explained". U.S. & Texas LawShield. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
^ https://www.ussc.gov/enquiry/quick-facts/section-922g-firearms This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
^ https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .