MoArk Willy If you purchase a gun through an FFL holder it is accompanied with a form 4473 and a background check. That form has all of your information and is kept at the FFL holders place of business.
It only has the information on the first buyer/transferee. If the firearm ever changes owners after leaving that first dealer....the Form 4473 isn't going to show who the current owner is.
It can be accessed anytime by authorities if the need arises.
Well, first the "authorities" would have to know which licensed dealer is in possession of a particular Form 4473.
If anyone thinks that isn't registration then what exactly is it?
Right at the top of the Form 4473 it says what it is...."Firearms Transaction Record".
It is a record of a transaction between a licensed dealer and the buyer/transferee.
It isn't remotely the same as firearm registration. No Federal law/ATF regulation requires that transactions between nonlicensees be recorded or that background checks be performed. A firearm can be sold or traded days/weeks/months/years later without notifying anyone.
In states with firearm REGISTRATION, they may require notifying the state/city/county when a firearm is transferred between nonlicensees. Allen buys a gun at a gun store, its registered by the state to him. In the future he sells to Bob and either Allen or Bob must notify or register the transfer with the state/city/county. Same if Bob later decides to sell or trade to Carl.
That specific gun has a paper trail leading to a specific owner.
Well, no it doesn't.
The form 4473 is a record of the transaction between dealer and customer, not every subsequent owner of that gun.
If the gun is new:
If an LE agency runs a firearms trace with ATF National Tracing Center, the NTC will contact the manufacturer, then the distributor then the dealer who will fax in the Form 4473 for that transaction. ATF NTC will then try and contact the buyer and if the buyer had sold/gifted/traded the gun and has the new owners contact info ATF NTC MAY be able to continue the trace. But if that first original buyer doesn't have info on who he sold it to? the trace ends there. THERE IS NO PAPER TRAIL AFTER LEAVING THE DEALER.
If the gun was used:
Pretty much the dealer will never hear from ATF NTC. The "paper trail" was broken the first time one nonlicensee sold or traded to another nonlicensee.
And what about gun traces on firearms manufactured before 1968? Being that the Form 4473 didn't exist prior to 1968 there is little point in contacting the manufacturer. That's untold millions of guns that can't be traced to a Form 4473.
Not to mention the fact that the dealer can destroy any form 4473's in his possession after twenty years. So even if you think the 4473 is registration, you really are stretching to make that claim when the dealer can lawfully destroy his old forms.