I mean, you’re absolutely right in that it doesn’t fulfill all the functions of a full or true registration scheme. But by requiring the dealer to maintain those records more or less indefinitely and surrender them to the ATF on going out of business, it definitely has overtones of informal database.
Even at that its not a database of who currently owns or possesses that firearm. All it will ever be is a record of who took possession of that firearm on that day.
Can you unpack this one for me? I really thought it did.
Federal law requires the buyer/transferee to record his actual current residence address on the Form 4473.
Active duty military record both their actual residence address and their duty station.
If your drivers license does not show your current residence address, you commit a federal felony by "making it match".
Dealers who tell a buyer "they gotta match" will be encouraging the buyer to falsify a federal document. Read the top of page two and you'll see why thats a crime.
Many LE, DA's, judges have the ability to list their DL address as the county courthouse......well, that ain't your actual current residence address.
The instructions in the 4473 explain to buyer and dealer how additional government issued documents may be used if the government issued photo ID address does not show the buyers current residence address.
Maybe not ideal, and highly dependent on where, local gun tastes, and what kind of SHTF. I recall buying 7.62 Nagant during the 2013 panic because my local shop had tons of commercial PPU that nobody had any interest in. On the other hand in the latest panic virtually everything that could go bang was sold out. And all things considered I’d rather face a crisis with a few boxes of 9mm or 223 than a few boxes of 9mm Steyr or 8x50 Lebel.
I wrote that because a customer had "invested" in six CZ vz61 Skorpion pistols in 32acp. He read on a survivalist forum that they were the ideal SHTF gun because they could easily be modified to select fire and the ammunition would be on shelves during the apocalypse. I wept while collecting the transfer fees. The look on his face when I told him "all ammo will disappear during an apocalypse and no, those are quickly or easily converted to a machine gun in your apartment".....was both puzzlement and confusion.
He asked, well what would you get? A couple of Glocks that take the same mags.
What about trading? Im not trading guns or ammo, thereby arming the other party. Every dope dealer knows what can happen during a trade.