Except those records are so woefully incomplete they cannot be used for disarmament or taxation. Registration must be retroactively mandatory for confiscation to work, to the point where unregistered guns can be easily identified and owners prosecuted.
A list of 4473 sales will not do that. A list of 4473 and A&D can maybe be used to quickly identify straw purchasers by working back from recovered guns. That is about all it can do and the only advantage over distributed records there is the word 'quickly'
Argue against this because it is against the law and useless. Do not argue against this database as a prelude to confiscation. There are many much more intrusive steps to get anywhere near that point (think a carried license listing your guns) which the ATF cannot take unilaterally.
Methinks you're missing the point, or perhaps misunderstanding the full scope of what it means to collect such data in the first place.
Collecting data from such records is still a darn good start. All that data simply goes into a central database, from which it can be manipulated, analyzed, and cross-referenced any number of ways with any amount of information from other databases.
With computers and programming the way they are today, this is not a difficult task at all. Websites do this all the time. Ever hear all the uproar about sites like Google and online sales sites collecting information? A little information here and a little information there and it's not long before you can make AMAZING deductions about any given person.
Add a database to this mix which is loaded simply with Form 4473 stuff and you've got a HUGE start.
So what if the addresses might be out of date with some? They've STILL got a name and SSN, and with that information and that'll track you to your grave.
So what if you no longer have some of the firearms? It's STILL a darn good starting point...and all such an apparent "dead end" is when it comes to a database is simply another
known puzzle piece waiting for another piece of the puzzle to be fitted to it
automatically as the database grows from various sources.
And don't kid yourself about whether or not something like this either can be done or whether it's ever been done. It's ongoing, each and every day. Espionage, whether corporate, governmental, or international, has been going on for thousands of years and those that are involved in it are VERY good at it.
"Loose lips sink ships" was a WWII slogan which emphasized the fact that ANY amount of information can be deadly in the hands of the enemy...who most assuredly is collecting many thousands of seemingly random pieces of data and actively working to integrate them into meaningful information which can be used to their profit.
It does not matter if the Form 4473's are incomplete. All that matters is that the forms exist and are accurately filled out at the time of the sale. It's a known starting point.
And, if people REALLY want to be paranoid...the government doesn't REALLY have to collect this data in the fashion that has been pointed out here. They simply have to know who all the licensed FFL dealers are, who are REQUIRED to maintain meticulous records and who are subject to periodic audits to confirm these records are, in fact, being meticulously maintained.
If they ever decide they actually want to start taking firearms based on these records, all they really have to do is make the decision and TAKE them.
But unless, and until, the government actually takes such a drastic move, it is the duty of those who collect and maintain those records as part of their business to do so in full compliance with the law...which necessarily includes restricting unauthorized access to those records and the recording of data from them.
Don't make it easy for them.
