Don't we already HAVE de facto Gun Registration?

[ExTank]

I am not a lawyer, or a bureaucrat, but follow me on this.

From manufacturer to distribuitor, distributor to your local dealer, firearms are tracked by make/model/serial number, with corresponding paperwork that the BATF can access at will.

So, a guy (original owner) buys a gun from his local gun store, filling out all appropriate paperwork. He has it for some years, and either trades/sells it to someone else, or has it stolen.

The second owner uses it to commit a crime, and he gets caught with it. The cops have it in their custody.

Can't either the local law enforcement agency, or the BATF at their request, track that gun back to the dealer, and to the original purchaser, by the 4473?

And if the original purchaser broke the law in selling the gun (knowingly* sold it to a disqualified person), can't he be prosecuted also?

*I watch enough T.V. to understand proving intent can be problematic.

I understand that the true gun registry, as envisioned by gun control proponents, would track every gun to its current owner, and track it through transfers as well.

But with the bureacratic and regulatory system already in place, don't we in fact have a de facto registry at least as far as "original owner?"

 

[XD Fan]

I have often thought this seemed to be the defacto case as well.

 

[au01st]

Save for my last one, all of my purchases were made face to face, cash, no bill of sale. I do show the seller my license and CCW permit so they know I'm not a person who would be denied.

However, I have no intentions of committing crimes with any of the purchased items.

 

[BullfrogKen]

No, that's not a registry.


That tracks the sale.


Your vehicle is registered.

The difference being, the address and owner of a vehicle is on file with the state. When you move, you need to update that address change to the state. When you dispose of the vehicle, you notify the state.

Might be splitting hairs, but there is enough of a difference to matter.

 

[Acera]

No, that is not correct in my opinion. The paperwork stays with the dealer after the sale. It does not get put into any database. The only way for LEO to find it is to a search for it, not an easy task. They generally must have a good reason to expend the money and time to do so. They have to wait for each stage, and then go to the dealer and wait as we wades through his files to find the actual hard copy. Not near as fast as they show on TV.

The 4473 is basically record of a sale. Abet it does have provisions for prosecution for other crimes if it's filled out illegally by either party involved.

You also count on people giving up the protections provided them by the 5th amendment by stating they "knowingly" sold it to a prohibited person. First only a fool would sell it to someone they know can't legally own a gun, and second admitting to it would be equally unadvised.

 

[MErl]

It isn't a registry, but it could be made into one. There would be a lot of data entry work necessary to make a computerized database.
Even then, it would be a very incomplete registry. As long as transfers can be made outside that system it is not complete registration. If there is one thing the drug war has shown us, stopping private sales is impossible.

 

[Rob G]

You could argue that it's a de facto registry but if so then it's a very broken one. As noted above it's not actually that easy to trace a gun to it's original owner. Even when you get there there's no guarantee he still has it and since the majority of the states allow ftf sales there's no way to track it beyond that.

What we have can function as a "registry" of sorts but in all reality it's a nonfunctioning one.