Not a chance in hell!
This isn't just converting process from analog to digital. It will result, in all truthfulness, in a
defacto firearm owner/purchaser database.
Mark my words: if this goes through, it won't be but a matter of months until the database is being used for something other the claimed intent. It's not like the government
hasn't been pushing to spy on us outright, or trying to keep us in a
national database of all residents, or anything.
Just look at what they want to do:
Enhance the utility and clarity of the information to be collected.
Sorry, but no: it should not be so straight forward as to allow the ATF to simply query the database to find statistics regarding anything on the 4473. This is, leaps and bounds, beyond what the 4473 was originally (stated) for.
Minimize the burden of consumers and dealers in completing the form through the use of automated, electronic and technological collection techniques, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses to the questions asked.
With all the news with regard to e-voting machines, why would this be any different? IE, error prone and untraceable.
Reduce mistakes — no more violations for a "Y" instead of a "Yes".
That's a stupid violation and shouldn't a violation - also a very dumb justification for pushing on something like this.
Shorten ATF inspections — less time spent reviewing 4473s.
They won't need to spend time reviewing your documents, not locally. They'll have all the 4473s located centrally, all easily searchable, statistically indexed, and organized at the snap of a finger. The only reason they'd need to come is to slap your wrist (or worse) for a "violation".
If there is no paper trail and they have the "master copy" (as there is no true original with digital items, nothing which can be verified), what's to say they can't alter forms at will? Not to say they will resort to that
under this administration, but it would at least be a possibility for them to leverage existing laws to incriminate a slew of exisitng firearm owners, postfacto.
Basically, it would work like this (in some fashion, I imagine): you fill all your data, digitally sign the form, and click submit on the screen. A copy is printed for the dealer (or may be stored for him digitally) and the digital "copy" is sent to the ATF. But it isn't a copy, just hte pertinent data fields you entered: name, date, address (state, city, street, number), and so on and so forth. This information then gets entered into a database.
Modern databases are designed for quick retrieval of data using any of the fields in the record. It would be trivial to determine if someone from your address has ever bought a gun - and, likewise, to find out if you have ever bought a gun. If there isn't a match, it could be "simulated" by combining your signature from your purchase, with the information from the person who lived at your address, and running it through the "4473 generator" again.
Basically they'd be technically able to run uninhibited and be able to do whatever they wanted, with the force of paperwork and 'evidence' behind them.
