Why is your race on the Form 4473?

[RidgwayCO]

I recently purchased (another) firearm, and was filling out the Firearms Transaction Record (Form 4473), when a question I'd answered several times in the past struck me... what was my RACE? Why on earth would the government care about my race when I'm purchasing a firearm? Who's tracking this information and why?

Anybody have an answer to these questions?

 

[alex_h]

probly just gathering info for statistics what they do with those statistics is beyond me.

 

[earlthegoat2]

It is to further aid in identification.

That way if there is a hispanic "John Edward Doe" they can be sure it is not the white "John Edward Doe" sitting in prison somewhere.

Same thing with birthdate. Same reason they ask for name suffix. Same reason they ask for place of birth. And last but not least it is the same reason they ask for a UPIN if you have one.

 

[waterhouse]

Earl nailed it. When you arrest someone their race goes in the computer along with all of the other identifying info. It is just one more way of trying to avoid delaying the wrong person.

 

[akodo]

same reason as height and weight and gender are there. Race is a way of asking 'what color is your skin'

they are taking down info to get a phyiscal description. Why? I suppose to help the FFL selling to spot someone using some other person's I.D., because you don't have to have a driver's license to get a firearm and maybe the photo ID that is being used doesn't carry that info.

I mean, why does a Driver's License need that info as well? So it can help identify beyond the photo

 

[RidgwayCO]

But my Colorado driver license and my retired military i.d. don't have my race on them. And my FFL requires me to present a photo i.d. to accompany the Form 4473, which would seem to answer the need for a positive identification.

I just think it's a pointless, useless, question that can cause mischief in the future. And how are you going to feel when they start asking about your political affiliation or your religion?

 

[bob.a]

You driver's license has your photo, making questions about race irrelevant.

I used to work in a hospital medical records dept. It was very useful to know a person's race, to be able to find out if the patient had been previously admitted. It's valuable to be able to access previous medical records. You'd be surprised to know how many peoplew have similar names; also, they don't always give the name in the same way: John Doe, J,B. Doe, J. Bernard Doe, Johnny Doe; then there are the spelling errors, J.Dough, John D'oh, it goes on and on.

Chill on the paranoia. You're already on most of the lists, there's nothing you can do about it except maybe change the way you give out your name to keep 'em confused.

Too late to worry about the political affiliation: I think the Supremes ruled that it was OK to release names of folks who sign petitions for or against things like gay marriage, even though the folks on the list were being threatened. Seemed to me that a petition should have the same privacy level as the secret ballot, but apparently I was wrong again.

 

[Sam1911]

probly just gathering info for statistics what they do with those statistics is beyond me

Who is gathering this info? Remember that the form 4473 is sent "all the way" to a filing cabinet in the FFL's back room where it has to sit for 20 years.* If he goes out of business before that time is up he has to send those records to the BATF...where they sit in a filing cabinet.

So, no. They aren't compiling demographics of gun buyers by race.



-Sam

* In most states

 

[Balrog]

If he goes out of business before that time is up he has to send those records to the BATF...where they sit in a filing cabinet.

Except for the ones that were computerized under the Clinton Administration. I wonder what Obama has the ATF doing with the forms?

 

[Sam1911]

Except for the ones that were computerized under the Clinton Administration. I wonder what Obama has the ATF doing with the forms?

How many was that? Which ones? From which decades?

Yeah. He's probably having them do demographic studies on them.