In the somewhat recent Abramski v. United States Supreme Court case, where they affirmed that straw purchases are illegal (i.e. you can't buy a gun for someone else from a federal dealer), I remember reading a Court opinion that the purpose of the 4473 system was to track guns through the transfer forms.
it is a point-in-time form used to submit information for compliance with the NICS system performed by the FBI and mandated by law. it can be used to track down the origin, transfers, and eventually the last known transfer of a specific firearm, however it is largely useless as registration:
1. you must individually locate each FFL the firearm passed through
2. you must categorically determine the disposition of the firearm if it differs from the paperwok, as the papers are filled out by hand traditionally and some people are inconsistent with details. is an anodized aluminum receiver "black" finish, "blued" finish, "cerakote black", "epoxy finish black paint over park" and others that provide a significant amount of wiggle room.
3. the FBI isn't passed any information on the firearm itself, they receive information about the buyer from the seller.
4. the ATF receives no information at all unless it's a Title II (NFA) controlled item, or if the buyer falls into a specific category, like multiple handguns in a single transaction.
5. the ATF may request a copy of the 4473. the FFL is under no obligation to provide it except with a court ordering the FFL to do so.
Anyway, it was nice learning about the FFL system directly from an FFL dealer.
many people on both sides of the gun control issue rarely understand how the laws actually work. often i encounter just as many "the ATF will shoot your dog and confiscate your boot laces" as i do "guns are haunted by evil spirits and murder innocent babies".
Oh nice, I remember that. They were selling 80% lowers that were suspected of being 100% lowers, with a different color polymer being used to fill in the holes and convert a 100% lower (a manufactured firearm) into an 80% lower (a hunk of plastic) again, correct?
Can you tell me what happened with Apex Arms after the incident?
Apex had the case dismissed as the ATF refused to elaborate on how they arrived at a reasonable conclusion of the manufacturing of 100% lowers because Apex directly submitted their entire manufacturing process to scrutiny. the ATF, in order to not bind themselves into a corner by getting involved in the methods used to make an 80% lower (namely they would open themselves to defining what an 80%
is which they haven't done) dropped the case in exchange for Apex keeping their license and using a slightly different manufacturing method. Apex separated their lower manufacturing business into it's own thing, called "Polymer80".
