USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is proposing a revision to their ATF Form 4473 ((5300.9) last Revised October 2016). The revision poses an interesting question: “Is the Federal Government, via the ATF Form 4473, desiring to create a future firearms list, or database, of firearm owners?” We need to discuss this because in the past lists have often been utilized to confiscate civilian firearms.
First, a little background.
From the first moment in October 1995, when Dr. Oscar Arias called upon his fellow Noble Laureates to promote an international agreement regulating the trade in conventional arms, until today with the current invocation of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), the difficulty of acquiring lists of weapons has been a constant complaint.
And how does one obtain such lists? By simply acquiring hidden information. However, information regarding weapons possession can be damaging to both countries and individuals, and so such information is not easily made public.