Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) recently led nearly 30 of his House Republican colleagues in sending a letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Robert Cekada.
In the letter, the representatives urged the agency to limit the retention of firearm records to 20 years and immediately destroy digitally recorded firearm registration records.
Is this letter in response to something specific? On May 6th, the ATF issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) titled “Firearm Records Retention Periods.”
This NPRM proposes that Form 4473s be retained for either 20 or 30 years by both federal firearms licensees (FFLs) and the ATF.
This means that a firearm transaction record could be retained for up to 30 years by the selling FFL and an additional 30 years by the ATF after transfer to the National Tracing Center (NTC), for a potential maximum combined retention period of 60 years.
What Rep. Andrew Clyde and his colleagues had to say in the letter:
- “We respectfully request this rulemaking be revised. In our view, the current practice of indefinite retention of firearm transaction records, and even the proposed retention period of up to 60 years, are excessive and risk infringing on the privacy of lawful gun owners.
- “We therefore urge the ATF to revise this NPRM and instead promulgate a rule establishing a 20-year total retention policy, from the date of sale, for the physical, non-digitized firearm transaction records held by FFLs or the ATF and to provide for the immediate destruction of all such records older than 20 years.
- “Furthermore, we urge the ATF to comply with existing law prohibitions on the recording and digitization of such firearm transaction records, and to immediately destroy any recordings of such records already in its possession.”
Further Context: The ATF Form 4473 is used to document firearm transfers from licensed dealers to buyers, initiate required background checks, and verify legal eligibility.
Notable cosigners of this bill include Representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Buddy Carter (R-GA), Mike Collins (R-GA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Andy Ogles (R-TN).
