When buying a firearm, we fill out a form. The information on that form is then called into a governmental agency (said to be the FBI) for approval. Once confirmation is received, we get possession of the firearm.

I am curious about how long the dealer holds onto the paperwork we fill out. It has been said ten years but I doubt that.

I am curious as to what information is held by the agency giving the approval.

Someone has to keep the info on file forever. We do not have gun registration in this state.

I sold a gun back in the late 70's. About August of 2009, I was called by a sheriff's dept and told my gun had been found during an arrest and asked that I come pick it up. They traced a gun back to me that I bought over 30 yrs ago. Heck, they traced me through about five different moves. Since I sold the gun, I told them I no longer owned it and could not pick it up.

Is there anyone here that can settle my curiousity?

I believe FFL's have to keep 4473's for 20yrs. If they close down, the forms go to the BATFE.

No info is kept from the NICS check, they're records are scrubbed after72hrs or something like that.

No idea how they traced the stolen gun to you, don't know anything about Louisiana law or how they handled guns sales/records in the 70's.

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Don't kiss smiling dogs!

Most dealers keep the 4473 forms forever but as WC says, they can be disposed of after a set time (I can't recall what that is exactly)
The bound book of transactions does stay with the dealer as long as they are in business. It does record the gun info and the name/address of the buyer.
Sometimes dealers add other info into the log like a dob/ DL#. The log book info is almost as useful in a trace as the 4473. The log book gets surrendered along with any remaining 4473's to the BATF when business in closed down. So that info is there somewhere forever.

Wether it's is easily retrievable or not I don't know. It may be a warehouse of dusty shelves full of boxes of paper and it may be a computerized version of all that arrives.

L/E may have thought that the gun they recovered was stolen and not reported as such to have traced it?
Just guessing,,but they may have gone back to the orig mfg'r and then forward through the records to,,wholesalers, dealers, customers, etc till they got to you (assuming all were paper transactions or if off paper nonlicensee transactions, they were traceable through prior owners recollections or receipts).

You must have been the last person in the trace path. Lucky You!

Different states have different laws as far as the background check.

In NC, a handgun purchase permit ($5 paper good for five years) takes the place of an instant check on either a handgun or a long gun purchase. A NC concealed weapons permit also can take the place of a check on a handgun or a long gun purchase. You actually only get called into the feds on a long gun and only if you don't use either of the above options.

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I miss my 4546 the most.

I would like to know more about the $5 paper. If it is what I am understanding, it would raise a lot of money for the government here and stop a lot of paperwork for buyers. Those around here would give ten times that just to avoid the routine paperwork. I buy several guns a year and hate the paperwork each time. For the most part, it takes only a few minutes but i have seen it take four days. An instant sale would be well worth a nice fee.

The difference between the NC law and the Federal Law is that the Sheriff keeps a record of your permits forever vs the 72 hrs for the Federal Check. The FFL still has to keep a record of the sale.

But the sheriff only knows who has had purchase permits issued, not how or when they were used.


It's just used instead of an (not)instacheck, not a replacement for a 4473 of course.

It's a B.S. pain in the butt law going back many years, a pain for many people because you have to go to pick up the application, drop it off and come back in a week (or a little less) and pick them up. They are good for five years so you can stock up (depending on where you are, the anti-gun sheriff's have been known to limit you to just two at a time or five in a year).


They are also required for face to face non-ffl deals, that sucks LOL

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I miss my 4546 the most.