What I don’t get is why not open up the 4473 form to people doing private sales? You could have it on a phone app even. It’s not like an FFL isn’t doing anything special, just calling in and reading your answers off the damn form.
Because lots of personal information ends up on there–often a social security number–and the seller/transferor is required to retain copies of the form in perpetuity. (I believe that when a gun store closes they are obligated to turn over their paper copies to the BATF.) It’s paper intentionally, because they wanted to prevent the system from becoming a back-door registry; doing it electronically would mean that, either records wouldn’t be retained, or you would be creating a de facto registry. Personally, I don’t want some guy I met off Gun Broker to have a paper copy of all my PII floating around in his home forever.
There have been proposals that address this. The way it was handled is that the buyer puts their own info in the system on their end and it returns a token/code that is given to the seller. The seller enters the token and name then system gives a red light or green light. It doesn’t include the serial number of the gun or the identity of the seller, there is no retained record to be entered in a database. Just a go/no go response for the seller.
The proposal was rejected by democrats for not going far enough so instead we have nothing.
Ha. Yeah, rejected by Dems sounds about right. In my general experience, establishment Dems aren’t going to be seriously on-board with anything that doesn’t involve bans on models, features, or entire types of firearms. Kinda like Republicans aren’t willing to accept any compromise on “border security” that doesn’t completely ban non-white/non-christian people.
TBH, I’m deeply frustrated that Dems appear unwilling to seriously work for the kinds of changes in material circumstances that would affect rates of violent crime without enacting bans and registries. Even “liberal” cities like San Francisco are backsliding sharply.
