After 3 decades of watching firearms rights get chipped away, I am glad to be alive now and see momentum gaining on breaking down those restrictive walls. Like anyone else who ever paid $200 NFA transfer taxes and waited months to years for approvals, I am happier than a pig in shit with today’s $0 tax and approvals coming through in days to weeks.

A thought I have had since the $0 tax was voted into law and took effect this past January…if lawsuits to abolish the NFA, in whole or in parts via HPA and SHORT, fail then should we be concerned that the massive increase in purchasing Federally registered items shows the American gun owner is now OK with registration if there is no cost? I am fully aware that digitized 4473’s, electronic financial records, and publicly-viewable classifieds on gun forums may aid in creating a de facto registry; but would a polar-opposite political climate use 2026 as a stepping stone to creating a national registry of any and all firearms given the opportunity?

Just food for thought.

For what it's worth:

4473s are not sent to the ATF unless:

1) Requested by ATF via the trace process.
2) Obtained via subpoena, search warrant, inspection, or other legal process.
3) Closure of business.

The actual 4473 itself is not even sent to the ATF in a multiple handgun sale, however another form is completed and sent to them.

In states where a permit is an exception to NICS, the government has no involvement in the transaction. They are not notified and nothing is sent to them.

The NFA is only justified because "It's a tax" with the cost now going to zero for things, a $0 tax isn't a tax and that portion of the NFA doesn't have a leg to stand on.