Article Info
ATF Registry Rule: Comment Now
| Scope | |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Federal |
| Impact | national |
| Key Entities | |
| Issuing agency proposing the records retention rule | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives |
| Opposing the rule and providing model public comment | Gun Owners of America |
| Obtained ATF admission that trace records cannot be linked to prosecutions | Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) |
| Dealers required to retain Form 4473 records under the proposed rule | Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) |
| Legal Issues | |
| |
| What It Means | |
| |
| Timeline | |
| 2022 | Biden administration adopted 'forever retention' policy for FFL records |
| May 11, 2026 | GOA published model comment and call to action on proposed rule RIN 1140–AA95 |
| 1986 | Firearm Owners' Protection Act passed, barring expansion of federal firearm record retention |
| Related Laws | |
ATF Registry Rule: Comment Now
A proposed ATF rule would keep your gun purchase records on file for up to 60 years — and the comment window is open right now.
From The Boise Gun Club Handbook
ATF's proposed records retention rule would lock your Form 4473 data in a federal database for six decades.
Driving the news: ATF published a new proposed rule — Firearm Records Retention Periods (RIN 1140–AA95) — as part of a package of 34 new regulations. It rolls back Biden's 2022 "forever retention" mandate, but only back to Obama-era standards: dealers keep records 20–30 years, then ATF holds them another 30 after a dealer closes. That's 60 years of your name, address, and firearm purchase sitting in a federal system.
Catch up quick:
- Biden's 2022 rule required FFLs to keep Form 4473s indefinitely
- The new proposal reverts to a 20-to-30-year dealer retention window
- When a dealer goes out of business, those records transfer to ATF's "out-of-business" database — where they'd sit for another 30 years
- ATF already holds over a billion such records
The legal problem: The Firearm Owners' Protection Act of 1986 explicitly bars post-1986 regulations that expand government maintenance of firearm transaction records. Gun Owners of America argues any retention exceeding the pre-FOPA framework violates 18 U.S.C. § 926(a) — and that the Second Amendment doesn't tolerate a de facto federal registry, regardless of what you call it.
Reality check: ATF's own 1985 rulemaking acknowledged that the law-enforcement value of firearms records drops sharply after 10–15 years. ATF also admitted to Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) that the agency has no ability to link crime gun traces to actual prosecutions. The argument that 60-year retention serves public safety doesn't survive ATF's own data.
"ATF should use this rulemaking to dismantle — not preserve — the infrastructure of a national gun owner registry." — Gun Owners of America model comment
What gun owners should know: This isn't a hypothetical. If you've bought a gun from a dealer that later closed, your 4473 is already at ATF. This rule determines how long it stays there — and whether that ever ends.
What's next: The federal comment period is open now. GOA has published a model comment you can copy and paste directly into the federal register. It takes three minutes.
- Copy GOA's model comment at gunowners.org/na20260511
- Paste it into the federal register comment portal linked on that page
- Submit before the window closes
The bottom line: A rollback to Obama-era retention isn't reform — it's a different shelf life on the same registry. If ATF is serious about change, the retention period should be as short as the law allows. Zero is the right number.
- Phils Custom Handloads(Swartz Creek, MI)
- Gls Guns(Sumner, IA)
- J & L Gunsmithing(Chesapeake, VA)
- Oliver Firearms(Spartanburg, SC)
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