The great registration myth

[mrjarrell]

I think we've all seen or heard this one before. The map with this article is really interesting, too. Registration is rarer than you might think, it's the exception rather than the rule for the majority of the country.

From The Minneapolis Gun Rights Examiner

I have just released our latest map over at OpenCarry.org. It categorizes all 50 states based upon the kinds of firearms registration laws (if any) that the state has implemented.
This is a resource that we should have developed long ago because registration is one of the great myths and misconceptions about firearms in America. I have been teaching firearm safety and carry permit classes for almost a decade now and this is a topic that I have to cover in every single class. And it never ceases to amaze me how gun owners who are otherwise incredibly well informed about the laws regarding firearms will blithely tell me that their guns are “registered.”
At the heart of this misunderstanding lies the background check required for all purchases from a federally licensed firearms dealer. Faced with the bureaucratic detail of the BATFE 4473 form, many gun owners mistakenly think that the firearm is being “registered” at the same time that the background check is being conducted.
But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the same law that mandates the background check also prohibits the data being used for registration purposes and requires that all data thus collected be destroyed other than the identifying number and the date the number was assigned.

Read the rest at the source and take a look at the map. Interesting.

 

[indykid]

While the calling in of the background check for the 4473 might be destroyed, the 4473 is maintained by the selling or transfer dealer and with the way ATF operates, there is no reason to think that they would not demand dealers turn over the 4473s once ATF decides to change the law.

Not like they have ever changed their fraudulent laws before, like the GSG-5SD fake can becoming a real can, the Atkins 10/22 suddenly becoming a machinegun, or your shoestring being an NFA item.

 

[mrjarrell]

I agree with the 4473 dilemma. IMO they should be destroyed after the check is done. As it is they get sent to the BATFU if/when an FFL closes shop. How's that not a federal registration scheme?
On the bright side, tho, did you see that map? Not too many registration places outside the usual suspects. Nevada was a surprise, tho. I expected better from a western state.

 

[Hoosier8]

How the right and left coast go, so goes the nation. The reason registration is not more widespread is because people are fighting it on a continuing basis.

 

[Tallenn]

I agree, 4473 should be destroyed as soon as background check is completed. Someone should sponsor a bill to that effect. As far as Nevada, it mentions "certain localities". I'm guessing that means Las Vegas and maybe Reno. What Nevada needs is a good pre-emption law.

I think the author touched on what is the primary reason why so many people don't know that registration doesn't exist in the US for the most part: TV and movies, especially cop shows. How many times have you seen the TV detectives talking about "this gun was registered to.." or something similar? To watch TV, you'd think there already was a national database of every gun that was owned by anyone in the country.

Also important to point out that in those places where gun registration exists, not one single gun that was involved in a crime has EVER been traced back to the owner courtesy of that registration database. There is only ONE thing registration can help with: confiscation.