can you

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

voluntarily register your guns with atf?
got a guy telling me he does it.  hes known for being factually challenged. is it possible?

[Hawkmoon]

Dunno. Never heard of it. Given that I believe there is a Federal law prohibiting Federal agencies from maintaing a registry of firearms ownership, I rather doubt it. Why would the BATFE (or any agency, at any level) bother to set up and maintain a "registry" that includes only items voluntarily submitted by the owners?

[Jocassee]

Maybe he thinks filling out a 4473 upon purchase is "voluntary registration." Past that I got nothin.

[lupinus]

I got nothin here.

[Strings]

I've had a number of people claim they register their weapons with the PD, but never heard the claim with ATF

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

yea i pressed him its the 4473  he claims he filled em out on private sales

[Jocassee]

yea i pressed him its the 4473  he claims he filled em out on private sales

That is possible, though why anyone would want to do that is beyond me. Technically, if you really, really want to, you can go to an FFL for a private sale and they do a transfer as though it was coming from out of state.

[birdman]

yea i pressed him its the 4473  he claims he filled em out on private sales

In a state that allows F2F?  Um...can you even do that?  I mean, as a non-FFL?

[lupinus]

In a state that allows F2F?  Um...can you even do that?  I mean, as a non-FFL?

I believe you can if you go to an FFL and have the purchaser fill out the 4473 and have the FFL call it in.

[Devonai]

Here in Connecticut the state-level form is the same for dealers as it is for private sales.  I don't see a 4473 factoring in anywhere.  I don't have a lot of love for most of the firearms laws here, but the Department of Public Safety here is very easy to work with.  All you do is call them for an authorization number, they do an instant check on the two parties right there on the phone, and you get your number.

They're also very polite, knowledgeable, and (gasp) return phone calls the same day if you need to leave a message.  I also once went down there for a new photo and didn't think my Benchmade folder would be a problem, since it's legal on the street.  The State Trooper at the access control point told me I needed to put it back in my car.  It seems like in some places they'd have you prone on the ground and in jail in five minutes for the same thing.

[RaspberrySurprise]

As far as I know ATF will ship the forms to anyone who asks for them so the guy may have simply filled out the form and shoved it in a filing cabinet someplace, or as others have suggested, gone trough an FFL. Who knows.

[SteveS]

yea i pressed him its the 4473  he claims he filled em out on private sales

Then does what? Stick them in a filing cabinet? 

[kgbsquirrel]

... The State Trooper at the access control point told me I needed to put it back in my car.  It seems like in some places they'd have you prone on the ground and in jail in five minutes for the same thing.

Arapahoe County Sheriff's office has a bunch of little free to use lock boxes just before the metal detector. Tossed my pocket knife in one, took the key, did my business, got the pocketknife back out when leaving. Guy manning the desk doesn't even raise an eyebrow.

Contrast this to an Aurora city cop who I had to tell, twice, "the state of Colorado has no such thing as weapon registration" (actual phrase verbatim) during a traffic stop after he disarmed me of my CCW pistol and kept asking if I had it "properly registered." I should add that not only is there no such thing in this state, the state has expressly forbidden any sort of gun registration: CRS 29-11.7-102

[Devonai]

Well, officer, the magazine was registered (seated properly) when I loaded it!