ATF Wants Gun Dealers to Trash Records After 20 Years
Published Date: 5/6/2026
Proposed Rule
Summary
The ATF wants to change how long gun dealers keep their records, suggesting they keep them for 20 or 30 years instead of forever. This affects all federal firearms licensees and the National Tracing Center, with shorter times for some private transfer forms. Comments on this idea are open until August 4, 2026, and the change could save money and reduce paperwork hassle.
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Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
End permanent gun-record storage
If you are a federal firearms licensee (FFL), ATF proposes you keep acquisition-and-disposition records and ATF Form 4473 for a set period of either 20 years or 30 years from the sale/disposition date instead of keeping them permanently. The proposed rule would replace permanent retention with a 20- or 30-year minimum retention and comments on the proposal are due August 4, 2026.
Limit ATF's out-of-business records time
ATF proposes that the National Tracing Center (NTC) retain out-of-business (OOB) records for no longer than 20 years (or alternatively 30 years) from the date ATF receives them; importer and manufacturer acquisition records would keep a permanent retention. ATF notes that including records up to 30 years increased successful traces from 89% to 94% in 2024, yielding almost 10,000 additional successful traces that year.
Short holds for private-transfer 4473s
If you use an FFL to facilitate a private-party firearm transfer or a voluntary firearm-handler background check, ATF proposes the FFL may retain the associated Form 4473 for no less than 90 days (three months) from the date the background check is initiated. If the FBI NICS response is 'denied,' the form must be retained for five years.
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