ATF Tweaks Gun Form 4473: Comments Welcome on Paperwork
Published Date: 5/8/2026
Notice
Summary
The ATF is updating the Firearms Transaction Record forms (Form 4473) used when buying guns. This affects gun sellers and buyers by tweaking the paperwork to make it clearer and easier to handle. They want your feedback by July 7, 2026, to help keep the process smooth without adding extra hassle or cost.
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Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
Eligibility and citizenship questions reorganized
ATF reorganized eligibility questions so transferees now complete items 1–4 first, with eligibility questions in new item 2 requiring initials for items 2a–2d (including a rephrased 'not engaging in a straw purchase' attestation reflecting 2022 statutory changes). Citizenship and alien status questions are now item 3, and a former question about sales to nonimmigrant aliens (previously item 21n) has been removed.
Form 4473 completion time reduced
If you buy a firearm, ATF estimates the revised Form 4473 will take about 15 minutes (0.25 hours) to complete. The agency estimates 22,500,265 respondents annually and a total annual public burden of 5,625,091 hours, and says the changes have decreased the hourly burden per respondent compared to the prior version.
Option to attach ID copies instead of transcribing
Under the revised Form 4473, the Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) may attach a copy of the transferee's identification document or record the ID information on page 4 instead of requiring the transferee to transcribe it. This change is part of a set of revisions ATF says will make the form faster and easier to complete.
Demographic questions changed (MENA added)
The revised form combines the separate race and ethnicity sections into a single race/ethnicity question, makes Hispanic or Latino a checkbox, and adds a new Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) checkbox. The transferee sex field (formerly box 14) no longer includes a non-binary option and now only lists male or female.
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