Comment on FR Doc # 2026-09182
Matt MosakowskiOpposeIndividual
Summary: The commenter opposes the proposal to revise firearms transaction records, arguing that the move toward electronic forms and expanded digital retention could facilitate the creation of a searchable national firearms registry. They request that the ATF withdraw the rule to protect constitutional privacy rights and maintain decentralized records.
While this proposal is presented as an administrative modernization of Form 4473 requirements, the increased use of electronic forms, auto-population, attached electronic records, and expanded digital retention of transaction information moves federal firearms regulations further toward the creation of easily searchable and aggregated firearm ownership records.
Congress prohibited the establishment of a national firearms registry. That protection should remain meaningful in the digital era and should not be undermined through incremental regulatory changes that make centralized ownership databases easier to create in the future.
The fact that records may remain decentralized today does not eliminate concerns about future administrations, future policy changes, or future technological capabilities that could allow these records to be consolidated or searched on a broad scale.
I believe that constitutional rights deserve stronger privacy protections than are provided by this proposal. Firearm ownership records should remain as limited, decentralized, and inaccessible to centralized government collection as possible.
For these reasons, I respectfully urge ATF to withdraw RIN 1140-AA82.