multiple firearms sales

JIM STARK

Although I haven't yet had occasion to do a multiple sale, the comment about having to report on a special form to BATF,THAT Herschel made sounds incorrect.... I thought it was 6 or more...I might be wrong, but the Form#4473 makes povisions to list four items??????... I will certainly go to my instructio book or call my local ATF agent if the situation arises, but for now I'm OK...

4000fps

Multiple Sales is any more than one to the same buyer within a 5 day period. Went through this and just ran them 5days apart.

JudgeColt

The multiple sale report requirement applies to handguns only, and applies to a single person who acquires two or more handguns at one time, or two or more handguns within five consecutive business days. Note the emphasis is on "five consecutive business" days. That means days closed (Sundays, etc.) do not count towards the five consecutive. The requirement came about after Squeaky Frome had one handgun taken away from her by authorities, and she immediately acquired another and tried to shoot President Ford with it. Fortuantely, she did not know you have to cock a M1911-style pistol in order for it to fire, or President Ford would probably have been killed as she put it right in his face as I recall. That type of gun ignorance by much of the public is one reason why I support handguns with safeties for law enforcement and personal defense. Many people getting hold of a handgun on safe will not be able to operate the gun, at least immediately, giving the target time to react. How knowing if a person makes a multiple purchase will prevent crime is not clear, but perhaps nuts like Squeaky are on a watch list and can be watched more closely if they acquire multiple handguns. If that is the logic, long guns should also be subject to multiple sale reports. Of course, had a report on Squeaky been made and mailed within 24 hours as required by the law now, she would already have acquired her second gun and tried to kill President Ford before the report reached the ATF. Again, another gun law that only applies to law-abiding gun owners.I doubt that anyone who is reported on a multiple purchase would ever hear from the ATF, unless there were suspicious circumstances. However, I would bet it puts you on a list somewhere. When I tell people about the report requirement, they usually agree to wait a week to take delivery of the second handgun so as to avoid the report.

Herschel

Jim Stark,If you are an ffl holder I strongly suggest you study the regulations guide that the BATF provides all ffl holders. What I said in my post on the other thread was correct. I said the reg concerned handguns (pistols and revolvers). There is no federal regulation prohibiting, as far as I know, multiple sales of handguns to an individual at the same time. You could list four of them on the same 4473 and deliver them the same day. It would just cause the seller to have to send the notification of multiple handguns form in to the BATF. Misinformation abounds on this and the other forums I follow. Learn the regs to make sure you stay legal.

sck

Dear Folks: I always thought this was a strange part of the regulations, but I followed it religiously, not wanting to get into hot water with the feds. I became personally concerned one time when I bought a small collection of 29 handguns. I thought that would certainly set off some kind of alarm in some fed. office somewhere, but nothing happened. Not a peep. Then one day several years later I was working in a gun shop when one of the other employees filled out the 4473 and multiple form for a customer who had bought several handguns here at auction. Well, this employee faxed in the multiple form just as we always did, and within 10 minutes we got a call from ATF. One of the guns on the form was a single shot break action .22, but it appeared to be a high-school metal shop project from about the 1920s. It was well made but certainly a one-of-a-kind with no serial number or manufacturer's name. In addition, it looked like a revolver. The employee wasn't too bright and listed it on the form as Manufacturer "None," Serial Number "None," and then under model he wrote "Single shot revolver." Well, to my surprise somebody at ATF reads these things after all, because this agent called to ask about this thing. After a very long conversation I convinced him that there really was no serial number or manufacturer, but had to admit that he had us on the "single shot revolver" model. We decided to call it a "single shot" and drop the revolver part which was only fair since there was nothing that revolved, only a fixed piece of metal that looked a little like a cylinder if you squinted just right. After all that was over, I asked the fellow about this particular regulation and he said that they were basically looking for people who bought several of the same type or model of handgun or several different cheap handguns as these were often indications of somebody dealing without a license or gang members buying things to transport and sell in easter cities like New York, Baltimore or Washington, D.C. Just thought you might like to hear another story. Regards -- Steve

Herschel

Steve, I too know they read the notices as I sent in one that was torn by the Post Office so that some of the buyer data was illegible. They had me go to the 4473 and provide the information. It was also my understanding that they used the multipurpose notifications to build a data base of people buying handguns for resale to ineligible buyers.

JIM STARK

Thanks guys...I'm in S.Carolina, and state law requires that I have a license for retail sale of handguns.. I must report each sale "immediately" and I'm not permitted to sell more than one handgun to the same individual within 30 days... I guess I read my BATF regs. when I got them, but since the state law is more stringent.. I guess I put the fed. reg. in the way back of my mind... Thanks again.. JIM.........