Gun Tests wants to give our readers some background information on changes the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made to Form 4473 in April 2012. You may have noticed the changes yourself and wondered why the new questions suddenly appeared.
On the form, two questions added in 2012 break down the buyers ethnicity and race in parts 10a and 10b. First, in 10.a., buyers must identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino or Not Hispanic or Latino. Then, in 10.b., the buyer is directed to check one or more boxes, with the choices being: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or White.
Were told many applicants skip over the Hispanic/Latino box and only check their race – a natural mistake, if our reading of the form is a gauge.
However, both questions must be filled out, or the dealer can be cited for serious paperwork violations by the agency. If a pattern of the questions not being answered by the buyer appears, the seller could lose his FFL. The ATFs justification for this requirement stems from a race and ethnicity standard devised by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) almost 20 years ago. According to the OMB, the 4473 Form was to be updated by ATF by 2003; however, there is no federal law requiring this administrative directive.
On Sept. 20, Reps. Diane Black (R-TN-06) and Ted Poe (R-TX-02) introduced the FIREARM (Freedom From Intrusive Regulatory Enforcement of Arbitrary Registration Mandates) Act, legislation to prohibit the federal government from requiring race or ethnicity to be disclosed in connection with the purchase of a firearm.
This requirement by the ATF is highly intrusive and unnecessary, said Congressman Black. Failing to adhere to this requirement by not checking all of the correct boxes on the 4473 Form is considered an ATF violation that can be so severe as to result in the gun dealer being shut down for having incomplete purchaser forms. This is causing a headache for many firearms retailers and this commonsense legislation would simply stop the federal government from requiring businesses and consumers to comply with this race and ethnicity standard. Washington bureaucrats have no business requiring citizens who are lawfully purchasing firearms to disclose their race or ethnicity, said Congressman Poe. Under this rule, both gun dealers and purchasers face the threat of federal prosecution for not disclosing race or ethnicity on a form. This is an intrusive and unnecessary requirement. As long as the gun is purchased lawfully, race or ethnicity should be irrelevant. -GT
