ATF’s Hidden Gun Registry - #2A
How a ‘Tracing System’ Became a Billion-Record Database
How a ‘Tracing System’ Became a Billion-Record Database
(AmmoLand) - A new report from Reason confirms what AmmoLand has been warning American gun owners about for years: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has quietly built what amounts to a backdoor gun registry — in violation of federal law.
On February 3, Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) and 26 colleagues demanded answers from ATF about the scale and legality of this database after being stonewalled for more than a year. The concern? A digital trove of hundreds of millions — possibly over a billion — firearm transaction records that the agency has digitized from former dealer files.
ATF’s illegal database potentially holds over 1 billion gun registry records, which is a violation of federal law, and the second amendment.
They have stonewalled Congress for 290+ days, it’s past time to deliver answers.
— Rep. Michael Cloud (@RepMichaelCloud) February 5, 2026
The Law Forbid a National Registry — and the ATF Built One Anyway
Federal law has banned the creation of a national firearms registry since 1986 under the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act. It states clearly that “no…system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or dispositions may be established.”
Yet the ATF, using a Biden-era rule that requires FFLs to retain transaction records indefinitely, has been digitizing Form 4473s — the very forms that list your name, address, and what…
Afterall, rules only apply to the peasants. This will not end by voting.