The ATF is not legally permitted to keep a searchable digital database of gun sales, thanks to hysteria that ‘the government will come to take our guns,’ so they only have printouts. When a crime is called in and the ATF is asked to trace a gun’s serial number, it can take a week of rifling through the paperwork to trace the gun. If a gun seller sends in information about sales on a thumb drive, the ATF is required to print out all the data, keep the paper records and destroy the drive.
Allan Lasser
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