Suicides involving firearms are fatal 85% of the time, pills less than 3%.

[Lee-Lee]

56. What typically happens

Is that the gun dealer keeps the copy and must make them available at any time to the BATFE.

They can come anytime and ask for a specific serial number, or all purchases by a person. No warrant required.

If a dealer fails to keep the records, they face loss of license or even jail time. If they shut down, they send all the records to the BATFE.

The dealers are allowed to keep a ledger in paper or digital format, but the BATFE insists that all of the actual purchase forms, the form 4473, be kept in hard copy. However most dealers are hesitant to keep electronic ledgers because 20 years is a long, long time in the digital age, formats change, and keeping records current that long could be a hassle. For example if I handed you a bunch of floppy disks with data from 1993, would you be able to open them? Would the program used to create them even still exist?

They do indeed destroy specific background check data after a certain number of days- if it was a clean check. It is a privacy concern, and I can see both sides of it. The dealer enters the approval number on the form, and this approval number stays valid, and I am told there is some sort of checksum control where the DOB is tied into the approval number so that an agent can spot check that an approval is valid for the person on the form.

I had looked into getting my FFL as part of my side business, but at the time the zoning where I was living would not allow a home based business, so that was out. But I got pretty familiar with what all happens.

If the background check comes back a denial, then that isn't destroyed, but they virtually never pursue the fact that a felon or other prohibited person was trying to buy a gun, so they just let a known prohibited person attempting to get a weapon go out to try and get one illegally some other way- despite the fact that if it got to the background check stage that attempted buyer committed a federal felony. I ran into this when I was working a domestic violence case- the husband was subject to a restraining order, tried to buy a gun, lied on the 4473, was turned down- but the BATFE and US Attorney were not interested in prosecuting it even though it was an easy open and shut case.