Text 198, 120 rader
Skriven 2007-04-23 12:12:30 av Ross Cassell (1:123/456)
    Kommentar till text 197 av Joe Bruchis (1:3828/12)
Ärende: All Bush's Fault
========================
Hello Joe!

23 Apr 07 10:40, you wrote to Roy Witt And Lee Lofaso:

 JB> Roy is corrrect. (I actually said that). When I bought my Ruger, I had
 JB> to fill out a detailed form to register the gun to myself via ATF. The
 JB> pawn shop owner said, in Louisiana the form is just filed, however if
 JB> the gun is used in a crime, it will be traced back to me. For that
 JB> reason, you should immediately report lost or stolen weapons to ATF.

I am not sure of the form required for handguns..

But the form required for Shotguns and Rifles was BATF: 4473.

Back in the 1980's when I worked in the Sporting Goods Dept for Kmart, we had
to fill one of these out for each purchaser with two forms of ID and a simple
questionaire checklist.

Personally I found the checklist stupid, no one is going to admit that they are
a felon, insane or other criteria that would disqualify them. However I have
had a couple that were honest enough to and I had to refuse the sale. No doubt
they simply went to another store or a competitor having learned their lesson
on being honest..

As you said, we simply filed them,

On one occasion, I sold a Harrington And Richardson single shot 410 gauge
shotgun to a 50+ y/o man. As it turns out he took it home, put the muzzle in
his mouth and managed to pull the trigger. I knew this because the police got
the shotgun, using the serial number they went to H&R and asked them:

Who did you sell this gun to:

[H&R]

Kmart Distribution Center [blah blah] Morrisville PA,

Then they asked Kmart DC:

Which store did you send this gun with serial number blah blah to:

[Kmart DC]

Kmart Store #4231, Vienna Va,

Then they came into my store and asked for log book and batf form 4473.

Asked my manager, who sold this gun.

[Manager]

According to this paperwork, Ross Cassell.

[Police]

When does Ross work next?

[Manager]

Today at 12:30pm, come back in 2 hours.

I came in, manager asked me to go to the grill (in store restaurant) and speak
to a detective, I did.. I was asked if I remembered the customer and his
demeanor. I did and his demeanor was ok, there was nothing remarkable or
unremarkable about him to have triggered any warning flags.

The police detective informed me that the customer had used the weapon to
commit suicide but assured me that there wasnt anything I did wrong or could
have known, our paperwork was in order. Back then, at least in Kmarts paperwork
procedures, aside from the Form 4473 requirements, every firearm had to be
notated in a log book. Each gun would be assigned a control number, derived
from the log book used:

Each book had a number (1- whatever, this depends on how long the store has
been open and in business)

Then you openned the book and had pages, a page would span both sides of the
binding, the left was filled out for receipts, the right for sales, transfer
and vendor returns.

Then you had line numbers, one line per each gun..

So a control number was like so, for a gun entered in book 10, page 4, line 23.

10-4-23

On the left side, we would fill out the guns model, make, calibre or gauge,
serial number, date received and received from who.

If I sold a gun, I would get its control number (from a decal we placed on it
when we received it), find the pertinent log book, goto the pertinent page and
line number, fill out the customers info, date sold and price.

If I was transferring the inventory back to the whse, another store or vendor
direct, where customer info would be info pertinent to whom I was shipping to.

A gun could have many hops and stops before its in the hands of a private
individual.

Pretty good system at the time (for tracking), which was before retailers
started putting faith in computer systems outside the back office.

I do not know what procedural changes have changed for firearms sellers in the
here and now from the BATF side of the regulations. What I described above is
how Kmart tracked them, other retailers used other methodology.

With computers the way they are, they should at least have the retailers have
access to a real time database that they can check at the time of sale, to see
if there are felony convictions or other notations that could negate the sale
before it happens.

==
Ross
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