Explainer

Hopefully, a short one.

4473 and the Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended

All of us have had the pleasure of filling out a form 4473, waiting for some bureaucrat decides that we are good enough to exercise our right to keep and bear arms, and finally give us permission. Most of form 4473 is bogus. It is designed to do a few things.

To capture owner identification and associate it with one or more firearms, a registry. To for the seller to keep an accurate inventory. And to catch people out in lies or mistakes.

The ONE reason it supposedly exists, is to allow the government to do a background check. Are you a prohibited person?

Now, let’s say you or I go in and lie on the 4473. It doesn’t matter where, it is a lie designed to allow us to purchase this particular firearm. If we are not prohibited people, we are guilty. On the other hand, the courts have ruled that it is a Fifth Amendment violation for a prohibited person to self report on a 4473.

Yep, if you are an actual prohibited person, and you lie about it on a 4473, you don’t get in trouble. If you are not a prohibited person and lie, you do get in trouble.

All the authority for the ATF to force the 4473 on us comes from the Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended. In particular, §922(g).

§922(g) is the list of things that make you a prohibited person.

§922(g)3 is the prohibition on being an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance. I.e., they partake of marijuana or other drugs.

Our Story

Our story begins when Patrick Darnell Daniels, Jr, was driving along, minding his own business, when a couple of LEOs pulled him over. They pulled him over for driving without a license plate.

It just so happened that one of these officers was a DEA agent. It is almost as if the DEA agent was looking for reasons to “investigate” vehicles he was interested in.
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