They've already got a registry. Ever since they put the gun and buyer information onto page 1 of the 4473, the ATF has been scanning the first page of all 4473's as a part of every FFL inspection. It is a neat program they use and it imports all the information from page 1 into a database file that is searchable by any field on that page. These are sent back to ATF HQ to add to their already existing registry created from out of business FFL records. It isn't perfect and only gives them the last person who took possession of that gun but now they want to tighten that up as well by cutting way down on the legal sales by private people.
You can be sure they are cooperating with states like Illinois which enacted an assault weapons ban to figure out who didn't register theirs. And there are a lot who didn't register theirs.
You can be sure they are cooperating with states like Illinois which enacted an assault weapons ban to figure out who didn't register theirs. And there are a lot who didn't register theirs.