NEW ADDRESS FOR OUT OF BUSINESS RECORDS CENTER

There is a new address for Federal firearms licensees to send their records when they discontinue business. The records should be sent within 30 days after discontinuance of business to:

ATF Out of Business Records Center
882 T.J. Jackson Drive
Falling Waters, WV 25419

Willfully failing to comply with 18 U.S.C. § 923(g)(4) by not ending in your required record when discontinuing business is punishable by a fine not to exceed $250,000 and/or imprisonment not to exceed 5 years.

COMPUTERIZED ACQUISITION AND DISPOSITION RECORDS

Before a Federal firearms licensee can use a specific computer program for recordkeeping in lieu of the required bound book format, it is necessary to get prior approval from ATF. The Bureau does not issue blanket approvals for commercially available software programs nor does it endorse any particular product.

All requests for a computerized recordkeeping variance must be sent to the Director of Industry Operations in your area. These procedures are outlined in 27 C.F.R. § 178.125(h) in the Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide, ATF P 5300.4.

All requested systems must be accompanied by a sample printout of the format to be used and meet the following criteria:

1) Conform to all regulatory requirements for pertinent information. (See 27 C.F.R. §§ 178.122, 178.123, or 178.125.)

2) Be able to be queried by serial number and acquisition date of firearm. It would suffice to use commonly recognized trade names or abbreviations when denoting manufacturer or importer.

3) Have an acceptable daily memory backup system, such as disk or tape.

4) Have the capacity to provide a periodic printout of all records:

(a) at least semiannually;

(b) upon request by an ATF officer when required by law;

(c) when the system memory is purged;

(d) when the license is terminated; and

(e) sequentially by date of acquisition for all firearms in inventory, as well as all firearms sold during the period covered;

5) Be able to record both the manufacturer and the importer for foreign-made firearms.

6) Yield a printout that may include flintlock, matchlock, percussion cap, or other antique firearms.

7) Include the name and address or name and license number of the suppliers and purchasers/transferees in the computer data. The name and an ATF Form 4473 transaction number may be used in lieu of the name and address for recording the transfer of a firearm to a nonlicensee, if the Forms 4473 are filed numerically.

8) Be self-contained, without reliance upon invoices or other paper/manual systems to provide any of the above information.

9) Upon termination of a license the licensee, must provide an ASCII text file (conforming to common industry standards) and a file description, in addition to printout(s) of all records to the Out of Business Records Center. The printout and ASCII text file must contain the information prescribed in 27 C.F.R. § 178.125(e).