So what is an FFL required to volunteer to local Police?

Along the line of receipts, copies of 4473s, and cancelled customers checks, anyone know what requires a warrant and what doesn't?

Tag for the answer.

Me too.

Your bound book and 4473's you have on file. I believe you only have to keep the 4473's for 10 years? I have to check and destroy all my really old ones.

It would take me some time to research the GCA and find the answer with certainty, but having been a storefront FFL, I recall that as a condition of my license, the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury retained broad powers to inspect inventory and records in the course of a bona fide criminal investigation. They also have broad powers to include state and local law enforcement in those investigations. So automatically my A/D logs and 4473's are open without question during a criminal investigation, and are also open during periodic compliance checks.

Customer receipts and cancelled checks might be demanded to prove that firearms moved into and out of inventory, thus drawing those records into the investigation as corroborating evidence that the logs are indeed correct. That's just conjecture on my part. Why would LE want checks and receipts? The 4473 is pretty thorough in identifying an individual.

I once had a city cop come to my store and ask to see my 4473's because he was investigating a shooting that made the local news. I could tell he didn't completely understand what he was looking for. I told him my logs were electronic and I could do a search and save him time if he gave me a name, gun, or serial number. He provided a name. I searched for that string or anything like it. There was no hit and he was gone in 5 minutes.

Gotta keep 4473's for 20 years or turn them in to ATF when you go out of business.

As a pawnbroker operating in MISSOURI, I'm required to provide certain information to law enforcement. Name, address, DL number, physical description of individual, description of property, serial number, etc. But this is due to state law and it doesn't apply just to guns, but to ANY item I buy or take in on loan. The BATFE and federal law has nothing to do with it. Missouri law provides no authority for local law enforcement to investigate/prosecute gun thefts any differently than ordinary theft. This is Missouri law. Your state laws will differ, of course.:

That's the issue. The police are involved in a family matter involving ownership of a gun. I KNOW everything was done legally which involved me, and have all the records. The concern is me giving up info without a warrant and being sued by the family.

I'd suggest respectfully asking for a warrant.

Shouldn't be that hard for them to get and should also bolster their case.

I assume you have a lawyer you use for company matters. Have him respectfully ask for a warrant, explain that you want to help out the PD, but don't want to run afoul of all those new privacy laws

I Told the detective if he didnt have a warrant hed have to contact my attorney. He asked for copies of my "documents and receipts" so I don't know what he was expecting me to supply. He can stop in and I'll show him the 4473 and my A&D book. Everything else goes through my lawyer.

You have to be the actual buyer or buying for a gift. Either way the buyer is identified in the book and on the 4473.

It is a hard situation for sure. I am not even positive they are entitled to see the bound book.

One of the gun stores I worked at would fully cooperate as long as there was a case # involved.

You may never be required to "volunteer" anything, though if you choose to do so, you may. Hence "volunteer".

Local laws may vary. In general, you must be able to (federally) prove custody of every single firearm in your inventory, where it came from, and where it went. You are required to provide that information to the ATF upon demand, and in general cooperate with local law enforcement in the pursuit of a bona-fide criminal investigation. Whether you will require local law enforcement to provide proof that a bona-fide investigation is under way (a warrant) or elect to provide the requested information voluntarily without a warrant depends on you.

My attitude is that I will provide that information to any official member of local law enforcement who makes their identity officially known to me, and represents that their inquiry is part of an official investigation. I'll take down their official information, too, before I answer. YMMV

I wouldn't give Local or even State LE open access to anything other than the 4473 and the particular line of the A&D book that is relevant to their investigation. Anything else they can go pound sand. Receipts, invoices, checks's etc. are my proprietary business records and are going to require a warrant. FFL's don't relinquish their 4th ammendment rights just because we sell guns.

We've only ever had this come up once where a firearm was stolen from a customer and later recovered at a crime scene. In that case the customer had lost his copy of the invoice, so he and the cop showed up to get another copy of the invoice, plus a copy of the 4473, so that the gun could eventually be returned to the customer once the prosecution of the criminal(s) was done. Since the customer was making the request I wasn't worried about a later civil suit.

In your case... heck, it probably varies widely by state. In this case I'd kick it over to my attorney and see what he says.

Also, if the cops can't get a warrant, they could just ask someone from the local ATF field office to get the info for them, since the agents do have access to your records...

I don't see why a local cop should be presumed to have access to a federal form.

You are not required to volunteer anything. I would not give up anything without a warrant, just to protect myself. No way would I give them access to any Federal documents (4473, A&D, NFA Forms, etc.)

I agree with this. They are not working in cooperation with the ATF for the purposes of solvong a gun-related crime.

I don't believe local LE has the right to look at your bound book & 4473s, the same way the ATF does (barring a task force)
Just a city police, not a lawyer.

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