Why Personal Firearm Records Matter
Legal Compliance and Proactive Legal Protection
Compliance software offers a streamlined and automated firearm system record, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring all information is accurate. For Federal Firearms Licensees, adherence to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) regulations is mandatory. This federal government agency sets regulations that require detailed logging of firearms transactions, including serial numbers, types of firearms, and information about the parties involved in the transaction.
Theft Prevention and Recovery
Having a secure personal firearms record helps prevent firearms from falling into the hands of criminals. Detailed records provide law enforcement agencies with the necessary information to recover stolen firearms and return them to their rightful owners.
Protecting Personal Information
Beyond the tracking of firearms themselves, secure record-keeping protects sensitive personal information of firearm buyers and sellers. This includes the names, addresses, and other identifiers that could lead to identity theft and other potential problems with privacy violations.
Enhancing Public Safety
By ensuring that firearm records are accurately maintained and securely stored, gun owners contribute to enhancing public safety. Secure records support responsible gun owners to prevent illegal firearm sales and aid in the enforcement of federal laws to keep communities safe.
Key Entries for Your Firearm Record
A personal firearms record book will require the following information:
- Serial Number: The unique identifier for each firearm.
- Type of Firearm: The firearm’s manufacturer and model.
- Firearm Classification: Classify as handgun, rifle, shotgun, etc.
- Caliber or Gauge: The ammunition size.
Transaction Information:
- Acquisition: Date and source from whom the firearm was acquired.
- Disposition: Date and receipt to whom the firearm was transferred or sold.
Compliance Information:
- ATF Form: Relevant ATF forms for transactions, if necessary.
- Measurements: Barrel length and overall length, if required.
Security & Privacy with FastBound
Unlike our competitors, FastBound is not a Federal Firearms License holder and we never will be! We don’t fill out the ATF Form 4473 for you, but we do help with all things compliance. By using FastBound, you are not voluntarily giving a competitor (or a group of competitors in some cases) your confidential information including your suppliers, customers, inventory, sales figures, actual cost of goods sold, etc.
Commitment to Privacy and Compliance
FastBound will never release any information about users or accounts unless legally compelled to do so. With Guaranteed Legal Defense from FFLGuard, FastBound will never surrender any information without a court order, and only then, will we disclose the information specifically requested in the complaint.
The ATF can examine these government records at the licensed premises at any time as part of any criminal investigation or to trace a firearm. In other words, it is easier for ATF to get information from you than it is from FastBound.
FastBound ensures your firearm log book is not only compliant with the latest regulations but also supports responsible firearm ownership. Start securing your firearm records today with FastBound!
Data Protection
FastBound protects files in transit between your web browser and our servers, and at rest:
- Data stored at rest is encrypted using 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption, ensuring that your personal firearm information remains protected.
- To protect data in transit between your web browser and our servers, only Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used, creating a secure tunnel protected by 128-bit or higher Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption.
Authentication and Web Security Enhancements
To further protect you, FastBound flags authentication cookies as secure, HTTP-only and we enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which helps to protect websites against protocol downgrade attacks and cookie hijacking.
FastBound maintains an overall rating of A for the security certificate and configuration on our servers. We back up databases every 5-10 minutes, exceeding ATF requirements of daily backups. Database backups are encrypted using 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption.
Secure U.S. Data Centers
FastBound is hosted in the United States, in data centers that:
- Have Department of Defense (DoD) Provisional Authorizations at Impact Levels 5, 4, and 2.
- Certifies the use of cryptographic modules, compliant with the US Federal Info Processing Standard 140-2.
- Maintains DoD certifications that meet and exceed US NIST 800-171 security requirements.
- Are compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards Level 1.
FAQs
Yes, the ATF allows FFL licensees to log business firearms out of the acquisition and disposition record (A&D) record as a personal use firearm. However, if that firearm is sold within a year of having been transferred to the licensee’s personal collection, the licensee must re–enter the firearm in the business A&D record and sell or transfer the firearm as business inventory, including completing an ATF Form 4473 and a NICS background check if required.
The general public cannot access information about gun owners, there is no searchable database or list of owners. However, the ATF can share information with law enforcement and is required by law to trace firearms used in crimes.
According to the ATF, licensees must retain each Form 4473 for at least 20 years after the date of sale or disposition. If a licensee initiates a NICS check for a proposed firearms transaction, but the sale, delivery, or transfer of the firearm is not made, the licensee should record any transaction number on the Form 4473, and retain the Form 4473 for a period of not less than 5 years after the date of the NICS inquiry.