No Retaining Every Gun In a System That Restricts Your Rights Act
Key claim: S119 would end the requirement that federal firearms licensees deliver out-of-business firearm transaction records to the ATF and would require the ATF to destroy all such records it already holds.
Abstract
(S119 · 119th Congress) No Retaining Every Gun In a System That Restricts Your Rights Act This bill modifies the retention requirements for firearm transaction records of federal firearms licensees (FFLs) that go out of business. Current law generally requires FFLs that go out of business to deliver their firearm transaction records to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This bill removes the requirement for FFLs that go out of business to deliver their firearm transaction records to the ATF. Further, the bill requires the ATF to destroy all out-of-business records it has collected from FFLs. Latest action (2025-01-16): Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Why this matters
Out-of-business FFL records are one of the primary tools ATF uses to trace firearms recovered in crimes when the originating dealer no longer exists, so eliminating the transfer requirement and destroying existing records would materially change what is traceable in criminal and civil investigations. The proposal reflects an ongoing contested question in firearms policy — balancing gun-owner privacy concerns about de facto registries against law enforcement’s ability to complete traces — and would reverse a longstanding regulatory practice rather than adjust it at the margins.