Sep 11, 2024If you’re disposing a firearm to a non-FFL individual (or business) customer, you will need to complete a 4473 and satisfy the background check requirements prior to transfer.
Be extremely careful here – there are many nuances and pitfalls to how a 4473 must be completed, by whom, and when. Even if you have experience with 4473s, I strongly recommend our ATF Compliance Membership and course on 4473s (7 out of the top 10 violations every year from the ATF concern this form).
We spent a lot of time making the FFLe4473 the simplest and easiest e4473 available. If you’ve used another e4473, you already know how confusing it can be with numerous steps/clicks, un-clear flow, and how difficult it can be to find errors with the form.
There are two ways to complete a 4473:
- By Hand / Pen and Paper
- Electronically (e4473)
This tutorial is going to walk you through the second option using FFLSafe’s e4473.
Step 1 – Start a Disposition with e4473
While disposing a firearm, select “Individual without an FFL” as the Type of Disposal and then choose “e4473”
Then select or add the contact as needed, select the firearm to dispose (remember, it must have first been acquired), and then select the date for the disposition.
Step 2 – Confirm Customer Name and Address
DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!
It is vital that you confirm the customer’s name and address BEFORE continuing. If you need to make changes to any of their information, you must do it now before proceeding as this is the information that will be used as the disposition information in the Bound Book.
There are very specific ID requirements (and supplemental ID requirements for different addresses) – learn about all of these in the ATF Compliance Membership
Once you’ve confirmed both, select the checkbox and then click the [Start Form 4473] button.
You will then need to confirm that you want to start the e4473 by clicking on [Yes] to answer the question “Do you want to start the 4473?”
Step 3 – Complete Section A of the e4473
Section A of the 4473 is the first section and it must be completed by the FFL.
First, confirm the firearm(s) to be transferred.and then click [Next]
Next, confirm and add information (as necessary) about whether the transaction is a pawn redemption or whether is is a private party transfer.
Step 4 – Have Customer Complete Their Section
With the FFLSafe e4473, the customer can fill out their part of the form on any internet connected device with a browser – this includes a computer or tablet you provide or their own mobile device.
Most customers will likely choose to use their own device. However, you can have a computer or tablet handy for them to use.
First, have the customer visit https://fflsafe.com/4473 and enter the code you see on your screen. There is also a QR code that can make this easier for you or the customer.
In the example below, the customer will enter “Z4L1PE”
Once the customer has started their part of the form, click on [Proceed]
The customer then will proceed through their part of the form.
Once the customer is finished with their information, they will complete their section which sends the form back to you to continue.
Step 5 – Continue with Section C of 4473
You will now continue along and fill out the rest of the 4473.
Section C includes some more information about the firearm, the customer’s identification, and the background check requirements.
There’s a LOT going on in this section and there are many different options that can occur here depending on their ID, their supplemental ID (if any), and the results of their background check.
If you are not absolutely comfortable with the 4473, it’s probably time to take the 4473 course here: ATF Compliance Membership
If the background check is a “proceed” and there’s no state-level waiting period or if they already satisfy the requirements in some other way, you may continue on to Step 6.
However, if there is a delay, for any reason, or you have a waiting period, now is the time to pause working on the e4473, download and print the form, and then continue with pen and paper when the time is right.
Step 6 – Finalize the 4473
If you’re continuing along form Step 5, you can now finalize and sign the 4473 in Section E.
Once complete, your browser should automatically download the 4473 but, if it doesn’t, you can choose to download the form and print it.
Once the form has been properly printed, you can confirm that it has been printed and the disposition will be made for you.
As a note, FFLSafe will automatically email you a copy of any paused, cancelled. or completed 4473. This is a nice back-up to your own files that you’re downloading and printing.
Setting up Your Email Inbox
You will be getting a copy of every 4473, whether fully complete or partial/cancelled, into your email inbox.
Having a digital backup/record of every 4473 might come in handy someday.
NOTE: this does not count for the ATF’s requirements for digital 4473 storage – this is solely for your internal records.
We strongly recommend setting up your email inbox to handle these.
First, you should make two email folders: one for completed 4473s and the other for partial/cancelled 4473s.
Then, create “rules” in your mailbox to automatically sort the messages as they come in. How you do this will depend on what you’re using for your email – e.g. Outlook, gmail, etc.
If you need help creating these rules in your system, please google how to make email rules for whatever system you’re using.
You should make the rules have the message from FFLSafe be marked as “read” and then moved from the inbox to the appropriate folder.
If the email comes from “notifications@app.fllsafe.com” the subject line is “Form 4473” AND the message contains “4473 Complete” then the message should go to the completed 4473 folder.
If the email comes from the address and has the same subject line but the message contains “4473 Cancelled” then the message should go to the cancelled 4473 folder.
Here’s how this rule would look in Gmail, for example, where it is called a “filter”:
In the mailbox settings, you will choose to “create a new filter” and then enter the relevant info/rules. Note the “from” address, the subject, and the “4473 completed” in quotes. Click on “Create filter” to proceed.
Next, you will tell Gmail what you want it to do with all messages that match the rules you just entered:
I’ve selected to mark the message as “read” and apply a label “4473 – Complete.”
After you click on “create filter,” all future messages matching the criteria you entered will be handled accordingly.
