ATF Comment Clock Ends Today — NRA Just Filed on Straw Buys, 4473s, and Dealer Rules

NRA-ILA filed comments this week on several ATF rulemakings spun out of President Trump’s February 7, 2025 Executive Order 14206 on protecting Second Amendment rights. ATF floated the package in May. The agency’s own public comment deadline for most of these dockets is August 4, 2026 — today. The Form 4473 rewrite (RIN 1140-AA82) runs through August 6.

On Firearms Transactions and Straw Purchases (RIN 1140-AA78), ATF proposed a formal “straw purchase” definition covering any buyer who falsely claims to be the actual purchaser while acquiring a gun for someone else — even when that someone else is also a lawful buyer. NRA urges ATF to withdraw. It argues the Gun Control Act never barred one eligible person buying for another eligible person, that Abramski v. United States (2014) rode on agency interpretation later undercut by Loper Bright and Cargill, and that the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act already wrote a narrower criminal straw-purchase statute aimed at prohibited persons and felony/terrorism/drug trafficking intent. Expanding beyond that via regulation, NRA says, exceeds the statute.

On Firearm Records Retention Periods (RIN 1140-AA95), ATF would end indefinite Form 4473 retention at dealers and the National Tracing Center, floating 20- or 30-year caps. NRA backs ending indefinite retention but pushes a 10-year total clock at both FFL and NTC. It cites ATF’s admission of roughly 1.3 billion images at the Tracing Center and Congress’s long rejection of a national gun registry as the reason indefinite holdings have to die.

On Revising “Engaged in the Business” as a Dealer (RIN 1140-AB01), ATF moved to unwind Biden-era private-sale intimidation rules already under nationwide injunction. NRA still wants the rewrite withdrawn as exceeding statute. On Revising Form 4473 (RIN 1140-AA82), NRA broadly supports clearer ID/residency rules — especially for military buyers — and extending form validity from 30 days to two calendar months.

NRA says its filings were still processing on regulations.gov at press time and urges gun owners to file polite, constructive comments on the Federal Register links before the clocks hit zero. Miss today on the main dockets and you are commenting after the hearing, not during it.