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Ever watch the movie "Red Dawn"? In that old movie the first thing the invading army did was go to the gun stores and get all the 4473 copies to see who in the town had purchased guns.
Firearms records you must keep if you are an FFL holder:
1) You must keep a separate "Bound Book" record of all firearms acquired and disposed of. This includes firearms received in pawn, curios and relics, and firearms received for overnight (or longer) repair. A bound book should either be permanently bound or an orderly arrangement of loose-leaf pages. It must be maintained on the business premises.
a. Firearms are to be logged in when received and logged out as they are disposed of (478.125 (e)).
b. All licensees are required to keep their records of manufacture, importation, or other acquisition permanently for as long as they are in business, but disposition records may be disposed of 20 years from the date of transaction (27 CFR 478.129(d) and (e)).
2) You MUST prepare ATF Form 4473 - Firearms Transaction Record, covering the transfer of each firearm (except return of repaired firearms) to a non-licensed person, who does not qualify under the law enforcement exception. Because Form 4473 is one of the most important records that you will keep, you should read the instructions carefully and you should ensure that each form is fully completed.
a) Completed ATF Form 4473s must be kept for 20 years from the date of transaction, just as the disposition records described above.
b) ATF Form 4473s may be kept alphabetically (by name of purchaser), (chronologically by date of disposition), or (numerically by transaction serial number) (27 CFR 478.124(b)).
c) You must use ATF Form 4473 (Part I) for over-the-counter sales and use the green ATF Form 4473 (Part II) for non-over-the-counter sales (27 CFR 478.124).
Sale of Business or Going Out Of Business
1) Within 30 days after you sell or discontinue your firearms or ammunition business, you must give written notice of this change in status to the Chief, National Licensing Center (27 CFR 478.57).
2) If you sell or discontinue your firearms or ammunition business and are succeeded by a new licensee, your firearms dealer records should be marked to show this fact and shall be delivered to the successor (27 CFR 478.127).
3) You must deliver all of your firearms records within 30 days of going completely out of the firearms business or ammunition business (27 CFR 478.127) to the ATF Out-of-Business Record Center, 244 Needy Road, Martinsburg, West Virginia 25401 or any ATF office that serves the area where the business was located.
