A licensee shall not sell or otherwise dispose, TEMPORARILY OR PERMANENTLY, of any firearm to any person other than another licensee unless the transaction is recorded on a Form 4473. Those two words are worth noticing: the requirement is not written around sales, but around dispositions of either kind — which is a point to hold alongside the loan and rental provision in § 6.4. Two exclusions apply. No 4473 is required for a firearm delivered to a licensee for the sole purpose of repair or customizing where that firearm, or a replacement, is returned to the person it came from. And the form is not used for a disposition to another licensed importer, manufacturer or dealer, or of a curio or relic to a licensed collector — including a sole proprietor transferring a firearm to their own personal collection under § 478.125a, which § 8.3 takes up. Where a licensee transfers to another licensee, the verification and recordkeeping duties in § 478.94 apply instead, as § 6.3 set out.

For an over-the-counter transfer to a non-licensee resident in the licensee’s own State, the form must show a substantial identity picture, in three groups. Who the person is: name, sex, date and place of birth, height, weight and race. Where they belong: residence address including the county or similar political subdivision and whether they reside within city limits, their State of residence, their country of citizenship, and their DHS-issued alien or admission number. And what they say for themselves: the transferee’s own certification that they are not prohibited by the Act from transporting or shipping a firearm in interstate or foreign commerce, or from receiving one that has been shipped or transported in it.

The certification is what makes the form more than an identity record: it puts the buyer’s own statement on the file, which is why § 478.128 treats a false statement or representation with respect to the information required by this part as its own violation. Retention is by the licensee, as part of the required records, in alphabetical order by purchaser name, chronological order by date of disposition, or numerical order by transaction number — the licensee chooses the ordering, but must choose one and keep to it. § 8.1 already added a condition on top: where the disposition is to a non-licensee, the 4473 is held separate from the main file and readily available until the bound-record entry is made.