giving your social for handgun purchase
- Thread starter thomis
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The dot Gov already has everything they need to know about me (and everyone else posting here), so I don't worry about it and put my SSN on the form.
AethelstanAegen
Member
My name is pretty darn common, so I always put my social. It helps protect me from getting confused with all the others out there with my name and makes sure I don't encounter any delays, etc. I wouldn't sweat it.
Carl N. Brown
Member
I have always been told that due to false positives in the NICS background check records on first, last names and DOB, supplying the SSN prevents delays in approval of BG checks for a 4473.
Local situations may determine what info pawnshops are required to keep.
I live in Tennessee about six miles from the state line with Virginia. It seems to me that local gunshops and pawnshops act with extra special care in handling firearms transactions. Since guns stolen in one state are frequently transported across the state line and pawned in another, pawnshops especially are "encouraged" by ATF to go an extra mile in checking all records for all transfers if they want to keep an FFL.
I had a delay buying a shotgun from a dealer at a weekend gun show on the last hour of the last day and the BG check for the 4473 could not be completed by the end of the show; the dealer transfered the gun to one of the local gun shops sponsoring the show, and when the BG system was back up, the transaction was completed at the LGS the next working day. Since checks here go thru the state ICS who then call NICS, I usually give my driver license as ID. That transcation, I am not sure if the delay was on the state side or the federal side. Personally if SSN would have sped up the federal BG check, I would have supplied it.
Local situations may determine what info pawnshops are required to keep.
I live in Tennessee about six miles from the state line with Virginia. It seems to me that local gunshops and pawnshops act with extra special care in handling firearms transactions. Since guns stolen in one state are frequently transported across the state line and pawned in another, pawnshops especially are "encouraged" by ATF to go an extra mile in checking all records for all transfers if they want to keep an FFL.
I had a delay buying a shotgun from a dealer at a weekend gun show on the last hour of the last day and the BG check for the 4473 could not be completed by the end of the show; the dealer transfered the gun to one of the local gun shops sponsoring the show, and when the BG system was back up, the transaction was completed at the LGS the next working day. Since checks here go thru the state ICS who then call NICS, I usually give my driver license as ID. That transcation, I am not sure if the delay was on the state side or the federal side. Personally if SSN would have sped up the federal BG check, I would have supplied it.
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I gave my SSN for the paperwork on my last purchase.
As a veteran who deployed in 2002, "they" already had my fingerprints from my first induction, my DNA as an indentifier for my remains, and the Sheriff has my fingerprints again for my CCW.
Not to mention all my driver's licenses and military photos over the years which can pop me for facial recognition.
And you're worried?
Our current lifestyle is already HIGHLY invasive, there's nothing to be done about it short of demolishing the data repository in an armed revolution. Seriously. MO has already had a run in with the Governor hiring an outside contractor to record a massive number of citizens data by requiring birth certificates, etc to renew licenses, all of which was copied and uploaded to an international database. It just so happened I missed the window and got renewed the week before it happened.
Like that was any big help. The Army has all they need.
It's already too late, nothing to be done about it now. We lost the initiative, just the same as losing our rights to own and operate motor vehicles as we please.
Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gona
Whatcha gonna do when sherrif John Brown
Come for you tell me whatcha gonna do.
Lyrics by Inner Circle
As a veteran who deployed in 2002, "they" already had my fingerprints from my first induction, my DNA as an indentifier for my remains, and the Sheriff has my fingerprints again for my CCW.
Not to mention all my driver's licenses and military photos over the years which can pop me for facial recognition.
And you're worried?
Our current lifestyle is already HIGHLY invasive, there's nothing to be done about it short of demolishing the data repository in an armed revolution. Seriously. MO has already had a run in with the Governor hiring an outside contractor to record a massive number of citizens data by requiring birth certificates, etc to renew licenses, all of which was copied and uploaded to an international database. It just so happened I missed the window and got renewed the week before it happened.
Like that was any big help. The Army has all they need.
It's already too late, nothing to be done about it now. We lost the initiative, just the same as losing our rights to own and operate motor vehicles as we please.
Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gona
Whatcha gonna do when sherrif John Brown
Come for you tell me whatcha gonna do.
Lyrics by Inner Circle
Life lesson for you ... if you are always going to insist on the "cheapest", don't be surprised if you also end up with lower quality as well. Money spent on quality -anything- is never wasted.
You shouldn't have IMO
I would have challenged and if anything had it sent elsewhere and paid double the cost.
I would have been extremely vocal about it as well.
But I'm one of those Spartan Shield carrying, rattle snake throwing, odd, slightly grumpy and looked down upon Freedom loving patriots. Who is very very rarely silent with my opinion.
I would have challenged and if anything had it sent elsewhere and paid double the cost.
I would have been extremely vocal about it as well.
But I'm one of those Spartan Shield carrying, rattle snake throwing, odd, slightly grumpy and looked down upon Freedom loving patriots. Who is very very rarely silent with my opinion.
Like many of you, I've held TS clearances with letter designators so I'm not worried about the government knowing my SSN 
confused but I DO worry about someone else having access to that information. I had a case of stolen identity a few years ago which resulted in my DL being suspended for what someone else did, and I had to go to a state judge to get it resolved and my DL reinstated. It can be a real b***h having to deal with that.
BTW I suspect the stolen ID came after I made a purchase at AAFES in another distant state and was required to put my SSN on my check. The problems were traced to the city in which the base was located.
confused but I DO worry about someone else having access to that information. I had a case of stolen identity a few years ago which resulted in my DL being suspended for what someone else did, and I had to go to a state judge to get it resolved and my DL reinstated. It can be a real b***h having to deal with that. BTW I suspect the stolen ID came after I made a purchase at AAFES in another distant state and was required to put my SSN on my check. The problems were traced to the city in which the base was located.
sig228
Member
^^^ This.
There are way more ways for bad people to get your SSN. Read the news. Thousands of tax fraud cases through illegally obtained SSNs. Your credit card company has a better chance of being hacked than your FFL stealing your SSN.
buck460XVR
Member
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You do not NEED to give your SS#. It only recommends it to avoid confusion. Just bought a 1911 for my son's 21st birthday Tuesday and did not give mine.
David E
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Justin
Moderator Emeritus
I put my SS down and don't sweat it. Anyone over 40 has probably littered the country with theirs. Heck, mine was printed on my personal checks for 20 years.
I hate to present the bad news but I venture to guess the Fed has your SS# already.
Also, the dealer has all info about you but blood type & shoe size, I would hazard to suggest, best energies focused on another battle perhaps?
Also, the dealer has all info about you but blood type & shoe size, I would hazard to suggest, best energies focused on another battle perhaps?
armoredman
Member
I don't put my SSN on the 4473. The dealers also don't call for background checks for that same transaction because they put down my CCW permit number on the 4473, instead. Problem solved.
I was purchasing a single shot winchester .22 at a local pawn shop, and as I begin filling out the 4473, I hand him my CHL (this is in Texas). The clerk says, it doesn't matter we have to call it in anyway, says batf makes them do it. I call BS, and he says he must call it in. I tear up the 4473 and walk on the sale, and complain to mgnt the next day when I calm down. Nothing happened except they lost a sale and a customer. Anyone hear of ffl's having to call on chl's in Texas?
And I don't add my ssn either.
And I don't add my ssn either.
In Indiana, having an LTCH used to enable us to avoid the hassle of the call-in. Then someone somewhere changed all that and we have to do the phone thing just like everyone else.
Even if there was some problem with it, there is a difficulty with having a county authority investigate an entity licensed by the Federal Government. I suspect the Sheriff would politely thank you for your report and you'd never hear from his office.
It's an issue of the Authority Having Jurisdiction, and they protect their administrative boundaries jealously. Plus, a Sheriff often has to stick to his "lane," or the County Commissioners, much less the public, will call him out for overstepping his bounds - and spending money on an investigation outside his responsible area.
A licensed Federal Firearm Dealer answers to the BATF, not the County Sheriff, on matters relating to firearms transfers.
As to whether your SSN could somehow be stolen off his records, it's not on a computer database that would be hacked online. FFL's don't bother, it's on the form, that's good enough. The book is put on the shelf. His inventory of guns means he has better security than most of us do at our home or work, nobody is getting in to steal it, and he was vetted by the government - meaning he had no past criminal background. Felons don't get a licensed to buy and sell guns, they are prohibited in most jurisdictions from even having one of their own.
How many gas stations used to require your SSN on your check buying gas in the past? Grocery store? In the day, your SSN WAS your license number in MO, and in a lot of other state up until a few years ago. Even the military did it for 50 years.
Only until recently have we shied away from it, because of ID theft, and frankly, it was already after the horse bolted from the barn. SSN's are on your bank account, are credit card accounts, car loans, home loans, title loans, building loans, utility accounts, ad infinitum. Hundreds of databases accumulate your SSN over the span of your lifetime every time you apply.
It's one of those asterisked "Must supply" lines on a computer form online.
Anyone who doesn't want to fill it out on a form voluntarily has that right - but it's basically a feel good gesture in America. We rank as the #1 Socialist State in the world, Free or not, like it, or not.
If anything, we should celebrate not giving it for a firearms transfer as one of the few things we don't have to. Don't get giddy over it tho, there's a catch - if the Federal Government issues the number, don't you think they can figure out who has it?
We are the ones giving it away freely in exchange for other things in life.
Texas most definitely does NOT have to call on a transfer. However they MAY call in a transfer, just that they are not REQUIRED to do it. Option of the seller. The CHL information & background check is the same as what the state would do on a call. I just moved out of Texas and never had a call while I lived there and had a CHL.
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