Quote:
Originally Posted by slopeshunter
So it gives you a reference number that's good for 90 days, but they don't actually know if you went ahead and sold the rifle to that person?
To me this just seems like one step closer to a long gun registry. But I don't see anywhere that I provide info on the rifle or confirm that the sale went through. So please tell me I'm being paranoid.
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You are correct when stating that the government doesn't know if a firearm was actually sold. In a private sale, no info about any firearm needs to be provided, only the buyer's PAL#, DOB, and email address is required to obtain a reference #. The reference # is supposed to be confirmation that the seller has "took the extra step" to confirm the validity of the buyer's PAL.
Retailers do need to record the info about the firearm though, for their own records, and retain that info for a ridiculous amount of time. The info on the firearm isn't provided to the Feds automatically though. I'd guess that almost all retailers have always recorded the info on firearms sales for their own purposes (warranty, sales records, etc.), so obtaining a reference # to confirm someone's PAL, seems to be mostly an exercise for the government to say "that we're doing something". The RCMP could request that info from retailers, but that bridge hasn't been crossed yet.