What is ATF Form 4473 violation

| by Max Soni

What is ATF Form 4473 violation?

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek – with over 40 years of combined experience handling federal firearms cases, criminal defense, and cases that other attorneys say are impossible to win. You might know us from the Anna Delvey Netflix series, or from representing the juror in the Ghislaine Maxwell misconduct case.

If you’re reading this, you probably filled out ATF Form 4473 when buying a gun, and now federal agents are asking questions. Or ATF showed up at your door wanting to talk about false statements on a firearms purchase form. That’s an ATF Form 4473 violation – and it’s a federal felony that carries up to 10 years in prison under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6).

What ATF Form 4473 actually is

Every time you buy a gun from a licensed dealer – you fill out Form 4473. It’s the Firearms Transaction Record. The form asks about your identity, your criminal history, whether you use drugs, whether you’re under indictment, whether you’ve been convicted of domestic violence, whether you’re the actual buyer. Twenty-eight questions, each one carrying the weight of federal law.

Question 21.a is the killer – “Are you the actual transferee/buyer of the firearm(s)?” If you’re buying a gun for someone else who gave you money, or if someone asked you to buy it because they can’t pass a background check, and you answer “yes” anyway – that’s a straw purchase. That’s the most common Form 4473 violation we see, and ATF prosecutes it aggressively.

The form warns you right there on the page: answering yes when you’re not the actual buyer is a crime punishable as a felony under federal law. People ignore that warning. They think it’s just paperwork – until ATF agents are interviewing them about conspiracy to violate federal firearms laws.

The federal charges nobody takes seriously until it’s too late

Lying on Form 4473 is a standalone federal crime. You don’t have to commit another crime with the gun. You don’t have to be a prohibited person yourself. You don’t even have to successfully buy the gun – if the background check denies you and you lied on the form, that’s still a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(1)(A).

Two different statutes apply here, and prosecutors pick whichever one gives them more leverage. Section 924(a)(1)(A) covers false statements on the form – that’s up to 5 years in prison. But if you “knowingly” violated the law, prosecutors charge you under Section 922(a)(6) instead – that’s up to 10 years in federal prison. Plus fines that can reach $250,000. Plus the firearm gets seized and forfeited to the government.

The Supreme Court made this clear in Abramski v. United States – even if the person you’re buying for could legally own a gun themselves, lying about who the actual buyer is constitutes a material false statement. You can’t argue “well, my uncle could have bought the gun himself, so what’s the harm?” The Court rejected that defense entirely.

Straw purchases – the violation ATF hunts hardest

ATF doesn’t prosecute every Form 4473 violation. In 2017 alone, over 25 million background checks were performed, and according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, only about 5,000 to 6,000 people per year get convicted of firearms offenses related to these forms. But straw purchases? ATF prioritizes those cases above almost everything else.

We’ve represented clients who bought guns for boyfriends with felony records, clients who bought AR-15s for friends who offered gas money, clients who bought handguns for family members “as gifts” when really the family member paid for it. Every single one of those scenarios is a straw purchase – and every one is a federal felony.

The “bona fide gift” exception exists, but it’s narrow. You can legitimately buy a gun as a gift for someone else – if you’re using your own money, if you’re not getting reimbursed, if the recipient can legally own firearms, and if you’re the one making the decision to buy it. The moment someone asks you to buy it for them, or gives you money for it, or can’t legally possess it – that gift exception disappears.

What happens when ATF comes asking questions

ATF investigations into Form 4473 violations usually start one of three ways. The background check gets denied and ATF notices inconsistencies. The gun you bought shows up at a crime scene and gets traced back to you. Someone you know gets arrested, and ATF starts looking at every gun purchase connected to that person.

Here’s where people destroy their cases before talking to an attorney. ATF or FBI agents show up – sometimes at your home, sometimes at your work – and they want to talk about a gun purchase. They’re friendly, casual, they say they’re just trying to clear something up.

Every word you say becomes evidence. “I bought it for my boyfriend” – that’s a confession to a straw purchase. “I didn’t think it mattered since he could pass a background check himself” – that’s admitting you knew you were buying it for someone else. “I just checked the boxes, I didn’t really read the questions” – that doesn’t help you, because the form has warnings in bold text.

At Spodek Law Group – we’ve handled these cases for years, and the biggest mistake people make is talking to federal agents without a lawyer. Not because you’re trying to hide something, but because you don’t understand how federal prosecutors build firearms cases. They don’t need a confession to the entire crime – they need you to admit one or two facts, then they use your own statements against you at trial.

Why federal firearms charges require immediate action

Form 4473 violations are federal charges – that means Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecuting your case, federal judges deciding your sentence, federal sentencing guidelines that dramatically limit judicial discretion. Unlike state court where judges have flexibility, federal judges are constrained by mandatory minimums and guideline calculations that treat firearms offenses seriously.

We’ve represented clients facing these charges in New York, across Long Island, and in federal courts nationwide. Todd Spodek built this firm on handling cases other attorneys won’t touch – the Anna Delvey case that became a Netflix series, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case that made national headlines, federal firearms prosecutions where the evidence looked overwhelming.

If ATF contacted you about a gun purchase, if you’re under investigation for a straw purchase, if you made a mistake on Form 4473 and now you’re facing federal charges – call us at Spodek Law Group before you talk to anyone else. We’re available 24/7 because federal investigations don’t wait for business hours. Our former federal prosecutors on staff understand exactly how ATF builds these cases, and how to dismantle them.

Federal firearms cases don’t disappear – they build quietly until prosecutors have enough evidence to indict. By then, your options are limited. But if you involve us early, while the investigation is ongoing, we can intervene before charges are filed, negotiate with prosecutors before they’ve committed to an indictment, and build your defense while the evidence is still fresh.