Why is the SERIAL NUMBER and MODEL NUMBER needed for a background check? It seems to me that you should ONLY check the person and be done with it. Nothing is gained with serial and model numbers,UNLESS someone is trying to build up a database for later confiscation (which, of course, our government denies they want to do)
In 1976 New Yorkers were required to register their "semiautomatic rifles" With the promise* that the registration list would NEVER be used for confiscation. Fast forward to the '90s and David Dinkins. Semiautos were declared "contraband" Love that word - means that the government's goons can have it but you can't - and guess what? NYers were given something like three months to 1 prove that they got rid of them, turn theom over to police, prove that they were rendered inoperable, of face confiscation. about a dozen of the 1800 or so owners chose to ignore the law and thanks to the registrations lists, those ever heroic defenders of liberty, the NYC police came and arrested those who hadn't complied (7 or 8 some of the dozen were paperwork errors) and CONFISCATED THEIR firearms. Stroke of the pen instant criminal "kinda cool" < /sarcasm>
Seven or eight doesn't sound like all that many, but ONE would be too many.
*Politicians promises - only a Statist or a New Yorker would believe them.
Have you bought a gun lately?
The ATF Form 4473 question 27 and 28 already asks for model and serial number.