What Is an Electronic 4473? Everything FFLs Need to Know
If you're an FFL — whether you run a gun store, pawn shop, shooting range, or any business that transfers firearms — you've filled out thousands of ATF Form 4473s. You know the form. You know the fields. You know the feeling of finding a missing signature at the bottom of page four during a busy Saturday.
An electronic 4473 is the solution to every one of those problems. It's the same federally required Firearms Transaction Record, completed digitally instead of on paper, with built-in validation that prevents the errors, omissions, and compliance gaps that put FFL licenses at risk.
Here's what it is, how it works, what the ATF requires, and why the majority of high-volume FFLs in the country have already made the switch.
The Basics: ATF Form 4473
Before we get into the electronic version, let's ground this in what the form actually is.
ATF Form 4473 — officially titled the Firearms Transaction Record — is required by federal law for every transfer of a firearm from a licensed dealer to a non-licensee. That includes sales, trades, layaway pickups, consignment redemptions, pawn redemptions, and any other transaction where a firearm changes hands from your FFL to a customer.
The form captures the buyer's identifying information, their responses to a series of federal eligibility questions, the firearm details (make, model, serial number, type, caliber or gauge), and documentation of the NICS background check. Both the buyer and the seller sign and date the form. The completed 4473 must be retained by the FFL for a minimum of 20 years from the date of sale.
There is no exception. Every transfer gets a 4473. Every 4473 must be complete, accurate, and retrievable on demand during an ATF inspection.
So What Is an Electronic 4473?
An electronic 4473 (also called an E4473, digital 4473, or eForm 4473) is a software platform that allows FFLs to complete ATF Form 4473 digitally rather than on paper. The customer fills out their sections on a tablet, computer, or kiosk. The dealer completes the transferor sections in the same system. The form is validated, signed electronically, and stored digitally — all within a single guided workflow.
The critical distinction: an electronic 4473 is not a PDF that you fill in on a screen and print. It's a purpose-built software application that enforces compliance rules at every step. It validates fields as they're completed. It prevents incomplete forms from being saved. It auto-populates firearm data from your inventory. It flags potential issues — like a NICS delay or a disqualifying answer — before the transaction proceeds.
The result is a 4473 that is complete, accurate, and audit-ready the moment it's finalized. No missing fields. No illegible handwriting. No lost forms. No boxes of paper taking up storage space for two decades.
E4473 is the most widely deployed electronic 4473 platform in the specialty retail industry, built natively into Bravo Store Systems and trusted by thousands of FFLs nationwide.
How an Electronic 4473 Works
The workflow is straightforward, and most dealers find it faster than paper within the first day of use.
Step 1: Customer Entry
The customer receives a tablet or is directed to a kiosk or computer screen. They enter their personal information — name, address, place of birth, height, weight, race, ethnicity, and identification details — directly into the system. As they type, the software validates each field in real time. If an address is incomplete, the system flags it. If a required field is skipped, the customer can't proceed until it's filled in.
The customer then answers the federal eligibility questions (Section B, Questions 21.a through 21.l). These are the critical yes/no questions that determine whether the buyer is legally eligible to receive a firearm. If a disqualifying answer is entered, the system alerts the dealer immediately — before any further processing occurs.
The customer signs electronically and certifies the accuracy of their responses, just as they would on paper.
Step 2: Dealer Verification
The dealer reviews the customer's entries, verifies them against the customer's government-issued photo identification, and confirms the information is accurate. Any discrepancies between the form and the ID are resolved before proceeding.
The dealer then enters the firearm information. In an integrated system like E4473 with Bravo POS, this step is automatic — the firearm data (manufacturer, model, serial number, type, caliber) is pulled directly from inventory. No manual transcription of serial numbers. No abbreviating model names. No guessing at caliber designations. The data is pulled from the same record that was created when the firearm was received, ensuring the 4473 matches the A&D book exactly.
Step 3: NICS Background Check
The dealer initiates the NICS background check. In many electronic 4473 systems, the customer's information auto-populates into the NICS submission, eliminating the redundant data entry that causes transcription errors — one of the most commonly cited violation categories during ATF inspections.
The NICS response (Proceed, Delayed, or Denied) is recorded directly on the electronic 4473, along with the NICS Transaction Number (NTN) and the date and time of the check.
Step 4: Completion and Storage
The dealer signs electronically, the form is finalized, and it's stored in the system — either locally, in the cloud, or both. With E4473 Cloud Storage, the completed form is encrypted, backed up, and retained for the full 20-year requirement automatically. It's searchable by any field — customer name, serial number, date, transaction number — and retrievable in seconds during an inspection.
The entire process typically takes less time than paper because there's no handwriting, no flipping pages, no separate NICS data entry, and no filing the form into a storage box afterward.
Is an Electronic 4473 Legal?
Yes. The ATF has explicitly authorized the use of electronic 4473 systems.
ATF Ruling 2016-2 established the regulatory framework for electronic completion of Form 4473. The ruling authorizes FFLs to use electronic systems provided the system meets specific requirements for accuracy, legibility, data integrity, security, and accessibility during inspections.
ATF Ruling 2022-01 expanded authorization to include electronic storage of completed 4473 forms. Prior to this ruling, many FFLs were completing 4473s electronically but still had to print and store paper copies. Now, FFLs can maintain their 4473 records entirely digitally, provided the storage system meets ATF requirements for searchability, security, backup, and legibility.
E4473 is fully compliant with both rulings and is continuously updated as ATF regulations evolve. When the ATF issues a new ruling or revises the form, the platform updates automatically — your team is always working on the current version without having to order new paper forms or retrain on changed field layouts.
Why FFLs Are Switching to Electronic 4473
Error Prevention
This is the single biggest reason. ATF Form 4473 errors are the most commonly cited violation category during compliance inspections. Missing fields, incorrect dates, unsigned certifications, illegible entries, mismatched firearm descriptions — these are the findings that accumulate into patterns, and patterns become evidence of willful non-compliance.
An electronic 4473 prevents these errors from occurring in the first place. The system won't save an incomplete form. It validates every field at entry. It auto-populates data that would otherwise be transcribed by hand. The error rate on electronic 4473s is a fraction of the error rate on paper — and for dealers using E4473, that rate approaches zero.
This isn't a marginal improvement. It's the difference between an inspection with findings and an inspection without them.
Speed
A paper 4473 involves the customer filling out multiple pages by hand, the dealer reviewing every field, manually entering NICS data, processing the background check, completing the transferor section, signing, dating, and then physically filing the form. On a busy day with multiple transactions, this process creates bottlenecks.
An electronic 4473 compresses this workflow. Customers type faster than they write. Validation happens in real time instead of after the fact. Firearm data populates automatically from inventory. NICS data carries over without re-entry. The form is stored instantly with no physical filing step.
Dealers consistently report that electronic 4473s reduce per-transaction processing time, which translates directly to more throughput during peak hours and a better customer experience.
Storage and Retrieval
FFLs are required to retain 4473 forms for 20 years from the date of sale (5 years for denied/cancelled transactions). For a store processing 500 transactions per year, that's 10,000 forms over 20 years — all of which must be organized, secure, legible, and retrievable on demand.
Paper storage means boxes. Boxes mean space. Space means cost. Boxes also mean physical vulnerability — fire, flood, theft, rodents, deterioration, disorganization. And when an ATF inspector asks for a specific form, it means someone flipping through thousands of pages trying to find it.
E4473 Cloud Storage eliminates all of this. Every form is stored digitally, encrypted, backed up daily, and searchable by any field. Retrieval takes seconds. Storage costs drop to nearly zero. And the built-in ATF Audit Portal gives inspectors restricted, read-only access to perform their review from a designated workstation — no more handing over boxes of paper.
Bound Book Integration
When your electronic 4473 is integrated with your POS and your electronic A&D book — as E4473 is with Bravo Store Systems — the compliance connection between your 4473 records and your bound book is automatic. The disposition logs when the sale completes. The firearm description matches because both records pull from the same inventory data. The cross-reference that ATF inspectors rely on during audits is built into the system.
This integration is what separates a genuine compliance platform from a standalone digital form. When your 4473 and your bound book are in sync by design, the entire category of cross-reference violations disappears.
Multiple Sale Detection
Federal law requires FFLs to report multiple handgun sales (and certain rifle sales in border states) to the ATF via Form 3310.4 or 3310.12. With a paper system, tracking whether a customer has purchased more than one qualifying firearm within a five-business-day window depends entirely on someone remembering to check.
An electronic 4473 integrated with your POS detects these events automatically. The system knows what the customer has purchased, when, and whether the reporting threshold has been triggered. The required form is generated without manual intervention.
What About the Customer Experience?
One concern dealers sometimes raise is whether customers will be comfortable completing a form electronically instead of on paper. In practice, the opposite is true — customers overwhelmingly prefer the electronic experience.
The digital interface is cleaner and easier to follow than the paper form. Customers don't have to decipher small print or figure out which sections apply to them. The system guides them through each field in sequence, explains what's being asked in plain language, and prevents them from making mistakes that would require starting over on a new paper form.
For repeat customers, the process is even faster. Their information is securely stored (with appropriate consent and in compliance with privacy requirements), so subsequent transactions start with pre-populated fields rather than a blank form.
The result is shorter wait times, fewer frustrated customers, and a more professional transaction experience — which matters in a retail environment where the 4473 process is often the least enjoyable part of a firearm purchase.
How to Get Started
If you're still on paper 4473s and ready to make the switch, the process is simpler than you might expect.
If you're already on Bravo Store Systems: E4473 is built natively into your POS. Contact your Bravo representative to activate electronic 4473 and cloud storage. There's no separate software to install — it's already part of your platform.
If you're on a different POS: E4473 can be discussed as a standalone solution or as part of a full migration to Bravo Store Systems. The Bravo team handles setup, training, data migration, and ongoing support.
Either way: Schedule a free demo to see the electronic 4473 workflow in action. You'll see exactly how the customer entry, dealer verification, NICS integration, and cloud storage work — and you'll understand why thousands of FFLs have already made the switch.
Still filling out 4473s on paper? See what you're missing. Schedule a free demo or email us at hello@e4473.com.
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