FEDERAL FORM 4473

A 'Firearms Transaction Record', or 'Federal Form 4473', is a United States government form that must be filled out when a person buys a firearm from a Federal Firearm License holder (such as a gun shop).
The Form 4473 contains the name, address, driver's license or identification number, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background check transaction number, serial number and model of the firearm, and a short federal affidavit stating that the purchaser is eligible to purchase firearms under federal law. Lying on this form is a felony and can be punished by up to five years in prison in addition to fines, even if the transaction is simply denied by the NICS.
The dealer must keep the Form 4473 for twenty years and all records are subject to inspection by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The dealer also records all information from the form 4473 into his bound-book. A dealer must keep this log the entire time he is in business and is required to surrender the log to the ATF upon retirement from the firearms business. The ATF is allowed to request a copy of the 4473 from the dealer during the course of a criminal investigation.
In addition, the sale of two or more handguns to a person in a five day period must be reported to ATF on Form 3310.4.
These forms are given the same status as a tax return under the Privacy Act of 1974 and cannot be disclosed to private parties or government officials without a proper warrant.
Many gun owners fear that 4473s will become a "shopping list" for confiscation. A reference to this fear is found in the 1984 film "Red Dawn" in which an invading army confiscates civilian arms via 4473s.

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★ Information from atf.gov