[dogtown tom]

Johnnyboy656 A close friend recently purchased a rifle but realized he had made a mistake on the eForm 4473 after the transfer was completed. He would like to know what to do, so I am going to try and relate his situation as he explained it to me.
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A friend of mine recently purchased a hunting rifle in VA and filled out the eForm 4473 using his VA drivers license and VA voter registration card. However, due to his job he had been moving around the East Coast for the two years after he last lived permanently in VA. However his VA ID's were the last form of ID he had acquired. He is planning on moving back to VA permanently in less than a week but at the time of purchase (one week ago), his PHYSICAL location of where he was living was not in VA. He was not sure if his VA drivers license is/was still valid at the time of purchase, though that is the only form of ID that he had (he said that the NCIS check went through and completed the sale). He has made it very clear that he wants to be compliant with the law. Before you decide to berate him in responses to this post for not being 100% certain of the law before completing the purchase of the firearm, just keep in mind that he is sincerely trying to correct the situation. He would like to correct this mistake of the eForm 4473 and be fully compliant with the law, what should he do? He suggested that he would take the gun back to the dealer and then repurchase the gun with the correct VA address that he is moving to, but we aren't sure how many problems that will stir up. We both realize that opinions expressed in response to this are not official legal guidance/council so don't feel like you are in some way obligating yourself. Advice is appreciated though.

So what do you guys think is the best course of action to correct this?
-JB

I don't understand why he now has a guilty concience, being that he never applied for a valid drivers license in all the other states where he's been a resident....undoubtably he's been in violation of state law as well.

The bad news:
ATF doesn't have "do overs"........your friend committed a Federal crime by falsifying information on the 4473. Your friend can't plead ignorance because the instructions to each question are right there on the Form 4474.

There is no means to erase what he has done....and that dealer will keep that 4473 on file for 20 years.

The good news:
He'll likely never get caught, unless he uses that firearm in a crime and the police recover it and trace it to him. They would then need to know that he was not actually a resident of Virginia when he acquired the firearm.