Background checks started in 1994(I think), but filling out the 4473, a form that normally is never destroyed and is sent to the FBI after a dealer goes out of business(I think) has been in effect since the passing of the 1968 Gun Control Act, roughtly 44 years. Having said that, if a private citizen sells a weapon to another private citizen, a transaction that in many states does not require any paperwork, the government functionally loses all trace of where it went.
And thanks to you for the info. about those gun forms. I was really mixed up about that. I was giving the govn. more power than they actually have to know what I did.
So everyone needs to sell their weapons.