Sales records are a different animal.
They are kept by the FFL permanently, I believe.
I’ll look it up and post the info.
Sales Records: FFLs are required to maintain records of the acquisition and sale of firearms indefinitely.
The dealer must record, “in bound form,” the purchase or other acquisition of a firearm not later than the close of the next business day following the purchase or acquisition.
The dealer must similarly record the sale or other disposition of a firearm not later than seven days following the date of such transaction and retain Form 4473, the Firearms Transaction Record.
When a firearms business is discontinued, these records are delivered to the successor or, if none exists, to the Attorney General.
With very limited exceptions, records of firearm sales are not maintained at the federal level. The National Firearms Act Branch of ATF does maintain a limited registry of machine guns, short-barreled shotguns or rifles, and silencers, known as the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
I think they digitize them after that.
One thing we should push for is destruction of the 4473s and bound books. There is no real benefit to keeping that data except as a basis for a national registration.
Traces solve almost nothing. The cost to benefit ratio is exceedingly low.