Illegal, foolish, waste of taxpayer money?
That’s our government in a nutshell.
And it's probably the career bureaucrats who are pushing this records collection thing. Gun owners know how stupid the "gun control" activists are - we've seen the ones who think bayonet lugs & adjustable stocks are dangerous, and the ones who think mags are like cans of hairspray ('when they're empty, they can't be refilled'), and the ones who think 'assault rifle' ammo is "more powerful" than hunting ammo.
Funny thing is, the bureaucrats know the Schumer/Feinstein-types are as dumb as rocks, too. So when they want more budget money to piss away, the ATF management tells the gun-grabbers "we can build a registration database from 4473s - but we need a bigger budget and more employees". And sure as shootin', they get a bigger budget and more employees - and probably promotions for the management, all to build a database that will be about as useful as Uncle Bob's dusty old daytimer, from when he was a sales rep for American Motors...