It’s what my FFL dealer told me. I asked him to check the FBI database to see what guns I’d purchased and it came up blank.
I’ll give you an example of BATFE’s elephantine memory.
I was headed for Germany in 1981 & took along my S&W .38 snubnose. Three years later my tour was up & I realized the Chiefs Special was nonimportable unless I could prove I had brought it from stateside.
I wrote to BATFE & asked for a letter verifying that I had bought the gun in 1973. They sent me a nice letter with the serial #, date AND time it was transferred, and which K-Mart I had bought it in. Went through customs, no problemo.
That’s ten years later.....