There's a lot of smoke here ..

1. The sole purpose, from the US side, of a 4457 is to prove to customs, upon re-entry, that you did not purchase the goods overseas, and thus are not required to pay customs duty or (in the case of a firearm or ammo or brass or any "defense article") produce an import permit from the ATF. So this form is not a firearms form, it is generic to any item of value that customs might try to tax you on, upon returning.
2. In the alternate, you can produce any document that proves prior ownership of the item upon reentry to achieve the same purpose, eg an invoice or bill of sale or even an insurance policy.
3. There is no longer a requirement to register with the State Dept as an exporter of sporting firearms when exporting a sporting firearm. You can get an export permit through the Dept of Commerce which is much easier to do, and less expensive. They do require certain documentation though including the import permit from the receiving country as they don't want guns going to certain countries.

From the point of view of the destination country, however, the 4457 has become a substitute for a firearms license. If you have a license (eg from NY city) you can use that in lieu of a 4457 but they expect to see a 4457. This is especially true of South Africa. Each country has it's own requirements. Zim doesn't care about 4457s, nor does Namibia.

So unless I missed some new legislation, US customs has no legal grounds to require you to produce a 4457 upon departure. They do have the right to put you away if they somehow can prove you took a firearm out, and did not bring it back in. So it does not surprise me that they keep a computer record of firearms going out on 4457s. The obvious way to stymie them is to produce a receipt and not a 4457 upon departure, if asked.

You would think they had bigger fish to fry. How about focusing more manpower on the cartels and their activities at the southern border??

Excellent and correct post!

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
Anymore, I rent gun at destinations and travel only with carry on and backpack
You gentlemen should try it, you will feel free like the bird

I have only made four trips to Africa, but they have all been on American Airlines air miles connecting through London. Since AA does not allow guns on flights connecting through London using camp rifles has been my only option.