In every ATF compliance check I ever had in the 48yrs of having an 01FFL,, every District position in the log book had to be accompanied by a 4473 of the transfer, or a valid hard copy of the FFL that the gun was transfered to.
Each and every one of either of those documents had to be present and accounted for (and valid and properly filled out, and on and on) for each transaction in the log book since the last Compliance check and sign off by the ATF Agent at that time . . .
4473s, yes, but not paper copies of FFLs.
I only had two inspections in my eight years so I should probably defer to your superior experience, but I wont. I was never asked to produce license copies. You know why? Because theres no requirement to retain physical copies of FFLs. The only thing required for an FFL transfer is that you record the name and license number. Prove me wrong. Cite a federal regulation or ATF advisory/rule that says otherwise.
I dont doubt that you stored all that paper, but you werent required to do so.
Heck, in a routine inspection, dispositions more than one year old are not examined in any way. They verify that there are guns present corresponding to each open bound book entry and skim through one years worth of 4473 forms. A closed entry older than a year might as well not exist. They sure dont take the time to match up paper FFL copies.
