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I was talking to a buddy of mine the other day and he told me he had decided to buy a pistol for himself and his girlfriend. He did so at one of the local dealers, passed all the usual federal stuff and took the guns home. A few days later he gets a phone call from the ATF and they tell him he needs to take the guns back or face jail time. It seems that back in 1972 he was involved in a domestic dispute, was arrested and went before a judge and paid a fine. Does that mean that my buddy can NEVER own a firearm? Answers appreciated.

Tacoma

Tell him to call a lawyer.

ATF is well known for using 'scare tactics'. I don't know if this is the law or not. A Lawyer would, and would be able to properly request the information required to determine if they're being serious, or simply trying to scare him.

Secondly, How did ATF even GET the info? The Call-in BG Checks are supposed to be destroyed DAILY.

Once again. Lawyer.

Yeah, something isn't right about that call.

He needs to find out exactly what the charge and conviction were for, but the first thing he needs to do is make sure the gun isn't in his possession, meaning not even in his "constructive possession". He needs to have someone else store it for him, or his girlfriend needs a small combination safe that only she knows the combination to.

Then he can get around to sorting out whether that 1972 incident qualifies as a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence".

If it does, then yeah: he's totally hosed for life, as far as possessing or using a firearm or ammo.

Don't know if this helps, but the current law here in Texas was recently explained to me by a lawyer as this;
If you are involved in a domestic violence, are charged, and found guilty, you can never have it expunged and you can never have a firearm even though it is a Class II misdemenor and not a felony. If you get caught with a gun, it is a felony.
Went through this with my son who had been in a drunken argument with a girlfriend and then had the stupidity to mouth off the the cops. He took the ride even though he didn't hit her. The case was later dismissed, but it was $$.
This is, of course, not legal advice. I'd get a lawyer to confirm what my lawyer told me. Thing is, the laws back in the 70's were a lot different on this issue then.

http://www.justice.gov/olc/2007/atfmcdv-opinion.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” firearms prohibition is the product of two provisions in title 18 of the U.S. Code. Section 922(g) (emphasis added) provides:
It shall be unlawful for any person— .. .
(9) who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
Section 921(a)(33)(A) (emphases added) in turn defines a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” as:
an offense that—
(i) is a misdemeanor under Federal or State law; and
(ii) has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, committed by a current or former spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the victim as a spouse, parent, or guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim.
Putting these two provisions together, the prohibition applies, as relevant here, only to a person who (1) has been “convicted” in court, (2) of an “offense,” (3) that “has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon.”1 The application of this prohibition, then, depends upon the “element[s]” of the particular “offense” of which the person was “convicted.” That is, the prohibition turns on the legal definition of the predicate offense of conviction, not on the actual conduct that may have led to the conviction for that offense. One must determine what the convicting court found, not what the defendant did.