Do you know what impact the Patriot Act might have on these issues? Some of the things here basically say if you aren't doing anything wrong, we can't dig into your records and keep a file on you.
The Patriot Act basically is a procedural justification to dig/keep files on and detain/arrest potential crimes - terrorist in nature, but still crimes.
Good question...answer: "I have no Idea." you can never tell what they'll try to pull next. The thing that I find interesting about the situation is that these regulations were passed to tell the BATFE not to do things they were already prohibited from doing and which they knew they weren't supposed to do (keeping the records of firearms sales).