bbdb-search is a macro

I'm wondering why (in my ignorance) in bbdb-com.el,
bbdb-search is a very long defmacro and not a defun.  Here's
why.  On my Emacs implementations on a Termux phone and
tablet, Emacs 28.3, the following code, which works on Emacs
28/29 on my Arch systems
          
(setq person (car (bbdb-search (bbdb-records) :mail netaddr)))

throws an error saying "bbdb-search invalid-function".
"netaddr" is of course previously defined.

I think this has to do with bbdb-search being a macro and not
a function.  Maybe?

Any thoughts?  Or is this just too unclear?

I'm baffled why it works on one group of systems and not
another.

-- 
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i

- Via GNU/Linux/Emacs/Gnus/BBDB