gun registration
I lost several registered guns awhile back. Unfortunately the records of serial numbers was also taken. An inside job I suspect. The pistols were registered to me at purchase. What entity keeps the records? Can I get the serial numbers from there? I'd sure like to have that number if my gun pops up at a pawn shop.Is there a stolen gun registery out there assuming I can get the serial numbers? Tanks for any help.
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If I see a gun at a flea market or anywhere that I am interest in buying what is the quickest and easiest way to check and see who's name this is registered in and if it is reported stolen. I just feel sometimes unsure when I see a gun I would like to buy and would hate to purchase a stolen gun. The ATF just recently stormed the home of a neighbor and tore his house upside down(even emptied his flower pots out) They did find a gun that had been stolen over thirty years go and this person is only 35 years old. I know he didn't do this. 0 -
The names are supposed to be destroyed after I think 24 hours. The authorization numbers are kept on file. This is for the federal NICS check. States may have additional laws. 0 -
So the goverment can tell were a gun was sold? But maybe not to who? What about the store owner does he keep your paper work with your name and gun serial # on it? 0 -
There is no gun registration. Forms 4473 are kept at the dealers premises. To trace a gun, the authorities must start at the manufacturer and then to the distributor and then the dealer who checks his records and tells them you bought it. Next they come to you. That's why you need to keep good records of all guns you sell personally and to make certain all your personal sales are legal. I have been contacted three times about guns I bought. Each time I either still had the gun or could tell them who I sold it to. The first was about a .44 Special Charter Arms back when the Son of Sam killings weretaking place and the last two were for stolen guns bought at a pawn shop. 0 -
Yes the store owner keeps the 4473's until the license has been turned in and then they are boxed up and sent to the ATF. And yes NICS keeps a list of all the authorization numbers that were assigned to a dealer, weather they be approved, denied or delayed. 0 -
So guns all guns are registered, if the govererment can tell who bought each one new or that is sold by a ffl dealer? 0 -
quote:Originally posted by peddler
So the goverment can tell were a gun was sold? But maybe not to who? What about the store owner does he keep your paper work with your name and gun serial # on it?
When you buy a gun from a FFL dealer you have to fill out a 4473 federal form. This is permanently kept by the dealer. He also transfers your name and information, including serial number and description of firearm to his "bound book". All the feds have to do is contact the dealer about a specific gun, and all your information from the bound book and 4473 is available to them.
Technically the feds don't have your information, the gun dealer has it. But it is very easy for them to obtain it from the dealer. Either he provides it, or he is out of business.0 -
Indirectly, you might consider it a form of registration. All firearms made after 1968 must have a serial number and all manufacturers must keep records of their sales and these can be traced through dealers. However, stolen guns, and sales by individuals are not required to be reported or recorded and that is where most failed traces end. 0 -
Thanks for all the info, I was wrong and my buddy was right and I have to buy an $10.00 lunch. Lose some and win some, sure did not know that the government can tell I bought all my guns and when. 0 -
A large percentage of used guns are untracable because the trail of ownership is broken, even if stored in a dealers bound book and called in to NIX 0 -
I'm not sure that you lost the bet.
Yes, the Federal government can follow the trail, but only up to a certain point. And, that point varies depending upon your city/county/state. Some localities require registration of some or all guns, but most do not. Once a gun is transferred to another person in your own state (where legal), the government trail ends. Private sales, which are generally not registered, are what the politicians call "the gun show loophole".
While federal law prohibits the federal government from establishing a permanent data base of guns & who owns them, that does not prevent local government from doing that.
Neal0 -
So whats the big deal with the NRA (I am not a member) since all the guns made after 1968 were regustered when new? If you are not a crimnal why do you care if the government knows youy bought a second hand gun since they know you bought any new ones that you bought (or can easy get that info). 0 -
I would not buy lunch quite yet. On a federal level (state laws vary widely) in order to find out who owns a particular gun (or guns) someone has to actually find the gun because other than National Firearms Act weapons, there is no federal mechanism to trace/locate/list guns only by the name of the owner.
Here is how it works:
A Beretta Model 92 is recovered at a crime scene. if the state has no registration system then Beretta is contacted and given the serial number of the pistol. Their records indicate that this pistol was shipped to (say) Acme Wholesale. Acme is then contacted and they show that the pistol was sold to (say) Ajax Hardware. Ajax is contacted, they pull out the 4473 and show that the pistol was sold to John J. Johnson Jr., 100 Anystreet St, Anytown, Any State, 12345. John J. is then contacted and says that he sold the pistol to his brother Ray J. (you doesn't have to call him Johnson [;)]). Form Ray J. Johnson the trail may branch off into a long list of private sales, most of which end up being dead ends. If the gun shop has gone out of business then the BATFE has to explore the repository of out of business FFLs which is located in Martinsburg, WV and where boxes of old 4473s have been piling up since 1968.0
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