Serial numbers ?

OV-1D · September-03-13 04:09

Can someone tell me just why serial numbers are so protected when showing guns especially on the internet . I don't get it but seemingly there has to be a reason . Inquiring minds need to know , like me .

tnhawk · September-03-13 06:09

I haven't seen any reason to hide the serial number of a gun. All of mine can be traced to the FLL or seller.

MR_22 · September-03-13 09:09

Some people are paranoid that somebody out there might maliciously use a serial number. Perhaps somebody might put the serial number on a sales transaction to protect their privacy, or maybe even use the number for an illegal sale.

Honestly, tho, it's mostly just that--paranoia. I often obliterate the last 3 numbers in Photoshop before I post pictures of my guns, but honestly, it's not really that big of a deal. If anybody wants to maliciously use serial numbers, all they have to do is visit GunBroker and they can steal all of the serial numbers they want from photos posted there. If a gun is sold by a dealer, it's a BIG DEAL to use a falsified serial number, and if it's a private sale, records are officially kept. So HOW do you maliciously use a serial number? I dunno. I also don't know of a single case where it's happened.

Worry about it if you want--or don't. I don't think anybody's really going to care in the end.

OV-1D · September-03-13 09:09

I even had some moron tell me he wasn't going to let me know the number until I won the auction bid . Needless to say I told that jackas* to pack it where the sun doesn't shine and that wasn't the closet . Anyone can just make up a number for some corrupt purpose , what a joke . Anyone NOT showing the numbers I consider a thief and it's a stolen weapon or questionable at least .

MR_22 · September-03-13 12:09

LOL. More than once, I have refused to sell a gun to a schmuck. One guy was so irate when I didn't show up exactly on time to sell him a gun that he said he was going home. He literally blew up at me on the phone and chewed me out left and right. I calmly him to go ahead and go home, because I wasn't going to sell a gun to a HOT HEAD like him. Fortunately, I never heard from him again and I didn't feel one bit disappointed for not making a sale.

doc_stadig · September-03-13 14:09

I'm thinking that it is the unscrupulous person that will report a serial number as having been stolen, and tying it up for a length of time, and perhaps even having it wind up in their hands.

Doc

boone123 · September-03-13 14:09

You beat me to it Doc, that was my thoughts. That $5000 Colt SA made in 1906 was stolen from my great grandfather, and we have proof.

MR_22 · September-03-13 15:09

Good point. I can see that happening.

A bad guy sees a gun he wants and unscrupulously gets the serial number. Then he runs down to the police station to file a false police report for a stolen gun. The he waits for his free gun to show up at his front door.

Hmm. I guess I can't really see a bad guy doing that. Bad guys don't like the police. And then he's got to wait for somebody to sell the gun again so the serial number gets noticed, and whomever does sell the gun will likely still have records about where HE got it from in the first place. Then police come back to the stolen gun report and discover it's a false report. And if the bad guy hopes to get a gun soon, he's probably going to have to file multiple false reports--which in itself might look suspicious. And if he files ANY false police report, they have his contact information anyway--and bad guys don't like volunteering that sort of information, especially to police. And if he's already a bad guy, he's probably not legal to own a gun in the first place, hence a report about a stolen gun is probably going to get him flagged as possibly possessing a gun illegally. So he has to be a bad guy with a clean record.

So, a bad guy with a clean record runs down to the police station to file a false police report... wait. He has no record, huh? Then he's probably a good guy and good guys don't file false police reports. Maybe he just turned from bad guy to good guy and wanted to get a gun afterwards? Too bad he didn't think of getting a gun when he was a good guy.

Hmm. I'm not sure I do see this sort of thing happening....

OV-1D · September-03-13 16:09

Dang D you lost me half way through the second paragraph hahahaha . Now whos on first ? Wait ,wait no I got it , I got It . No , no I lost it again . wait , wait nope it's gone . Let me start over.............. I'll get back to you this .

What was the question

?... No wait.............. nevermind !

MR_22 · September-03-13 16:09

I'm just trying to figure out how a bad guy could use a serial number of somebody else's gun to his gain and I really came up with nothing. I don't think it works. Mostly thinking aloud, but I just don't see anybody reporting someone else's gun as stolen in order to obtain it.

OV-1D · September-03-13 16:09

I agree with ya D , I was just jokin with ya . A registered gun is a registered gun somewhere theres proof unless it was bought under table which isn't too smart anyhow even though I've bought my share of them over the years . Always take dated pictures of all your weapons (and numbers) just for beginners . Hope you don't mind the ribbing .

boone123 · September-03-13 16:09

Some guns can be sold time after time, person to person, no paper trail. I have guns with no proof of where they came from.
I would never advertise a gun with the full serial number exposed to the world, unless I had the paper work from when I bought it new. Then maybe. Not worth the risk. Nothing to gain anyway.

MR_22 · September-03-13 18:09

Sure, nothing to gain from advertising your serial numbers, but I am convinced there's really nothing to lose, either.

Still, if I have the time, I blur out that last three numbers. If I don't, some paranoid gun owner will just send me a private message telling me how dangerous my picture is. LOL.

And yes, I do get the "off the books" comments. I make sure I know which of mine are off the books and they are the ones I keep when I'm considering selling something. The gubment knows I have guns, but they don't necessarily know how many or which ones. They aren't supposed to keep records on which guns I legally buy at gun stores, either, but we all know how well they can be trusted with private information--Snowden showed us that (or rather proved what we already suspected). Besides, the dealers keep track of gun sales for, what, ten years anyway? So even if THEY, the government, doesn't have the information, they know where to get it.

grayelky · September-05-13 07:09

Quote from: MR_22 on September-03-13 18:09...Besides, the dealers keep track of gun sales for, what, ten years anyway? So even if THEY, the government, doesn't have the information, they know where to get it.

Actually, it is 20 years.

MR_22 · September-05-13 08:09

Really? 20 years? Wow. So that reaches almost back to the passing of the background checks. In ten more years, they'll change it to 30, no doubt.

And the left wonders why we are afraid of being forced to log private gun sales...!

TwoGunJayne · September-05-13 13:09

Quote from: MR_22 on September-05-13 08:09
And the left wonders why we are afraid of being forced to log private gun sales...!

Ask the Jews and the Poles.

MR_22 · September-05-13 14:09

Quote from: TwoGunJayne on September-05-13 13:09
Ask the Jews and the Poles.

"But it's against the law for the government to collect gun sales data! Even the new background check bill that failed required that the government NOT keep the records!"

Uncle_Lee · September-14-13 05:09

Quote from: MR_22 on September-05-13 14:09
Quote from: TwoGunJayne on September-05-13 13:09
Ask the Jews and the Poles.

"But it's against the law for the government to collect gun sales data! Even the new background check bill that failed required that the government NOT keep the records!"

AND!!!
The departments of the federal government never break the law.

YUK YUK YUK

MR_22 · September-14-13 10:09

Exactly. Yet this is the exact reasoning gun-grabbers tried to use to garnish support for additional background checks--it's illegal for the government to collect and use that data. As if they really believed the government wouldn't eventually abuse the data, since it was being collected already.

G50AE · September-14-13 20:09

Quote from: uncle_lee on September-14-13 05:09
AND!!!
The departments of the federal government never break the law.

YUK YUK YUK

I am waiting for some of Eric Holder's new projects,
Operation Too Fast, Too Furious
Operation Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift
Operation Fast and Furious, Let's annoy the Canadians Eh!
Operation Fast and Furious Five

45flint · September-15-13 06:09

The other side the gun you bought 10 years ago in a private transaction was stolen and now you try to sell it. Unless you know the entire history of a gun there could be a legit police report out there from the past.