Gun Registration 101

[DuneHopper]

I'm sure I must be missing something here; if I sell a gun to someone which includes a BG check of the buyer, how do "they" know what guns I have? Seems to me all "they" know about is a gun I no longer have.

I think we can all agree that selling a gun, or any regulated item, illegally, or telling lies is conduct unbecoming of a law abiding person. On the other hand, toothless unenforceable laws are stupid. And of course, some laws are stupid to start with. UBC laws are stupid if for no other reason than we all know who obeys laws, and who doesn't.

This is referring to the probably millions who did not abide by SB941 will be the most effected.
The OSP has records depending who you ask 7-10 years so any firearms you bought in the last 7 years at a FFL they know about and if you did not use said FFL to sell these they know. If one did a BCG then it wont matter as much but still if you bought a firearm from a FFL the last 7 years they still know what you have. The thing is Gun REgistration has been going on around 10 year in Oregon and non were the wiser as it was called records storage. They were supposed to be stored at all .

 

[gmerkt]

This is referring to the probably millions who did not abide by SB941 will be the most effected.
The OSP has records depending who you ask 7-10 years so any firearms you bought in the last 7 years at a FFL they know about and if you did not use said FFL to sell these they know. If one did a BCG then it wont matter as much but still if you bought a firearm from a FFL the last 7 years they still know what you have. The thing is Gun REgistration has been going on around 10 year in Oregon and non were the wiser as it was called records storage. They were supposed to be stored at all .

Wash. has pretty much the same system for handguns. Even since the adoption of I-594, I don't think they record and retain this information for long guns since we still don't have to do the extra paperwork for them that is required for handguns. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

The Wash. Dept. of Licensing keeps the handgun records of sales. At present, they are several years behind in recording information onto individual record files. There is a document called a Firearms Record Certification Request that you can fill out, submit through your LEO then the DOL will send back an extract of what information they have. I don't know if there is a protocol for removing sold items from the list.

BUT: A record of a long gun sold since adoption of I-594 is still on file at the recording FFL, it's possible a paper trail and investigation could lead back to that FFL and to a subsequent seller who didn't abide by I-594 and sold it later "off paper." All firearms bought through an FFL on paper since adoption of I-594 are potentially seriously sensitive items insofar as criminal prosecution and civil litigation are concerned. Note I used the word "potentially" because the likelihood of a problem of this sort is relatively low, given the number of firearms in circulation. I don't want to be the exception.

The scenario isn't apt to be that an LEO catches a person in the act of violating I-594. More likely, the firearm will find it's way into some situation where it as an object comes to the attention of the law, then they trace it back to you and want to know to whom and how you sold it. If there is a post-I-594 record that traces the gun to you, they've got you dead to rights.

I don't know if these records ever go away, totally. I bought a Smith & Wesson Model 29 in California in the 1980's. I moved to Wash. state in 1987, later sold this gun to a guy out on the coast, Raymond, Wash., I think it was. At that time, there was no legal requirement for me to transfer through a dealer. However, I did keep a little note of the man's name and address, plus a date which was around 1991 some time. Last year, I got a call from a police officer in San Rafael, Calif. They wanted to know if I was the owner of this revolver. I told them no, that I'd sold it many years ago. Then they wanted to know whom I had sold it to. I went downstairs where I keep a box full of papers like that, dug out my little note and gave them the information. This revolver had somehow made it back to California from Wash., and had been seized from a gangbanger who'd been carrying it when arrested. The point I'm making here is, the gun had been sold over 30 years previously and California still had a record of the sale and a way to trace it back to me. I'd moved a couple of times since I bought the gun; my name is unusual and connected up with a birthdate, I guess easy to find in any state.

Decades ago when I lived in Calif., the office that kept the records of handgun sales was called the SBI or State Bureau of Identification. I'm sure that's all changed since I lived there. But in those days, there was a voluntary system whereby you could send a letter to the SBI and get sold handguns cleared from your record. They would send you back a letter of verification. This of course was when private sales were still permitted there.

The only national system set up to track firearm sales is the Form 4473 and these are supposed to be kept on paper only, no computerization. Some retailers have you fill the 4473 information out on a computer, I assume but don't know for sure that this is just for their convenience and they later convert it to paper for federal record keeping purposes.

The de facto registration of handguns is a state program and function.