Serial# Look up?

[mclovin]

I was wondering if there was a way to look up a serial# on a weapon to make sure it wasn't used in a crime?

[ClarkLZeuss]

I was wondering if there was a way to look up a serial# on a weapon to make sure it wasn't used in a crime?

This is exactly what I've been wondering, especially with the prospect of buying something at gun shows. Normally, I prefer to buy new things, but something like a Glock I don't mind buying used, because they seem to have such a great track record, and it would be much less expensive that way. It would be great to somehow find out, at the gun show, whether the gun had a clean record...sort of like how we use CarFax for used autos.

[Oldgringo]

Wouldn't you already have the gun home by the time you looked up the serial number?

[ClarkLZeuss]

Wouldn't you already have the gun home by the time you looked up the serial number?

Not if there was like an FBI number or something you could call from the gun show.

[Oldgringo]

Wouldn't you already have the gun home by the time you looked up the serial number?

Not if there was like an FBI number or something you could call from the gun show.

In other words, you want to know if the gun was somehow registered?

[mclovin]

Wouldn't you already have the gun home by the time you looked up the serial number?

Not if there was like an FBI number or something you could call from the gun show.

In other words, you want to know if the gun was somehow registered?

Pretty much, I am always weary about purchasing off someone at the gun show used or even off txtrader.

[ClarkLZeuss]

Wouldn't you already have the gun home by the time you looked up the serial number?

Not if there was like an FBI number or something you could call from the gun show.

In other words, you want to know if the gun was somehow registered?

No, not exactly. Just whether or not it has been connected to a crime. I don't even want to know the extent of the crime, just a true/false answer. I don't think guns have to be registered in the first place to make this possible, right? Or maybe I'm wrong...would the police be able to tell you a serial number was not "clean" even if they hadn't at some point confiscated it? (Cause obviously, you're not going to be able to buy a gun that was once in the hands of police). Hmmm, maybe this whole idea wouldn't work. Dang.

So let me play devil's advocate. Let's say you buy a gun, which was used in a crime, and at some point you use it in self-defense. The police take ballistics, and bada-bing! they have a match to the previous crime. How are you going to convince them that 1) it wasn't you, and 2) you didn't know?

[Oldgringo]

ClarkLZeuss asked:

...Let's say you buy a gun, which was used in a crime, and at some point you use it in self-defense. The police take ballistics, and bada-bing! they have a match to the previous crime. How are you going to convince them that 1) it wasn't you, and 2) you didn't know?

That's a reasonable question and I know there are several folk on this forum far more qualified than I to put forth a defense. I'd start with my dated Bill of Sale and then point out the time and location differences between my whereabouts and the shootings; i.e; establish my alibi. **



** What we need here is for our experienced past and present LEO's to chime in and advise us how to get out of the country if the above didn't work.

[seamusTX]

It's impossible to know whether a particular firearm was used in a crime.

There is a system called National Crime Information Center (NCIC) which contains a list of guns that have been reported lost, stolen, or otherwise of interest to law enforcement. (It also contains lists of fugitives, missing persons, and other stolen property.)

That system can be accessed only for investigation of a particular suspected crime.

A gun could well have been used in robberies or murders that were never solved. There's just no way to know.

However, guns used by criminals rarely if ever get back into the honest market. They are worth more to criminals than the open market value.

Let's say you buy a gun, which was used in a crime, and at some point you use it in self-defense. The police take ballistics, and bada-bing! they have a match to the previous crime.

There's no general system for comparing a fired bullet or shell to a database of bullets or shells from crime scenes.

A few states have databases of that sort, and they have never solved a crime.

Among the reasons that this kind of forensics is unreliable is that the characteristics of barrels and extractors change over time, and sometimes parts are replaced.

How are you going to convince them that 1) it wasn't you, and 2) you didn't know?

You wouldn't have to. The burden of proof is on the prosecution.

If you worry about this sort of thing, buy firearms only from FFLs. Then there is a permanent paper trail the shows when and where you acquired the piece.

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

See? I told you there would be an intelligent response to your question.

[ClarkLZeuss]

Thanks guys!