Quote:
Originally Posted by CFrance
If there is no register anywhere of gun ownership, why is it that guns can be traced to their last legal owner? That's what I was talking about, Carl.
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Guns cannot always be traced to "their last legal owner."
I explained the tracking method earlier: The manufacturer is required to keep a record of the firearms dealer who purchased the gun and the dealer is required to keep a record of the individual to whom the gun was sold. Any further disposition of the gun that goes through a licensed firearms dealer is also recorded.
But, of course, the chain is broken if the firearm is stolen or
disposed of in a private transaction.
It is entirely lawful for you to sell me a firearm if we are both residents of the same state. Since a licensed firearms dealer is not involved, you are not required to maintain a record of who you sell a firearm to in a legal private transaction.
To further complicate tracking, people move, sometimes leaving no forwarding address, and cannot be found. In the mean time, if several years have elapsed since the original retail sale, the gun may have changed hands several times in lawful transactions that the subsequent owners kept no records of.
There is no legal, constitutional, central registry of all firearms ownership.
Such a registry would be considered by many to be a method of facilitating firearms seizure at some time in the future.
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