Serial Numbers

[ragsflh]

good one mike

 

[scubohuntr]

Hypothetically-
Joe Redneck has a couple of guns stolen. He looks in the Blue Book and finds that his old Mossberg bolt action shotgun and Marlin Model 60 don't add up to his insurance deductible. "Oh yeah," he says, "I had a couple of other rifles stolen too. Make, model, serial numbers (pause to check brag board photos, many of which include a parts list and cost of build) XXXXX and YYYYY. Look, I have photos." Now he gets insurance money back. Next time someone tries to trade one of those rifles, it comes up as "reported stolen". Sure, you've got receipts and build sheets, but it's a huge hassle. Also, if you are feeling the least bit paranoid, there is an association out there somewhere- You=stolen guns. Reported stolen doesn't go away, even if you get it all cleared up, or Joe Redneck goes to prison for insurance fraud. It goes into different databases. As a private individual, I wouldn't worry about it much, but if I were an FFL or owned something that would flag in the system (say, a legal suppressor or a state-registered Evil Assault Weapon) I certainly wouldn't want the possible extra attention from BATFE. They don't exactly have a warm and fuzzy record with constitutionally-protected rights. Same reason people (at least people who think) block out license plates on Craigslist photos of vehicles, and don't post VIN numbers.

 

[hogpatrol]

Just a response to the previous thread, VIN numbers are now etched on various sheet metal panels like dash, quarters, pillars, etc. The numbers are hidden by various trim parts.
The old days of one VIN tag riveted on the dash being the sole identifier are long gone. Stolen cars are now stripped for parts and entire stolen cars are usually shipped overseas.

 

[dickn52]

that one ranks right up there with the amendment that created a tax on income about a hundred years ago. The government promised that the rate would never rise above 2% for citizens.

I was in an Army Ranger Company in RVN. Six years after I got out, I moved from the St Louis area to SW Idaho. The Ranger Company started having reunions, and I got an Email updating me. When wifey and I went to the next one, I asked how they found me here more than twenty years later.

Answer: one of the guys went to work for a Federal Govt agency. He tells me, at the reunion, that he simply went to the NICS record system and looked to see the last address I had listed on a firearms purchase. I asked him how he could find my Email address, since it is not required. He just smiled; and said "I work for an agency that can access everything on everybody in the US, and most foreign countries...".

I would bet, given five minutes and your first and last name, he could give you complete details of your last dental visit.

1984 came a long time ago in America...

Don't doubt this for a NY Minute. But you're "one of the guys' violated about 15 Federal Statutes. One of which was to confirm that the records even exist. I too worked in a Federal Agency that had access to multiple databases, but witnessed on several occasions people being physically removed from the worksite for 'browsing' in them. BTW, who were you with in RVN? I worked a little with 1st Cav and 173rd doing those long walks in the woods you might be familiar with. Even taught a little at Benning in the pit with the 75th guys.