question on firearm registration

[M4Sherman]

all right I have a quick question about a firearms registry that is appearently in place. Dad found a gun in an old storage room and had the numbers ran and even though it wasnt reported stolen the cops had the gguys name and number on file. No if there is not supposed to be a registry how are they able to find out who owns what guns???

i thought the only way the cops could know who bought a gun was by going through the dealers bound book?

[Don H]

Some states register firearms, many more don't. What state does your Dad live in?

[M4Sherman]

tennessee

[knight0334]

Tennessee doesn't have registration. Only 5 states or so have registration of handguns, and a couple others have a quasi-registration/transfer recording.

Sometimes guns will end up in databases due to many reasons. Like used in a crime, reported stolen/lost/missing, etc. It doesn't take long for LEO's to run a firearm. Quick call to manufacture/importer, then to distributer, then to dealer for the 4473 recipient. It can be done in as little as 5-10min in ideal conditions.

[kraigwy]

Alaska dosn't have a registration law, but Anchorage had a "volenteer" program where they would allow you to register your gun if you wanted too.

Don't know why unless a guy wanted proof of ownership if the gun was stolen or something.

In my twenty years on the deptment I dont know of anyone who took advantage of it, but I didnt work in records so I dont know.

Prehaps they have a simular program and thats how they come up with the name.

[M4Sherman]

well the gun belonged to a cop but it was not reported stolen so I dont know how they got the guys address so quickly. also lets say my father buys a gun from "bobs gun shop" do the local PD have access to a list of all handguns sold in the area? because this discussion has been building since last night and I need hard proof that they dont.

dads a bit of a tin foil hat dude but yah have to love him

[Scattergun Bob]

I am a little confused. A gun is just that, a long gun vrs a handgun is often the determining factor in "who" knows you have it. There are 3 levels of "who" knows what you buy, Federal, State, Local. Depending on where you live there might be a case where all 3 levels of government are aware of your firearms purchases, like in California.

I am not knowledgeable concerning your state, however here is how my state works. Long guns purchased in FFL stores are not tracked by the state, The Fed simply knows that you purchased a long gun, no specifics. If you pawn or sell a long gun or for that matter a hand gun in certain counties then you may have to fill out a local form for the sale.

For hand guns ALL sales are tracked by both state and federal authority. The state tracks the exact firearm, the Fed tracks that you purchased a hand gun (unless you purchase 3 or more hand guns in a (14) working day period, then the Fed track those exact guns as a multiple hand gun purchase).

Gray enough for you:)

Contact your local gun shop and ask the questions and get the RIGHT dope. Don't worry you will not be the first to ask those questions at that shop.

Good Luck & Be Safe

[animal]

One possibility is a seized gun that was bought from the Police Dept. by the cop and later sold.

Some PDs would let cops get their pick of seized/sale guns before offering them up for sale to the "general public" … back in the days of common sense... before laws and politics got so squirrelly…
just .02

[brickeyee]

well the gun belonged to a cop but it was not reported stolen

If the cop was the original retail purchaser it is an easy trace.

He might even have simply sold the gun so tracking it any further gets very hard unless the state has a system in place to keep sales records and does not allow private sales (all sales required to go through a dealer).

Figuring out what dealer a sale went through is left as an exercise.