The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - I "was" a Time traveler with a "Stolen" Firearm?

bamaranger · April 29, 2025, 03:48 PM

It's been a little over a decade, but when working I "ran" quite a few firearms through NCIC for routine check for stolen. Policy to "check for stolen" on any firearm rangers encountered in the field. At that time, possession of a firearm in a National Park was prohibited, unless unloaded, cased and not available for use. (Those regs have changed to mirror respective state law across the country BTW).

Anyhow, it was not uncommon to get serial number hit. Seems as I recall dispatchers referred to that as a "soundex" hit, but it's been a while. One then had to pay attention to make and caliber in the NCIC description, and it seems I remember there might have been a categorization for long gun or handgun as well. So the officer in the field needed to do a bit of interpretation of "hits".
Also the dispatcher had to have their act together as well in deciphering the printout/return.

Another common issue was data entry error. The agency entering the firearm in the system would get a number wrong, or caliber/chambering, even long gun v. handgun. Usually a message or call to the entering agency would clear that up. Sometimes the responsible party was not immediately available, especially if the agency was small.

All that said, it was an effective, if somewhat flawed system, and it was relatively common to turn up an actual stolen gun. The originating agency was always interested in the party that possessed it, and often it would lead to a break on a theft ring , burglary , theft from a MV, etc.

Best of luck on the OP's circumstances.

April 29, 2025, 03:48 PM	#7
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,795	NCIC It's been a little over a decade, but when working I "ran" quite a few firearms through NCIC for routine check for stolen. Policy to "check for stolen" on any firearm rangers encountered in the field. At that time, possession of a firearm in a National Park was prohibited, unless unloaded, cased and not available for use. (Those regs have changed to mirror respective state law across the country BTW). Anyhow, it was not uncommon to get serial number hit. Seems as I recall dispatchers referred to that as a "soundex" hit, but it's been a while. One then had to pay attention to make and caliber in the NCIC description, and it seems I remember there might have been a categorization for long gun or handgun as well. So the officer in the field needed to do a bit of interpretation of "hits". Also the dispatcher had to have their act together as well in deciphering the printout/return. Another common issue was data entry error. The agency entering the firearm in the system would get a number wrong, or caliber/chambering, even long gun v. handgun. Usually a message or call to the entering agency would clear that up. Sometimes the responsible party was not immediately available, especially if the agency was small. All that said, it was an effective, if somewhat flawed system, and it was relatively common to turn up an actual stolen gun. The originating agency was always interested in the party that possessed it, and often it would lead to a break on a theft ring , burglary , theft from a MV, etc. Best of luck on the OP's circumstances.