[fzammetti]

Hi everyone,

I've got an interesting situation brewing. My father, who lives in New York, bought himself a Walther PPK at a garage sale today. I've done some reading, and I BELIEVE he's now illegally in possession of that weapon. As I understand it, in NY, handguns are registered and you must have a permit to own one. Neither is true for him. So, it seems that gun is still legally registered to its previous owner (assuming it was legally owned previously, which I don't know for sure) and in fact, the person he bought it from (a woman who just wanted to get rid of it) might in fact be legally in jeopardy just for having sold it to him.

My question is, can anyone confirm my understanding in this regard? And assuming I am correct, what should he do to avoid legal issues? Is the only answer "turn it over to the police" at this point?

The second question is related to me... I live in Pennsylvania, and I'm a legal CCW, so there's no problem for me having the gun... IF he could legally transfer to me, which again, I don't think is the case. But, let's assume for the moment that he did legally own it... how can he legally transfer it to me? What would be involved, for example, in him gifting it to me? I don't mean the physical transfer between states, although that might be an issue (although I think the usual interstate transportation rules would apply and we'd be good to go, no FFL required I THINK), but since PA doesn't technically have a registration requirement but NY does, how would ownership transfer to me, and is that even required? Also, does it make a difference if he sells it to me or gives it to me outright?

Right now he's just talking about lending it to me to try it out, but I'm NOT going to take the thing across state lines given that I believe he's illegally in possession of it in the first place... even though I might be able to legally have it in PA, and transport it across state lines, I'd have to believe the ownership issue alone makes that a little more than tricky... but I'm wondering if there's a way he could gift it to me, or sell it to me, and legally work around the legal issues that way.

I think he's gotten himself (and the woman that sold it to him) into a sticky legal situation unfortunately, I'm just hoping there's an easy and clean way out, and I'm wondering if me taking possession is such a way somehow.

Thanks all,
Frank