Sheriff cites benefits of gun registry

[paramedic70002]

Maybe he's just a nice guy. Still, I'd pass. Much simpler to keep your serial numbers yourself.

The Daily Leader

Sheriff cites benefits of gun registry
By: THERESE APEL, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer September 22, 2009

Many gun owners spend a lot of time polishing their weapons, stocking ammunition - whether for hunting or home protection - and logging target practice hours.
But if their guns were lost or stolen, many of those people would have a hard time getting them back for one minor reason: They have no record of the weapons' serial numbers.

Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said registering a weapon with the county can be a good way to log the gun's identification for future reference.

"It's a great way to keep up with the serial number," Rushing said. "When people get them stolen or lost and don't have them, we can enter them on (the National Crime Information Center) and everywhere else as stolen. It's a good proactive way to keep up with your guns."

Rushing said the process, which is free, is more of a public service his office provides than an information system. He said while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms does have other ways of tracking down a particular gun, the sheriff's office database is almost exclusively for the public.

"Technically you don't have to register them, the only thing we do is keep the serial number on file if something ever happens to them," he said. "If someone ran the serial number in our system, it wouldn't show who owns the gun."

In order to register a weapon, Rushing said, a gun owner simply needs to come to the sheriff's department in person and bring several things.

"They have to bring the gun and we have to have where they purchased it from, whether it was from a dealer or an individual, and they need to bring an ID," he said.

Rushing said a large percentage of the guns that are brought in to his office to be registered were purchased from a dealer. But if someone has a doubt about the weapon they've been sold, a background check can be done on it, Rushing said.

"If they bought it from a dealer, the background has already been run," he said. "But if they want us to run it we're more than happy to run it to make sure it's not stolen."

Rushing said there have been occasions where someone registered their weapon with the sheriff's department and later when it was stolen, the gun could be entered on NCIC as stolen. But without the serial number, such a thing is impossible, he said.

Meanwhile, the current political climate of the country has some gun owners a little nervous about records of their firearms. Some people worry that a government database of their weapons would lead to a situation where there might be a tax put on them, or worse, they might be taken away.

Rushing said even in the very worst-case scenario, the Lincoln County database would not be a threat to a gun owner's identity.

"This doesn't incorporate all the guns in the county, just the ones registered for the numbers' safekeeping," he said. "It's just a record-keeping thing. Our database isn't here to keep a count, it's strictly here as a service to help citizens keep up with their serial numbers."

But Rushing offered a bit of comfort for those who seem a little concerned about what the political future holds for gun owners. He said he doesn't believe there would be a reason that the government could, for any reason, seize guns from law-abiding citizens.

"No, I don't see that ever happening. That's our Second Amendment right, and I don't see them being able to take that away," he said.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[rottkeeper]

Well meaning or not I would just as soon leave the record keeping up to the individuals who own them. If they don't and their guns are stolen then it is the problem, fault and irresponsible actions of the gun owner.

If it solely for keeping a record why do they want proof of where the gun was purchased? And who is to say at a later date the feds can't come in and seize these records for whatever purpose they wish? In the guise of national security....

Something smells of fish and it's not my dinner cooking.

[ccw9mm]

"Technically you don't have to register them, the only thing we do is keep the serial number on file if something ever happens to them," he said. "If someone ran the serial number in our system, it wouldn't show who owns the gun."

So far as I understand it, there are only two basic purposes of S/N registration:

• Ownership lookup via S/N, citizen initiated; and
• Ownership lookup via S/N, police initiated.

For citizens' benefit, a filing system housed by the police isn't going to add anything beyond what the citizens already maintain themselves. It won't be useful at all, to police, if a SN/make/model tag simply falls out of the sky without any personal identification attached to it. Which really makes it pretty useless from both a citizen and police perspective.

"This doesn't incorporate all the guns in the county, just the ones registered for the numbers' safekeeping," he said. "It's just a record-keeping thing. Our database isn't here to keep a count, it's strictly here as a service to help citizens keep up with their serial numbers."

"Ma'am, we're with the government and we're here to help."

Until it's misused, of course. It'll almost certainly be misused, at some point. It's inevitable.

The ONLY way it'll be useful is if the make, model and S/N is tied to a name, address, phone, and (ideally) SSN. And the only reason for that is: police lookup of ownership, which can be done either properly or nefariously.

Personally, I think the risks are too great for allowance of nefarious uses. Government hasn't proved itself very upstanding, in such situations previously, either in this country or others. Further, the continual push toward attempting restrictions on citizens' ownership and use of firearms shows how easily "nefarious" could come knocking.

Pass.

[Frogbones]

I feel about this as I feel about the ONSTAR system in vehicles....yeah, it's there for your benifet...until it's misused. The potential for use in the wrong fashion is to great for me to trust.

This registry sounds good, will help. But also leaves to much info/target for IF a gun grab comes in effect.

Just like I feel about the ONSTAR system. For somone else to have remote access to your vehicle that can unlock, lock your doors, and tap into engine systems, and track you...I just can't trust it to be consistanly used in a "friendly" fashion especailly now GOV has it's hands in GM.

Guns registered, car registered, and you have the ONSTAR system going.....boy big brother has an EYE on you.

*adjusts tin foil hat*

[tiwee]

Why does not the offer include all the other expensive little pieces of property that have serial numbers. Cameras, generators, power washers, audio video equipment, etc. Fail Mr sheriff. You will get my serial numbers when you pry them from my cold dead hands.

[automatic slim]

Why does not the offer include all the other expensive little pieces of property that have serial numbers. Cameras, generators, power washers, audio video equipment, etc. Fail Mr sheriff. You will get my serial numbers when you pry them from my cold dead hands.

This guy must think we're as dumb as he is. "Not tecnically registration, just recording the serial number". Just what is registration, if it's not recording the serial number.

[BikerRN]

This guy must think we're as dumb as he is.

You read my mind Automatic Slim.

Guns? What guns? I don't own any guns. :D

Biker

[Dakota97]

I am quite capable of keeping up with my own serial numbers, but thannks just the same.

[Bark'n]

You know, the BATF has a nice little .pdf form you can download and print off that is a record of make, model, serial number, etc.

Perfect for your home records! I printed it off, keep them in a three ring notebook from Walmart and have them locked up in safe!

Update: Ok, it is titled Personal Firearms Record. It seems to be no longer available on ATF's website but I did locate it here.

If you are interested, you may want to copy it while it is still available somewhere online.

[farronwolf]

Ahh, grasshopper Bark'n,

you didn't use your googlefoo.

http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pu...snl_fa_rec.pdf

[93civicsedan]

Thanks Bark'N and farronwolf! I just had hand written documents and never bothered to make an Excel spreadsheet, so I just printed the stuff provided by the ATF. Thanks for the link and info :)

[Bark'n]

Ahh, grasshopper Bark'n,

you didn't use your googlefoo.

http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pu...snl_fa_rec.pdf

Ah Ha! I did use googlefoo! That's how I ended up finding it after hunting through ATF's website turned up no results. I just located on a different website apparently!


BTW... I hate Google! They have too much power! But you can't beat them as a search engine.

[Guns and more]

Thanks sheriff, I'll just write them down, just the same.

[farronwolf]

Ah Ha! I did use googlefoo! That's how I ended up finding it after hunting through ATF's website turned up no results. I just located on a different website apparently!


BTW... I hate Google! They have too much power! But you can't beat them as a search engine.

Hey, I didn't find it after quite some time on the ATF site either, so then I reverted to google and found it. You would think that they would keep a simple link on their site for it if they are going to keep the pdf on the server. But what do I know, I don't work for the gov.

[DaveH]

That's what photo & safety deposits boxes are for, amoung other uses.

As someone said, if this was for real, he be recording all valuables id numbers.