Gun Without a Serial Number? Now What

Apparently, a friend of the person inquiring had purchased a storage locker or a piece of property and found a number of old guns. A few of them didn’t have any serial number and some had the serial numbers removed or ground off. 

If the firearm was manufactured prior to 1968, no serial number was required and many manufacturers, especially of lower cost firearms simply didn’t put a serial number on the gun. After all they weren’t required to, and they viewed it as just another step and a cost in the manufacturing process that they could avoid. 

It wasn’t just inexpensive and off brand firearms, and a number of companies such as Remington, didn’t serialize some of their single shot .22’s. I have had a number of guns of this type come into the Gun shop for repair over the years. 

However, as a part of the 1968 Gun Control Act, serializing firearms that were commercially manufactured became a Federal Requirement. 

If you have an older gun or one comes into your shop that was made prior to 1968 and it doesn’t have a serial number, under Federal law and in most States, it is no big deal. You simply log it into your books and in the column that is for the serial number, just put “None”. That is all that is required.

But what about guns that were made after 1968 or Firearms that have had their serial number removed or defaced with the intention of making the gun unidentifiable or untraceable. Now this IS a problem. 

Possession of a Firearm with a serial number removed or defaced is a Big Problem. It can result in you being charged with a Felony just for possessing it, even if you weren’t the one who did it. 

Anyone who receives a gun with the serial number removed should assume that it has been stolen and should treat it accordingly. 

You may just send the person who owns it back out the door without getting involved. Or you may feel like it is in your best interest to report it. 

If I purchased a storage unit and found guns in it. I would say Yahoo and be extremely excited feeling like I just found buried treasure! 

But if on closer examination I found that the serial numbers had been ground off or defaced and removed, I would loose and my enthusiasm and just end up turning them over to local Law Enforcement. 

I would not even strip the guns for parts, as that could be viewed as profiting from stolen property.  

But if the parts were of value to me, I might ask that they allow me to strip the parts from the receiver if the owner couldn’t be located. In a small town or local jurisdiction, they might agree to that. But in a big city, I wouldn’t expect that would fly and probably wouldn’t even ask. You don’t want to end up with troubles far beyond the value of the parts.

If it were me, when I first made the discovery of the guns, I would use my phone to photograph where I found them and in what condition. Then I would check for serial numbers. 

I am not an Attorney, but in the case of buying a property or the storage unit, I would think that the guns should clearly become your property. Especially if they remain unclaimed. However, in some States you may have to register them with the State. 

California recently passed a law that requires every “self-manufactured” firearm to have a serial number and if it didn’t the owner is to apply for one from the State and then put the number they assign you on the gun. 

The main reason that they passed that law was to get “Ghost Guns” registered. But as far as I can tell, there isn’t an exemption based on the age of the firearm or firearms that were commercially manufactured without a serial number. So currently that remains a grey area in my mind. 

Carefully consider the collectible value of the gun before putting a serial number or personal markings on an older collectible firearm, in most cases, it will greatly devalue the gun. 

With regards to guns without serial numbers, there have been several interesting legal twists recently including;

A federal judge in West Virginia has ruled that a federal ban on possessing a gun with its serial number removed is unconstitutional.

The federal law in question prohibits anyone from transporting a gun with the serial number removed across state lines, or from possessing such a gun if it has ever been transported across state lines. So basically all commercially manufactured guns would most likely meet this definition. 

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin in Charleston stated that the law was not consistent with the United States' "historical tradition of firearm regulation," the new standard laid out by the Supreme Court in its Bruen Decision. 

His decision came about as a result of a criminal case, charging a man with illegally possessing a gun with the serial number removed. 

Keep in mind that is one Judge’s interpretation. However other Federal Judges have determined that requiring serial numbers is not a violation of the Second Amendment. 

So, unless you have really deep pockets and love to challenge the legal system, I would avoid possession of any guns with serial numbers that have been removed. I think it not only unwise, but immoral to possess a gun that you know is probably been stolen from some other law biding citizen. 

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