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Covered SN illegal?

U

usaf0906

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I dont know of any federal laws about covering the SN, I do know California has a silly law for it, so I can only assume it would be based on the state. VA has no such law.
 
W

Wangmuf

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Task Force 16 wrote:
I only remember it being illegal to "deface" (grind off or otherwise alter) the SN. Don't recall any prohibition of covering it with bolt on hardware.
Click to expand...


I found 27CFR478.34

Removed, obliterated, or altered
serial number.

No person shall knowingly transport,
ship, or receive in interstate or foreign
commerce any firearm which has had
the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial
number removed, obliterated, or altered,
or possess or receive any firearm
which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s
serial number removed, obliterated,
or altered and has, at any
time, been shipped or transported in
interstate or foreign commerce.


I just want to make sure there's nothing else I'm missing.

 
C

Citizen

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Wangmuf wrote:
SNIP I just want to make sure there's nothing else I'm missing.
Click to expand...
Just the well-deserved disgust at the fedgov's s t r e t c h of the commerce clause. :cuss:
 
T

Task Force 16

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Lobelville, Tennessee, USA
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Wangmuf wrote:
Task Force 16 wrote:
I only remember it being illegal to "deface" (grind off or otherwise alter) the SN. Don't recall any prohibition of covering it with bolt on hardware.
Click to expand...


I found 27CFR478.34

Removed, obliterated, or altered
serial number.

No person shall knowingly transport,
ship, or receive in interstate or foreign
commerce any firearm which has had
the importer’s or manufacturer’s serial
number removed, obliterated, or altered,
or possess or receive any firearm
which has had the importer’s or manufacturer’s
serial number removed, obliterated,
or altered and has, at any
time, been shipped or transported in
interstate or foreign commerce.


I just want to make sure there's nothing else I'm missing.

Click to expand...
Since covering the SN with a mounted accesary neither "removes, oblitorates, or alters" it, there is no faul. I'm assuming that the laser can be removed to reveal the intact SN.
 
U

usaf0906

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I agree with that logic, but it's important to note some states refuse to use logic in their laws.
 
E

Ezrider

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i have one fire arms the slide has to be removed to view the serial number. it can be covered but not altered destroyed or removed, as long as they can remove the sight and the s/n is not damaged or illegible then your are fine.
 
GlockMeisterG21

GlockMeisterG21

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If it was illegal to cover up a serial number so that it is not readily visible the Smith and Wesson would be in some deep sh!t. Almost all of their revolvers have serial numbers only visible if you eject the cylinder.
 
Alexcabbie

Alexcabbie

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Hell for that matter most holsters would be illegal, since they also cover serial numbers. Obliterating a serial number is BTW usually an excersise in futility since unless all the metal is completely cut out - possibly desstroying the usefulness of the weapon - an "obliterated" serial number can quite easily be raised by various metallurgical means such as acid, etc.

In most "whodunit" murders -meaning those in which the killerand the victim did not know each other, such as gangland killings and the like - the weapon is stolen anyway and so provides little in the way of investigative leads. (Yeah, I know that a little can be quite a lot but still)

I'd like to run a lottery wherein I would dredge the Anacostia River in DC and have people buy guesses as to how many rusted corroded firearms would be found by running an electromagnet through the dredge spoil. A conservative estimate would be that the bad guys have thrown at least10 thousand of them down there in the last 50 years. I bet a dredging like that would yield at least 500 guns, most with serial numbers intact since they were stolen and used once.
 
N

nova

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GlockMeisterG21 wrote:
If it was illegal to cover up a serial number so that it is not readily visible the Smith and Wesson would be in some deep sh!t. Almost all of their revolvers have serial numbers only visible if you eject the cylinder.
Click to expand...
And even more of their revolvers have the serial number on the bottom of the frame, normally covered completely by the rubber grips they come with now, and is covered by most aftermarket (Hogue and Pachmayr for example) grips too.

Older ruger revolvers (security six, etc.) are the same way.

If it were illegal to cover a serial number, how would we every carry a gun in a holster? :D

ETA: but I don't blame you for thinking there might be a dumb federal law about it either...
 
A

architect

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Falls Church, Virginia, USA
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Alexcabbie wrote:
the Anacostia River...I bet a dredging like that would yield at least 500 guns, most with serial numbers intact since they were stolen and used once.
Click to expand...
Not to mention the plague of boating accidents over the past six months!

I'll bring the magnet, http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3071135 anybody got a boat?

Edit: to fix URL
 
U

usaf0906

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architect wrote:
Alexcabbie wrote:
the Anacostia River...I bet a dredging like that would yield at least 500 guns, most with serial numbers intact since they were stolen and used once.
Click to expand...
Not to mention the plague of boating accidents over the past six months!

I'll bring the magnet, http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3071135 anybody got a boat?

Edit: to fix URL
Click to expand...
Darn the luck, my boat is still in the shop from its recent accident.
 
I

inbox485

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Wangmuf wrote:
I'm thinking about getting a Crimson Trace laser for my M&P .40, but it covers the only serial number on the pistol. Just curious if this violates any laws I haven't been able to find. The serial number isn't scratched out or illegible.


http://www.crimsontrace.com/Home/Products/SmithWesson/LG660/tabid/245/Default.aspx

The SN plate is right under the laser.
Click to expand...

It is in CA (what's not these days). But there are exceptions for incidental covering authorized or intended by the manufacture. So while a laser sight would be fine, a strip of tape over the SN for example would not.
 
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