Should You Register Your Handguns?

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Not sure about NC but where I live, private transactions do not require a bill of sale. The seller is obligated to not sell to someone not legally allowed to own a gun, but that generally entails seeing some ID that proves they are residents of the same state and that they are over the age of 21.

If later you are in a legitimate self defense situation, I doubt they will ask how you acquired your weapon unless it does turn out to have been reported stolen.

I don't think there is any sort of procedure to "register" a gun. If you ask the police to run a serial number to check if it's stolen, be prepared to surrender the weapon to them if it is and give them a detailed report about how it came into your possession.
 
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I've called serial numbers in to the local law enforcement agency before buying a used gun from someone I didn't know. Haven't had any turn up as stolen, but I guess they'd be interested in knowing where it was if it did turn out to be on the list. I've done this before buying, so if it showed on the NCIC list, it wasn't money out of my pocket.

I really didn't want to find out the hard way halfway across the country some time while travelling if it was on the list, and have a lot of explaining to do. Canadian border crossings would have been interesting with a stolen gun (though that would be long guns).
 
Pretty sure you couldn't register it if you wanted to. It is only done in a very few places and to the best of my knowledge NC is not one of those places. Just have a bill of sale signed by the person you bought it from.
 
Don't be intimidated by the myth of gun "registration" If it isn't required in your state then there is nothing you need to do.

Should I go to my LGS to have the gun registered in my name?
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I think that you, like many, are confusing the Form 4473 that is filled out when you purchase a firearm from a FFL dealer with registration.

You might want to contact the LEO you bought it from and get him to sign a bill of sale of some sort. Just a hand written one listing the ser. number, make, etc. might be helpful if you are ever asked to prove ownership.
 
In my neck of the cornfield, the city of Omaha requires registration unless you have a CCW permit. Everywhere else in Nebraska does not require you to register.
 
I registered mine.

I registered the sights to make sure they were hitting my chosen aim point.

Other than that... No.

I think if I showed up at the local cop shop and tried to do that they would not be impressed at all.
 
Should You Register Your Handguns?

Sure,

All my guns are sighted in.
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Nice one, Deaf

But "registration" is really an artillery and mortar term, isn't it? Did you have a spotter using a radio to help you get rounds on target? :D

Bart Noir
Who keeps a supply of guns that have no paper trail.
 
IIRC, under federal law if you have no reason to believe it is "not stolen" or the person is NOT forbbiden to sell it to you"not an felon" then you are okay.

I heard of a few cases were a person goes to a gun show buys a /rifle/pistol/shotgun and its stolen and some how the police find out?
a few days/months later and just ask for it, and the paper work who he bought it from.
Always do bill of sale, paper work to follow the trail.

Now for ebay, I could be buying a new tv off ebay thats stolen or even anything else I buy off ebay, could be from a robbery, How do I know? do I run my new tv when I buy it? who would I run it through? How do we know some of these things dropped off at donation stores arn't stolen?

I see no reason to register it unless it was by law, because I do not have to register my chainsaw 20" or my k-bar knife or my knife in the kitchen I cook with.
 
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If you are worried about it somehow being determined that the firearm belonged to a LEO previously, get a BOS signed by him and move on.
 
In New York State, you need a pistol permit to buy a pistol. When you buy a pistol it has to be listed on your pistol permit before you take delivery. Registration? Sounds like it to me.
 
In New York State, you need a pistol permit to buy a pistol. When you buy a pistol it has to be listed on your pistol permit before you take delivery. Registration? Sounds like it to me.
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That is state law, not Federal law. There is no Federal requirement to register firearms.
In my state there was a Jim Crow law enacted in the late 1800's requiring a permit to acquire a handgun. Weather it be bought, willed, or given to you, it was required to fill out the permit application. Originally so the local sherif could pick, and choose who was allowed to own a handgun. It became a way to postpone a purchase, make it more difficult, and impose a hardship on a potential buyer. When it was pointed out that the law only required basic information on the person wanting to acquire, and not all the "extras" that were added to deter handgun purchases it was voted out. Now it is just the 4473 required by the BATF, and the NICS phone call required by the Brady law. No permit, no waiting period. Cash and carry.
 
And finally, you do understand that even if you and the seller go to your local LGS and do a 4473, there is still no way to determine if the firearm in question has ever been stolen, right? That form simply resides in the dealer's file cabinet and no one knows what firearm you purchased, other then BATF knowing you bought either a rifle, shotgun, or handgun. That's all the information they get, nothing more, just the type firearm.
 
As a couple posters have said...There is ABSOLUTELY NO SUCH thing as gun registration in NC. You are ONLY required under NC General Statutes to obtain a "permit to purchase" a handgun from the local Sheriff's Office which is presented to the gun dealer at time of purchase for his FFL records. If you have a CCL, that will serve as your permit to purchase when presented to a dealer. The statute also requires the permit when a private purchase of a handgun is made between indviduals but in over 30yrs LE here, I have never seen that really enforced or be an issue. Have him give you a receipt of purchase with the pertinent info like serial number, make, names, etc if you are concerned about it.
 
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Go by the laws of your state.

Someone posted earlier about Michigan, which in your case doesn't apply. But unless something has changed in the last few months since I bought a handgun, you do need to register it with your local law enforecment agency. Even in a private sale because the seller wants to get it out of their name and into yours. If the gun is used in a crime, they go right to the registration and start from there.

When you purchase one at a LGS, there are four parts to a registration that you must fill out and bring to the LEO. One part goes to the dealer, one part you keep proving registration, two parts get turned in to the LEO. Where they go from there I don't know. At least that is how it has been for me in Michigan. If you have a CPL (concealed pistol license), you don't need to get a permit to purchase, otherwise you do before you can buy a handgun and they are good for one and only one handgun. If you want more, you need to get more permits.
 
I winter in AZ where we don't have to register a handgun - but - to purchase, I must have a state ID card. When purchasing, I show the ID card and my AZ CCW permit - no problems.

However, my legal residence is in Michigan where we have to obtain a permit to purchase (I dont' have a Michigan CCW). If I bring back a pistol I have purchased in AZ, I must register it - same process as getting a purchase permit from the county sheriff's office - only I fill out the information on the 4 part permit and they list it as a "transfer from AZ".

Now, you might ask "Why register it in Michigan?" Simple, if I am transporting it to a range, etc. and am stopped by LE and they "run" it, it would come back as an "unregistered" handgun - thus I could be charged with possession of an unregistered handgun - conviction of which would prevent me from owning a gun in the state. So . . . . as much as I might not like it, why risk it?

If i leave the AZ purchased handgun in AZ when I come back to MI for the summer - then it's not an issue.
 
When I worked in a gunshop I made up a sign that said "register your guns here $50" but the boss made me take it down. People came in every day either asking where to register a gun, or assuring me that the gun they were shooting, carrying, or trying to sell was registered to them...

I was going to print up fancy certificates too.

1. Know the laws that apply to you in your state
2. Follow them
if you've done that then don't loose sleep over it.
 
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