Transfer of a gun with no serial number on it.

[raimius]

Bill, if you are going to claim all the sources people found are wrong, it is up to you to prove it. Otherwise you are claiming to be the only one here with the correct knowledge of published law, even though people looking through said published law find otherwise.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

No one has found anything in published law except that NFA 34 did not apply to pistols. What they found is Internet Q&A stuff that does not involve ATF. Nor has anyone found that GCA 68 required serial numbers on long guns. As time allows, I'll try to research it further.

 

[Tom Servo]

Nor has anyone found that GCA 68 required serial numbers on long guns.

It required numbers on all guns involved in commerce. The text of the 1968 GCA is readily available online.

The requirements:

SEC. 5842. IDENTIFICATION OF FIREARMS.

(a) IDENTIFICATION OF FIREARMS OTHER THAN DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES.

—Each manufacturer and importer and anyone making a firearm shall identify each firearm, other than a destructive device, manufactured, imported, or made by a serial number which may not be readily removed, obliterated, or altered, the name of the manufacturer, importer, or maker, and such other identification as the Secretary or his delegate may by regulations prescribe.

(i) Licensed importers and licensed manufacturers shall identify, by means of a serial number engraved or cast on the receiver or frame or the weapon, in such manner as the Secretary shall by regulations prescribe, each firearm imported or manufactured by such importer or manufacturer.

The prohibitions:

SEC. 5861. PROHIBITED ACTS.

It shall be unlawful for any person— (...)

(g) to obliterate, remove, change, or alter the serial number or other identification of a firearm required by this chapter; or

(h) to receive or possess a firearm having the serial number or other identification required by this chapter obliterated, removed, changed, or altered; or

(i) to receive or possess a firearm which is not identified by a serial number as required by this chapter

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Still not direct from the BATFE, but FWIW:

https://www.pennlago.com/are-firearms-without-serial-numbers-illegal/

According to the NFA Handbook (produced by BATFE, see http://www.atf.gov/content/firearms...tions-firearms-national-firearms-act-handbook), “Congress found these firearms to pose a significant crime problem because of their frequent use in crime, particularly the gangland crimes of that era such as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”

The NFA imposed several restrictions in efforts to reduce the criminal use of these particular weapons. Among many other restrictions, the act required all firearms subject to the NFA to have serial numbers on them.

[photo of newspaper]

In 1968, the Gun Control Act (GCA) imposed numerous additional requirements in the arena of gun manufacture. As per the GCA, all firearms manufactured or imported into the United States are required to bear a serial number. This law ―which was effective October 22, 1968― extends the serial requirement beyond the specific group of NFA regulated firearms.
https://www.pennlago.com/wp-content/uploads/GCA.jpg