[lordgroom]

I know this doesn't involve handloading. Is there a more approate section?

On gun selling sites such as gunbroker, people obscure the serial number of the gun. I assume this is done because there is some means of obtaining information about the owner just by knowing the serial number. So here is my question: Is it really that easy to get personal information about a gun owner by just having a serial number? How is this done?

[ranger335v]

Don't think info on the owner is the issue, it's that we don't want anyone to know the SN of our firearms, period. For one thing, it opens the possiblity of a claim of "stolen".

[The Bushmaster]

Or maybe the [gun] murdered some one and they don't want to....

Ranger335v has it...Don't want those false claims comin' up...

[MaterDei]

For one thing, it opens the possiblity of a claim of "stolen".

When has this ever happened? I've never seen it occur.

[ranger335v]

"When has this ever happened? I've never seen it occur."

Actually, I've never seen it occur either. But, a lot of things have happened in this world without me seeing it, so I doubt that using me as a standard of what has or hasn't happened has much validity.

So long as no troll knows the SN of my guns it won't happen to me.

[ReloaderFred]

It's not possible to obtain personal information on firearm owners unless you have access to the data base in the state the firearm was purchased in, if that state keeps those records. Some states do, and some don't. California is one state that keeps them forever whenever a transaction is conducted through a licensed dealer, and the Dealer's Record of Sale is sent to the Calif. Dept. of Justice (now there's a misnomer if I ever heard one). Before I retired, I had access to that data base.

The biggest reason serial numbers are obscured is the very reason ranger335v listed, unscrupulous people who will report a firearm they never owned as stolen, either to cause the current owner problems, or in the hope they can claim the firearm as their own. I've seen one case of this during my working years, and it was clearly a fraudulent claim, and was prosecuted as such.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[rcmodel]

+1

There was a well publicized case in the shooting press many years ago that resulted in extensive legal fees for the rightful gun owner to retain his own gun.

rcmodel

[ilbob]

a lot of times I see descriptions of guns with partial s/n's like 1234XXX.

no reason to give out more information than your have to.

[evan price]

With certain guns, a dishonest seller may steal a photo from the internet (such as a happy owner displaying his most recent acquisition here on THR!) and then create an auction listing on Gunbroker or some other venue, listing the item for sale. A knowledgeable prospective buyer may want to know the serial # to check out any claim the seller makes, such as looking it up in the standard catalog of Smith & Wesson firearms.

With some extremely rare and valuable guns, such as the S&W Lightweight AirCrewMan revolver, there are fakes out there- and scammers would like nothing more than to have a "real" serial number to use to clone that real gun to a fake.

If the fraudulent seller can provide a serial # it makes his claim to be the owner of a gun for sale on the WWW much more "legit" to many people.

Then, at close of auction, funds are sent, and of course nothing is received.

There have been instances in which just this very thing has happened on this and other forums.

I treat serial numbers just as I would any other personal ID number and protect them accordingly.