about Firearms registration

[efeng9622]

I have a general question here,
I am a Virginia resident, I want to make sure I don’t need to register my firearm including handgun to Police department. if I bought any firearm includes handgun. I checked “ Firearms law of Virginia” which didn’t ask for any registration process. But this was the law of up-to-date of April 2005. Is any updates on this ?
The reason I ask this question because this morning I heard a news that Virginia police found about 22 firearms in Michael Kennedy’s house ( the guy who killed two police officers in Fairfax VA) ,and polices are going to investigate if these firearms were registered. This news made me confuse. So I want to be clear on this. It is impossible for us to know any new gun law if we don’t look at updated document or check with police department frequently.

Thanks!

 

[AJ Dual]

I could be wrong, check www.packing.org to be sure, but I don't think Virginia has any "registration" beyond the Federal forms you fill out at the dealership. The closest other example would be if you applied for a VA carry permit. Otherwise there's nothing.

The media often just repeats the term "registration" over and over because they watch too many police dramas set in New York City, and just assume the rest of the country is that way…

What the police probably are doing is giving the serial numbers to the ATF for a "trace", the ATF has (or is supposed to have) the serial number ranges and production dates of all domestic firearms makers, and importers, since the 1968 Gun Control Act went into effect. Then the manufacturer provides what distributors those firearms went to, then the distributor is supposed to have several years of records that show what gun store the gun went to. Then the ATF goes to that store and goes through the Federal yellow 4473 forms the dealer is required to keep in his files. (IIRC for 20 years. Or, if the dealer closes, the forms go to the ATF archives.)

Then they see if the shooter bought the gun or if someone else did. Then the person who bought the gun is interviewed, asked if he sold it, was it stolen etc.

The system is designed, in theory anyway, to make it possible for the police/government to trace a firearm when they find one at a crime scene, or is collected as evidence, but make it hard for them to simply go through the records of law abiding people just for the hell of it. Also "theoretically" a national gun registration database is against federal law in some of the gun-owner protection bills that are on the books. I say "In theory" because during the D.C. Sniper case, people in Maryland who bought AR-15 style rifles were called, interviewed, and had their guns examined out of the blue. Apparently the police or the ATF went through the records anyway.

In this case, since the shooter is known, the trace won't prove much, other than perhaps fodder for the anti's who can whine about how the guy got the firearms in the first place. They might be fishing for a straw purchaser on behalf of the shooter if he had a mental record that would have kept him from passing a NICS "instant" check.

 

[K-Romulus]

best advice: check with VCDL

The Virginia Citizens Defense League (www.vcdl.org)

They are a grass-roots firearms owners' rights organization in VA that keeps government officials' feet to the fire. They are instrumental in getting good laws passed, and BS ones whittled away. Have a fair-issue VA CCW permit? Thank VCDL for moving and getting the law passed in the late 1990's.

VCDL has several volunteer lawyers on call, so VCDL would be the best source of info on VA gun laws.

I don't know of any registration requirement other than (maybe) full auto/short barreled long guns/suppressors. I am a long-time VA resident who was forced to move out of state because of "life," but still keeps up on the laws "back home."

I agree with AJ's take on where the term "registered guns" comes from in the media.

 

[Cacique500]

Virginia has no registration requirements.

To purchase a handgun, you walk into a gun store, two forms of ID, and fill out a 4473. NICS takes about 5 minutes, you pay, and you walk out with the firearm.

I second the motion on joining VCDL - fantastic 'grass roots' organization that's done a tremendous job over the past several years in getting pro gun legislation passed. I just moved from Virginia in March but I'll remain a member of VCDL. Wish we had a group like VCDL in Georgia!!

 

[efeng9622]

Thank you very much for all of you!