does your gunshop check if the used guns being traded in are stolen?

[Thomas Mayberry]

The gun/pawn shops don't have access to the NCIC registry to check for stolen property. Maybe the local law enforment organization will check it for them but isn't obligated to do so. As an officer I couldn't run a check on a gun for myself (accessing NCIC for personal use is prohibited) though I could and would for a citizen who had bought a gun and wanted to make sure it wasn't reported stolen. Many years ago our pawn shops had to turn in their pawn lists to the local agency so we could check them for stolen items on a monthly basis. I would also go to surrounding towns to check pawn books, solved a few burglaries that way.

About 16-17 years ago we went to a system called "Leads online". The pawnshops were required to input all items pawned or sold to them in the system. We could then search the database. That made it much easier for everone except the crooks.

I don't know about other locales but in my jurisdiction the majority of stolen firearms were never entered in the system. The reason? The majority of victims did not have the serial numbers for their firearms and couldn't obtain them. No serial number, no NCIC entry.

 

[Speedo66]

There was mention of receipts being of no value with a stolen gun. If done properly, i.e., seller's name or business, some ID # like a dr. lic., date, and time, gun description and ser. #, at least there is a starting point. You'll loose the gun, but it may provide enough evidence to prevent an arrest.

I make out a bill of sale when I buy or sell a gun with all that info on it. I also require the buyer to sign that they received the gun at a certain date and time in case they do something they shouldn't and the gun gets traced back to me.

 

[entropy]

When I worked at one shop around 1990, we did call serial # in and have to local PD check them. I don't know if the others I worked at did. One did set them in back for a while before putting them out the other, I spent most of my time at the smithing bench.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

We are near a state border and it was common for guns stolen in one state to be hocked in the other.
There have been policies for having used guns received in inventory by an FFL gundealer or pawnshop checked (by police contacted by the FFL) against the National Crime Information Center database.

 

[dogtown tom]

While FFL's currently do not have access to the NCIC, that will change.
Part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act https://www.murphy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/bipartisan_safer_communities_act_text.pdf
had this tidbit:

(2) ACQUISITION, PRESERVATION, AND EX4 CHANGE OF IDENTIFICATION RECORDS AND INFOR5 MATION.—Section 534 of title 28, United States
6 Code, is amended....
15 ‘‘(5) provide a person licensed as an importer,
16 manufacturer, or dealer of firearms under chapter
17 44 of title 18 with information necessary to verify
18 whether firearms offered for sale to such licensees
19 have been stolen.’’; and

 

[N555]

The gun/pawn shops don't have access to the NCIC registry to check for stolen property. Maybe the local law enforment organization will check it for them but isn't obligated to do so. As an officer I couldn't run a check on a gun for myself (accessing NCIC for personal use is prohibited) though I could and would for a citizen who had bought a gun and wanted to make sure it wasn't reported stolen. Many years ago our pawn shops had to turn in their pawn lists to the local agency so we could check them for stolen items on a monthly basis. I would also go to surrounding towns to check pawn books, solved a few burglaries that way.

About 16-17 years ago we went to a system called "Leads online". The pawnshops were required to input all items pawned or sold to them in the system. We could then search the database. That made it much easier for everone except the crooks.

I don't know about other locales but in my jurisdiction the majority of stolen firearms were never entered in the system. The reason? The majority of victims did not have the serial numbers for their firearms and couldn't obtain them. No serial number, no NCIC entry.

How the hell do we the tax payer pay for this, it's supposedly for the greater good, everyone benefits, ect, ect and almost no one is allowed to use it and no one knows anything about it?
What if my gun gets stolen, I report it stolen and I get it back, can it become unstolen?
The "davethedog" fiasco would have me think once a stolen gun always a stolen gun.

 

[Thomas Mayberry]

How the hell do we the tax payer pay for this, it's supposedly for the greater good, everyone benefits, ect, ect and almost no one is allowed to use it and no one knows anything about it?
What if my gun gets stolen, I report it stolen and I get it back, can it become unstolen?
The "davethedog" fiasco would have me think once a stolen gun always a stolen gun.

The NCIC database is for law enforcement use to recover stolen property, be that guns, cars, TV's etc. It never was nor will it be a repository for public access. Law enforcement personnel are prohibited from accessing the database for personal use, only official business.

As to the stolen gun, once it's recovered it's removed from the database. If a person reports a gun as stolen but later finds that it was just misplaced or otherwise recovered by the owner all they have to do (and should do) is report the recovery to the initiating law enforcement agancy and it will be removed from NCIC.

 

[HPCadm17]

In my state, every firearm transaction, whether bought or sold, private or via FFL, must receive an authorization number from the state police. The state police validate the SN and search the NTC's database (I believe via eTrace) and validate the transferee's FFL or state permit before issuing an authorization.