Specific question about legality of handgun-PA

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Airman193SOS

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OK, this doesn't involve me directly, and I will not say anything that might refer directly to someone in case it is illegal, so bear with me.

Someone I know bought a handgun off a guy. It was a face-to-face exchange, and to the best of my knowledge they did not go through an FFL. This exchange happened around 13-15 years ago and the weapon has been in the possession of the current owner ever since. Vague, yes, but I think that's about as detailed as I need to be.

Now, I do know that such an exchange is illegal under Pennsylvania law. What I don't know is this: was it legal then, or has it always been illegal? If it is an illegally possessed weapon, is there any way to legitimize it without the participation of the former owner, of whom the whereabouts are unknown? Let's say that I were interested in buying it. What kind of trouble would that result in?

I asserted that this is a tremendously big deal to my friend, who asserted that it was not. One of us is wrong, and I don't know which of us it is. Can anybody tell me for certain what the deal is?
 
Just because he may(I don't know when it became a requirement to go through an FFL) have not followed the law regarding the sale of handguns does not mean that you are guilty of anything by buying the handgun from him legally.
 
I'm confused.

Are you telling me that in Pennsylvania, you can't directly sell a handgun to another resident that is legally able to own one?
 
With few exceptions, all involving relatives, you cannot do a face-to-face for a handgun without a FFL licensed person to facilitate it in Pennsylvania.
 
Transfer it through an FFL as required by PA law now. It's up to the FFL to determine the legality of everything. If you or the seller don't make any false oral or written statements to the FFL regarding the transfer, then the legality of the transfer is the responsibility of the FFL. Don't volunteer any info not asked for and don't lie about anything that is asked and you are off the hook.

I would think there would be a statute of limitations here. The illegal sale, if the law was on the books 13-15 years ago, would be a misdameanor anyway, and that is all that would be illegal about it, so I don't think you have anything to worry about if you buy it correctly this time.
 
I have no idea what the law was in PA 15 years ago, and I'm not in PA now so I don't know what their law is today. I have a PA non-resident carry permit, and that's the extent of my expertise.

However, let's look at it logically. Your friend has owned this firearm for 15 years, and nobody seems to have come looking for it. Suppose he HAD taken possession through an FFL 15 years ago. So what? There's no law saying that he would have had to maintain a record of the FFL's name, or address, or FFL number. Assuming this hypothetical FFL was still in business, his 4473s would be in a 15 year-old box growing mold in the basement of his shop. The FFL -- any FFL -- though whom you transfer the gun today has no way of knowing whether or not the previous purchase went through an FFL, or who that FFL might have been. As long as the serial number doesn't show up as stolen when he runs the transaction, I seriously doubt that he cares.
 
I have been a Pennsylvania resident for almost 29 years. For that time frame it has always been the case that a purchase or transfer of a handgun required going through a FFL, the only exception being a parent to offspring transfer. In PA when one buys a handgun two forms are filled out, the Federal form and a Pennsylvania form. A copy of the latter is sent to the State Police who keep a record of handgun purchases. Before the adoption of the Instant Check system there was a 3 day waiting period unless one had a PA permit to carry firearms (firearms = handguns in PA).

Your buddy did a no-no 13-15 years ago.
 
post this question on pafoa.org and I think you will get some good answers. There are some very knowledgeable members there, even some lawyers.
 
You can do a FTF transfer in PA in the sherrif's office and with a background check done there. Otherwise you need a FFL for a handgun, unless it's immediate family.
 
So it seems that your buddy made a mistake 15 years ago, but there is no way to convict him or really prove it. I'd say, don't worry about it, just stick to the books from now on.

Most gun laws, it seems, that deal with citizens (i.e. gun free zones, gun transfers, gun bans) are ineffective at doing anything to to their impossibility to be enforced. All they do is cause the law-abiding to become uneasy while the criminals know that they probably won't get caught doing what they're doing. Believe it or not, there isn't an ATF agent checking every single firearm serial # and gun sale, making sure that it's legit.

I guess Pennsylvania did everything they could to close the "gun show loophole" but it turns out that there never was one. :(
 
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