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Why hide serial number?
- Thread starter Tingallon
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Some posters feel that it is possible that someone will use that information to report their firearm stolen and then attempt to recover said firearm from the owner. Others believe that the government takes the information from this forum and adds to the database kept in the warehouse next to the Ark of the Covenant.
kenv1950
Member
I don't see a problem with showing numbers,if some one took your numbers they would have to describe the gun on a report and show their the rightful owner. Government ! They already have the numbers here in NYS on all guns registered here(gun check would come with you as the owner.... so I still don't see a problem with showing numbers...... I don't think the police would take a report from someone that couldn't prove they were the owner
steveno
Member
I guess the complete serial number is nobody's business but the owner. I happen to agree with that
DWalt
Member
I never post a complete SN, even if the gun in question is not mine. I always end it with an xx or an xxx. There may not be a downside in most cases, but why take a chance?
And I feel certain that NSA, BATFE, or some other alphabet agency is patiently capturing and storing virtually everything that is posted on about every internet forum, just as they are capturing virtually every telephone conversation. That's why they have all those yotta-byte data storage facilities.
Many may not realize that the Nazis were using primitive IBM cardpunch equipment to track Jews in the 1930s. It was quite effective, given the time. I have read this book, and it's all absolutely true. IBM and the Holocaust - Home Page
And I feel certain that NSA, BATFE, or some other alphabet agency is patiently capturing and storing virtually everything that is posted on about every internet forum, just as they are capturing virtually every telephone conversation. That's why they have all those yotta-byte data storage facilities.
Many may not realize that the Nazis were using primitive IBM cardpunch equipment to track Jews in the 1930s. It was quite effective, given the time. I have read this book, and it's all absolutely true. IBM and the Holocaust - Home Page
DWalt
Member
As one of the untold and unknown millions of former (and current) government employees who has had their OPM records hacked, I feel I have every right to wear the coveted tinfoil hat. And it's just been revealed that the data probably includes my fingerprints. Nice to know that the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, and whoever else has an interest, know a lot more about me than I know about myself.
Let's drop the term Tinfoil Hat - it's just stupid, as is anyone who uses it. Virtually anyone reading this has more than good cause to be paranoid.
Let's drop the term Tinfoil Hat - it's just stupid, as is anyone who uses it. Virtually anyone reading this has more than good cause to be paranoid.
What benefit do I get for exposing it? What possible consequences could there be? Do the math...
tattooo
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I agree that can happen.....
One of the things I was taught when I got my Army security clearance (Secret... not "Top" Secret) was that even when dealing with others who have the same clearance, you do NOT pass on information that they do not "need" to know. In short, you only share information on the "need to know" basis no matter what they clearance is. If they do not "need to know" the information in order for them to do their job, then they do not get the information.
Same here.
No one else "needs to know" the serial number of your guns, so don't tell them just because they might be curious.
It is helpful to discuss dates of manufacture or model specifics, and it's helpful to offer the relevant part of a serial number for those purposes.
Obscurating out the last digits of a serial number is good practice in those cases. Why?... because no one else NEEDS to know your complete serial number.
Same here.
No one else "needs to know" the serial number of your guns, so don't tell them just because they might be curious.
It is helpful to discuss dates of manufacture or model specifics, and it's helpful to offer the relevant part of a serial number for those purposes.
Obscurating out the last digits of a serial number is good practice in those cases. Why?... because no one else NEEDS to know your complete serial number.
ChattanoogaPhil
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Could be.
The ATF is already getting 1.2 million out-of-business FFL records each month.
Blocking or xing out a few digits of a serial number is a good idea, heck you never know whom or what is reading things and what they will do with that info.
I frequent a few car forums and many people post pictures of their rides. In my informal review of those posts I would say about 70% of the people block out their plate numbers or take a picture in a way the plate number does not show!
I frequent a few car forums and many people post pictures of their rides. In my informal review of those posts I would say about 70% of the people block out their plate numbers or take a picture in a way the plate number does not show!
5Wire
Member
The ATF doesn't store serial numbers. They can trace them step by step if the firearms are of recent manufacture. Step by step ends with whoever bough it at retail. After that, nothing necessarily on paper. If you have provenance proving your ownership, I don't see a problem.
Huh?
As I think I mentioned in one of the other threads it takes a lot more to report a gun stolen than just the serial number.
You might actually have to give your name, address, when, were and other assorted tid bits. So who is going to make a false report like that??
You might actually have to give your name, address, when, were and other assorted tid bits. So who is going to make a false report like that??
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
As I think I mentioned in one of the other threads it takes a lot more to report a gun stolen than just the serial number.
You might actually have to give your name, address, when, were and other assorted tid bits. So who is going to make a false report like that??
Good point. This "fake theft report" idiocy has annoyed me ever since it emerged from someone's overactive imagination onto the internet years ago and has kept getting passed on ever since.
People don't seem to stop and think about how this is supposed to work.
"Hello, police? I'd like to report my gun stolen. It's a S&W Model X, Serial number 12345. Oh and I saw it on this internet forum, here's the link. Could you go and get it back for me? Thanks!"
At the risk of giving offense, just how dumb does one have to be to even consider this notion? To get a police officer to take this serious enough to generate some action and to initiate the warrants necessary to obtain information leading to the alleged stolen gun, a pretty convincing theft scenario has to be fabricated, always knowing that the chance of actually being successful is pretty much zero since the fictional theft victim can't actually document his ownership.
I don't usually show my full serial numbers either, but worrying about this absurdly unlikely scenario is not one of the reasons.
Also,
If it were a particularly desirable gun, a little tracing could get it tied to you and be gone in a flash.
If it were a particularly desirable gun, a little tracing could get it tied to you and be gone in a flash.
It isn't paranoia if people really ARE out to get you.
I have been online since the earlier days when a 56K modem was considered "fast", and CompuServe was where "Professionals" went for their online access.
In those days, I always used my real name and never gave much thought about it.
Then one day, things changed when it turned out that being visible online wasn't such a great thing UNLESS you have a business you are promoting.
For personal use, it has turned out to be a bit dangerous to put it all out there. It comes down to the "need to know" principle.
I won't go into any of the specifics, so I'll just say that I have been harmed in some ways at some point by allowing my personal identity information to be easily discerned by my online presence, so these days, that doesn't happen anymore.
Maybe nothing will ever come of your being transparent online.
Then again, maybe something will come up that will make you wish that you weren't so easily discovered and found.
There are crazy people out there, and if just one of them takes an interest in you, then you will wish that you could just log off and forget about it, but it's not so easy when the crazy one can find out where you live.
ChattanoogaPhil
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"When an FFL discontinues business, the FFL must send their firearms transactions records to the National Tracing Center (NTC). The NTC receives an average of 1.2 million out-of-business records per month and is the only repository for these records within the United States.
Records can be mailed to the NTC or, alternatively, they may be delivered to your local ATF Office in order to comply with laws for surrendering records (which include all bound log books/acquisition & disposition books and computer printouts, ATF Form 4473’s, Theft/Loss Reports, Multiple Sales Reports, and Brady forms)."
https://www.atf.gov/firearms/discontinue-being-federal-firearms-licensee-ffl
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They found the Ark of the Covenant?!
I thought they determined what they found was not it, they said the Ark they found was much smaller..or something like that.
