How To Register My Firearm?

Do I Have To Register My Gun?

Firearms | September 2, 2020

I go this question a lot, and it's articulate that at that place is some defoliation out there near what it means to "register" a firearm. Information technology is the purpose of this commodity to lend some clarity to the discipline.

In social club to comprehensively address the topic of firearms registration, I will make two distinctions. The showtime stardom is between the categories of firearms: those which are subject area to the National Firearms Act ("NFA Firearms"), and those which are non ("non-NFA Firearms"). (I am avoiding other often-used terms, similar "Title I Firearms," "Title II Firearms," or "Class Iii Firearms" equally they are inaccurate and misleading.) The second distinction I volition make is betwixt registering a firearm, on the one paw, and undergoing an buying transfer background check, on the other.

Categories of Firearms

Returning to the ii types of firearms, "not-NFA Firearms" are the nearly commonly owned guns, and this category includes handguns (revolvers and semi-automatic pistols) and long guns (rifles and shotguns). Only a handful of states require registration of these types of guns. In fact, here in Pennsylvania we take laws that affirmatively prohibit registration of firearms. The premise of such a prohibition is that firearm registration is a pace down a slippery slope, leading to eventual confiscation. Conversely, the motivation behind background checks is to ensure that those who are "Prohibited Persons" (such equally felons, for example) are not allowed to own guns.

Still, the constabulary still requires the transferee (the recipient) of certain non-NFA Firearms to undergo a background check (as mentioned above, for the purpose of making sure a transferee is not a "Prohibited Person"). This is done at a Federal Firearms Licensee ("FFL," i.e. a dealer) who runs a background cheque on the transferee through the NICS (the National Instant Criminal Background Cheque System) database, though here in Pennsylvania we use the "PICS" (Pennsylvania Instant Check Arrangement). This is ever accompanied past the completion of an ATF Form 4473, as well as the Pennsylvania State Law Application/Tape of Sale class (SP 4-113) which is the grade that lists the diverse factors prohibiting gun buying.

(CAUTION: we have had many clients stumble into trouble by filling out one of these forms without a proper agreement of what they hateful – read the instructions on the dorsum of the forms before completing them, because an incorrect reply can lead to criminal charges.)

All Pennsylvania handgun transfers must exist subjected to a PICS bank check, with the completion of a Grade 4473 past the transferee of the handgun. However, PICS checks (and therefore ATF Form 4473s) are not required for long gun (i.due east. rifles and shotguns) transfers in Pennsylvania (equally long as the barrels are not shortened). That means that a handgun which is owned in Pennsylvania but which was not properly transferred at an FFL (with a PICS check and ATF Form 4473) is an illegal handgun, and its possession will bailiwick the possessor to criminal penalties. (In that location are some exceptions to this, though, such every bit transfers betwixt a parent and an developed child.) A long gun, however, equally indicated in a higher place, tin can exist transferred in Pennsylvania without an FFL-completed PICS cheque and ATF Form 4473, and therefore yous tin transfer ownership of a long gun in Pennsylvania with just a hand milkshake. (It is, however, strongly recommended that at least a Bill of Sale always exist completed for such transfers.)

What's the Difference Between Background Checks and Registrations?

As distinguished from a groundwork check equally described higher up, the registration of firearms is not permitted in Pennsylvania. In those other states requiring firearms registration, the process usually involves bringing the firearm to the local constabulary station for the purpose of alerting the municipality of its presence in their jurisdiction. This is an additional step that some other states require, and is typically done nearly immediately after the ownership transfer and NICS background check. (Residents of other states should cheque their local laws on specific procedures.)

It has been claimed, and rightly so, that many states' groundwork bank check procedures in fact found 'back door' registrations, since the final issue is the same – the regime knows who has what guns. Pennsylvania is a good example of this. Even though we take a statute on the books which specifically outlaws whatever firearm registration, a dealer-facilitated background bank check must back-trail all handgun transfers, the form that the transferee fills out is then kept by the dealer, and a copy is sent to the Pennsylvania State Police.

However, the storage of firearm purchaser information, while currently an unfortunate feature of our firearms transfer procedure, is non a necessary feature of a background check per se. In other words (and here I describe not what the law is, but what it could exist) it would exist entirely reasonable for a dealer to comport a background bank check on a transferee past simply calling the state law and getting a 'thumbs upwardly' or 'thumbs down' on the transferee, without generating unnecessary paperwork for storage purposes. The state police could limit its record-keeping to the fact that a background check was done on a specific firearm at a specific dealer, without any reference to the identity of the transferee. Only the dealer would maintain a photocopy of the transferee's commuter'due south license, which he would only exist mandated to provide to constabulary enforcement if a warrant was issued for its provision, in the case that a crime had been committed with the firearm in question.

Such a process would forestall a groundwork check from becoming a 'back door' registration, but would as well address legitimate police force enforcement needs. Since this is not the example at present, the but firearms owners in Pennsylvania who are currently not subject to any kind of 'back door' registration are those who have purchased their long guns privately.

Registering an NFA Firearm

Returning to the law equally it is, the other category of firearms is "NFA Firearms," which term is defined as including whatever of the following: (A) a "brusk-barreled shotgun," the butt(s) of which mensurate(s) less than xviii inches, or the overall length of which is less than 26 inches; (B) a "brusk-barreled rifle," the barrel of which measures less than 16 inches, or the overall length of which is less than 26 inches; (C) "any other weapon" ("AOW") (a pen gun, for case); (D) a automobile gun; (E) a silencer (a/thou/a "suppressor"); or (F) a destructive device (a grenade, for example). As in all other states, in Pennsylvania all NFA Firearms must be registered with the federal Agency of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (which is still commonly referred to equally the "ATF").

A "Form 4" is the ATF form required to transfer and register an NFA Firearm. Upon blessing of a Course four, an owner is issued a "tax stamp" (since the National Firearms Act is just a chapter within the Internal Revenue Code), and only then may the applicant accept possession of the NFA Firearm.

Pennsylvania prohibits the possession of "destructive devices," calling them "Prohibited Offensive Weapons," but allows for the possession of any of the other above-listed NFA Firearms, provided they are properly registered with the ATF.

Let us keep in listen, then, that the PICS groundwork check (in theory at least) simply ensures that a transferee is not a Prohibited Person, and, with some exceptions, virtually all firearms (both NFA and non-NFA) are subject to background checks. Registration, on the other hand, while required for the transfer of NFA Firearms, is non officially permitted in Pennsylvania. May we be precise in our terminology, and zealous to keep these terms distinct, both in theory and in practice, remembering that background checks are intended to go along guns out of the hands of the bad guys, whereas registration may somewhen proceed them out of the hands of the proficient guys.

Josh Bodene, Esq., an acquaintance in the law business firm of Trinity Law, is a firearms enthusiast and handles all aspects of firearms police.