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Posted: 12/31/2004 9:34:45 AM EDT
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Just out of curiousity, why do people obscure the serial number on their lowers when they post pictures? Many dealers do this also. :\ |
WOW
+1 - Only reason I can think of. I haven't had to do it though because most of my pics are too crappy to read the number anyway  . Just got a newer better camera so that may change.
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| I only obliterate my rifles serial numbers when I'm trying to sell a stolen or illegal weapon. Otherwise I always publicly divulge this informationLINK TO MY EXPERIENCE ON AR15.COM |
Although with NFA registered weapons this would not hold true since you would have registered documentation and Tax Stamp proving it was was yours. I could see how a weapon you bought from an individual with no receipt etc could be subject to this sort of fraud. |
Hehe, I'm not going to read all that. But the parts I scanned over appeared to be intense. What's the cliff notes, I'm curious? Because if I were a criminal, I wouldn't need a PHOTO to report a stolen serial number. I would just look at my own weapon, and then I would create a number, like SN000400 that was about 10 or 15 numbers away from mine, and there you have it. I'm just going to report SN000400 as stolen. So why would I need a PHOTO of your weapon? So what I do from here? Where's the payoff, where's the money? Cause a criminal has to be doing to to make money somehow. What's next? So if you reported that SN combined with all the other pertinent personal details, ok you might be able to create something then but a photo and a serial # alone, I can't see why that is so harmful. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe I can't think like the criminal so I wouldn't know what to do from here. I always report my SN as SN000xxx if somebody needs to know. All I can think of is that some idiot gets my serial number and all my personal information and then reports the weapon stolen saying it belongs to him. That's stupid. I've had this rifle for over a decade, you'd be a fool to try to claim it as yours. You'd have to be pretty good to manufacture information as such to prove your case. Ok maybe he's just trying to cause trouble for me, so I get caught with a [falsely reported] stolen weapon? I can't remember the last time my rifle's SN was checked by LEO; maybe 10 years ago....my enemy is better off report my vehicle VIN stolen if he wants me to squirm. Even then, you would be a complete idiot to make a false stolen weapons report since it's just simply not possible to get away with it...at least not with my equipment. Sorry for being so long (and this post is not intended for you), I remember this question was asked and went on for some time earlier this year. I should try to find it....and I'll go back and read your whole post, too. I think covering the SN is just an internet tradition that has lived on thoughout the years, whether gun or car or ipod or radar detector or whatever device. |
+4 on the great "F" word. I doubt any of them are scrupulous, though. 
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Perhaps you don't like the dude, his posts, or got jealous of his pictures. No one said you had to do it for money. You need the photo if you want to screw someone in particular. Why would you call in a random number as stolen unless you trying to defraud some insurance or such? Fucktard is the operative word, some people just do it for kicks.
Yep, you are. Call in a particular firearm SN as stolen, then make up a ruse for the cops to go over and investigate ("Dude has stolen guns officer!"), officer checks it out, finds a rifle and checks to see if it's stolen. Yep, was reported as such. Now he wants to confiscate the gun and haul the owner off. Not a bad way to screw with someone, eh?
You answered your own question. If you don't know why, why do you do it yourself???
You don't need any personal information. Just call the copshop, tell them you are Joe Dirt and someone stole your rifle, then turn the dude in. Now he has some serious hassles. Fucktard at work. In my town, anytime anytime a trooper shows up over a firearms matter, they check every and all firearms they see in plain sight when they show up to see if it's on the stolen list of SN's. Not ripping on you, just didn't want to write it all out like you did. It's not a matter of personal gain, but just screwing with someone and potentially causing them a crap load of hassle, being drug in, having the firearm seized, and having to wait while the guy attempts to prove it's his. If you had that rifle of yours for 10 years, do you still have a receipt? Most people would not, it would be difficult to quickly prove ownership. They can run a check through FFL's and dealers, but that takes time while you sit there and rot, missing work or whatever, and if you bought it privately then a receipt would be the only way to prove it. In the end, the guy make his case but he could go through a lot of hell until then. I thought in the old days people just falsely turned others into the IRS telling them they were cheating/lying about their taxes and causing an investigation. Or maybe just getting his address and filling out 50 or so magazine subscription cards. Or fill out a change of address form with a fictitious address and put his name on it - it would be a while before he even knew that he was missing mail - perhaps mail from the IRS or his new magazine subscriptions??? 
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+100 There is always some ass clown of a scammer / crook who will nail your balls to the wall via the internet - identity theft etc if you give them the chance. I would no sooner make a serial number to a gun I own public info, just as I won't publish my SS# Better safe than sorry. Now if I am buying a firearm and I want to make sure it IS NOT STOLEN ... I ask the seller for the complete serial number and I call my local PD ( have done it many times - small city I live ) and they run the serial number while I am on the phone ( takes like 10 seconds ) and check to make certain it is not a stolen firearm. i strongly urge everyone to use the same precaution when buying guns from a private party. Just my .02 
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+3 BTW, I like the term "unscrupulous fucktard" as much as I like the term "ignorant assclown"
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Sounds like a lot of folks didn't know why they were doing it, but liked the "reported stolen" idea when they heard it. If you want to screw someone, you don't need an elaborate firearms scam to do it. You can file any kind of false report, oftentimes anonymously, to get them fucked. You can call and say he's a terrorist, and he's amassing an arsenal, and a bunch of explosive gunpowder.....I bet that would work wonders in today's public fear environment. We even have a sign over the local interstate with a tollfree number.... I'm not going to believe that this is a practical concern until someone provides evidence that this has been done to someone before, and even then that it has been done more often than other nefarious bullshit that folks do to screw one another (and why does anyone want to screw you anyway?). I bet the greatest threat is that someone's wife/girlfriend files an unjustified domestic complaint and the next thing you know you've got a restraining order and you'll never own another gun in your life. (Oh, and this HAS happened, to a physician in texas, and the case went all the way to the supreme court court case) It sounds like unjustified paranoia to me. Everyone would be better off watching what they eat and avoiding cigarette smoke rather than invent conspiracy theories about how your neighbor can screw you if he knows your gun's serial number....anything CAN happen, but we should be concerned most with what's LIKELY to happen, and this isn't it. |
I have to agree with this; has this happened to anyone here or does anyone know somebody who this has happened to? Does anyone know the procedure for calling in a weapon as stolen? Do you have to identify yourself or identify the true owner? How can you just simply call in a weapon serial number as stolen and the police go act on it with little to no information opther than "it's stolen, believe me"? Wouldn't that be akin to calling in a vehicle VIN as stolen just to harass somebody? BTW, has that happened to anyone here, or do you know of anybody that even knows somebody that has happened to with their vehicle? The vehicle VIN is in plain sight and I know some people cover theirs but something tells me the VIN or rifle SN# alone is not sufficient to create an actionable report, but I could be wrong. So Mike I understand your point about the random vindicative jealous idiot trying to cause trouble for you so I suppose it's better safe than sorry; why do it if you don't have to. I blank mine out because I too have succumbed to peer pressure (why post my SN if nobody else is).
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I agree with the last two posts. Reporting a firearm as stolen, if it is not yours is pretty stupid. Lets see, Fucktard sees my ser # and reports it. The cops come to my house and check it and sure enough, there is a theft report out on it. I go to jail. I post bond, go to my FFL and get a copy of the paperwork with my name, SS# and signiture and ser # on it. I take that to the DA's office. Charges droped against me and Fucktard gets arrested for filing a false reoprt. Then I sue his ass in a civil court for damages, take his house, guns, wife and kids. Fucktard just justified the "tard" portion of his name. Here is a better reason for the tin foil crowd. What if someone duplicates your ser # on their gun. They go on a crime spree and leave the weapon at the scene. Then the cops come looking for you because they found your weapon....  ETA: with that said, I still belong to the "better safe than sorry"crowd. That, and it makes me cool. |
But notice how the ones who say you really don't have too are doing it anyway. Gee, go figure. |
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Everyone should suit his fancy, especially when little time and effort are involved. But often, this kind of irrational concern for vague threats is overgeneralized to other areas of one's life, and therefore merits scrutiny. One should ask himself, on a daily basis, if the habits he has and the energy he spends are worth his efforts, or if he would be better off concentrating on more pressing or profitable concerns. That's why I think the smoking, eating, exercise, lifestyle issue is highly relevant. How many guys do you think obsess about scribbling out their serial numbers while puffing away on a cigarette or eating a cheeseburger? Which threat is greater? Which concern is more rational? But I digress.... |
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