I went to the news the link from Miguel’s post Moms Demand (Fl Chapter) makes it too easy. Girl Finds Gun. In the comments of the news article I saw this.
To quote The Toolman: “Reply to @Carole Green Most likely not stolen due to the fact it still has the serial number on the side of the slide.”
I do work in firearm forensics. We provide resources to law enforcement when they need our expertise. The idea that criminals routinely file off serial numbers is some TV CSI bullshit.
Here’s why. Destroying a serial number is UBER VERBOTEN. Criminals are not all dumb. Getting caught with an illegal gun may net you a year in prison if you can’t get a plead to something lower. Getting caught with a firearm with a destroyed serial number is a one way ticket to a Federal prison. It seriously ups the ante.
It is so uber verboten that a licensed manufacturer can’t destroy the serial number of a gun it made without a massive load of paperwork.
In the risk vs. reward of being nabbed with a stolen gun vs. a gun with a destroyed serial number, get nabbed with the stolen gun and be prepared to roll over on the guy that sold you the hot piece.
Stop taking your gun knowledge from TV. It’s not good for your arguments.
Leftists seem to believe TV and movies are documentaries.
“Leftists seem to believe TV and movies are documentaries.”
Yeah, especially things like DNA lab results from the “Magic Machine” take only a few hours at most, ballistics techs can identify a firearm by make, and model from recovered bullets (which always seem pristine), carpet fibers from a body removed from a lake and identify the year, make, model and color of the suspects car.
The sad part is that these folks sit on juries and think that there is insufficient evidence for a conviction if the prosecution doesn’t present any of it, and let the scumbag off.
I’ve heard this referred to as “The C.S.I. Effect” and it’s one of the big reasons I hate police procedurals.
Gawd I wish our labs had that magic machine! It takes a few days to run a DNA sample, and that’s if I’m riding the tech like an asshole. Generally I get my results back inside of a week!
And the worst part is that their misconceptions of firearm law learned for those freedom starved areas like NY and Ca. become the expectation of those watching their shows.
Also most criminals are lazy! I suspect most “career criminals” don’t make much more than what 40 hours at minimum wage would net.
So the idea of sanding and sanding with a piece of steel wool until those roll marks vanish is dubious.
Some economist already crunched the numbers on that. Back in 2005, the hourly wage for the average drug dealer was only $3.30.
WB, I think you may be overestimating the average criminal’s dedication to aesthetics. Dindu isn’t gonna spend hours with steel wool… he’s gonna spend two minutes with a Dremel or a grinding wheel.
And all my handguns have the serial # imprinted in at least three or four places. Side of the frame (the usual spot), on a plate underneath, inside the frame near the recoil spring, on the chamber/barrel itself, etc. It would take a crap-ton of work to remove them all, and some are easy to overlook.
Besides, if it’s a stolen gun and you have to dump it, the serial number does NOT point to you. That alone is almost an incentive to NOT file it off, to say nothing of the federal charges if someone does.
Read where if the serial number has been ground off that there is a method to read the number by looking at how the grains have moved in the metal.
This happens when the numbers are stamped, not laser engraved.
To do this you will need a metallurgist that knows what they are doing.
And metallurgist’s are on every departments staff’s are they not? :>)
If you are lucky there might be a engineering college nearby that might have someone, the time and the equipment to do this.
Not to mention, it makes the gun identifiable as stolen on first glance.
A stolen gun looks like any other gun unless you go around actually typing numbers into stolen gun databases. File it off and that IS probable cause all by itself, easily seen and easily noticed.
Criminals are often dumb…but they’re usually not that dumb.