How To Register An Aow Shotgun That Has Never Been Registered Before

Exercise I Accept To Register My Gun?

Firearms | September 2, 2020

I get this question a lot, and it's clear that at that place is some defoliation out there about what it ways to "register" a firearm. It is the purpose of this article to lend some clarity to the discipline.

In club to comprehensively accost the topic of firearms registration, I will make two distinctions. The first distinction is between the categories of firearms: those which are subject to the National Firearms Human action ("NFA Firearms"), and those which are non ("non-NFA Firearms"). (I am avoiding other frequently-used terms, like "Title I Firearms," "Title Two Firearms," or "Class Three Firearms" as they are inaccurate and misleading.) The second stardom I will make is between registering a firearm, on the ane hand, and undergoing an ownership transfer background bank check, on the other.

Categories of Firearms

Returning to the two types of firearms, "not-NFA Firearms" are the most normally owned guns, and this category includes handguns (revolvers and semi-automatic pistols) and long guns (rifles and shotguns). Simply 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 step down a glace slope, leading to eventual confiscation. Conversely, the motivation behind background checks is to ensure that those who are "Prohibited Persons" (such every bit felons, for instance) are non allowed to ain guns.

However, the police force nonetheless requires the transferee (the recipient) of certain non-NFA Firearms to undergo a background bank check (as mentioned above, for the purpose of making certain a transferee is non a "Prohibited Person"). This is done at a Federal Firearms Licensee ("FFL," i.e. a dealer) who runs a background check on the transferee through the NICS (the National Instant Criminal Background Bank check Organization) database, though here in Pennsylvania we use the "PICS" (Pennsylvania Instant Check Arrangement). This is always accompanied by the completion of an ATF Grade 4473, also as the Pennsylvania Country Police Application/Tape of Sale form (SP 4-113) which is the form that lists the various factors prohibiting gun ownership.

(CAUTION: nosotros have had many clients stumble into problem by filling out one of these forms without a proper understanding of what they mean – read the instructions on the back of the forms before completing them, considering an wrong answer tin lead to criminal charges.)

All Pennsylvania handgun transfers must be subjected to a PICS check, with the completion of a Form 4473 by 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 (as 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 cheque and ATF Form 4473) is an illegal handgun, and its possession will subject the owner to criminal penalties. (There are some exceptions to this, though, such as transfers between a parent and an adult child.) A long gun, even so, as indicated higher up, tin can be transferred in Pennsylvania without an FFL-completed PICS check and ATF Form 4473, and therefore you lot can transfer ownership of a long gun in Pennsylvania with simply a hand shake. (It is, however, strongly recommended that at least a Bill of Sale always be completed for such transfers.)

What'south the Deviation Betwixt Background Checks and Registrations?

As distinguished from a groundwork bank check equally described above, 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 police station for the purpose of alerting the municipality of its presence in their jurisdiction. This is an additional step that another states require, and is typically done most immediately later on the buying transfer and NICS background check. (Residents of other states should cheque their local laws on specific procedures.)

It has been claimed, and rightly and then, that many states' groundwork check procedures in fact institute 'dorsum door' registrations, since the final result is the same – the government knows who has what guns. Pennsylvania is a skillful example of this. Even though we take a statute on the books which specifically outlaws whatsoever firearm registration, a dealer-facilitated background check must accompany all handgun transfers, the class that the transferee fills out is so kept by the dealer, and a copy is sent to the Pennsylvania State Police force.

However, the storage of firearm purchaser data, while currently an unfortunate feature of our firearms transfer procedure, is not a necessary characteristic of a background check per se. In other words (and here I describe not what the law is, but what it could be) it would be entirely reasonable for a dealer to bear a background cheque on a transferee by simply calling the state police and getting a 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' on the transferee, without generating unnecessary paperwork for storage purposes. The state constabulary could limit its record-keeping to the fact that a groundwork cheque 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'due south driver'south license, which he would but exist mandated to provide to law enforcement if a warrant was issued for its provision, in the case that a law-breaking had been committed with the firearm in question.

Such a process would prevent a background bank check from condign a 'back door' registration, but would also address legitimate law enforcement needs. Since this is not the case at nowadays, the only firearms owners in Pennsylvania who are currently non subject area to any kind of 'back door' registration are those who have purchased their long guns privately.

Registering an NFA Firearm

Returning to the police every bit it is, the other category of firearms is "NFA Firearms," which term is divers as including any of the following: (A) a "short-barreled shotgun," the barrel(s) of which measure(s) less than xviii inches, or the overall length of which is less than 26 inches; (B) a "short-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 example); (D) a car gun; (Eastward) 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 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (which is still unremarkably referred to equally the "ATF").

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

Permit us keep in listen, then, that the PICS background bank check (in theory at least) merely ensures that a transferee is not a Prohibited Person, and, with some exceptions, near all firearms (both NFA and not-NFA) are discipline to groundwork checks. Registration, on the other hand, while required for the transfer of NFA Firearms, is not officially permitted in Pennsylvania. May we exist precise in our terminology, and zealous to go along these terms singled-out, both in theory and in practice, remembering that background checks are intended to go on guns out of the hands of the bad guys, whereas registration may eventually continue them out of the easily of the good guys.

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