Oregon Rancher Shot Nine Times Appears Stolen 9mm Planted

So very sad that we can never truely know the truth in these situations. All we can do is judge by past experience as to whether or not our government agencies are honest, and then suck it up because wrongdoing can seldom be proven.

Nugget ,Glencairn ,


I can tell you from personal experience this isn't true, and I am not sure why they would say that. What would be the point of serializing if more than one gun had the same number? 

Many years ago a friend had a new girlfriend he wanted to take shooting and introduce to firearms. He asked to borrow my Ruger 22 pistol easy to shoot, no kick, not to loud and basically fun. Well the next weekend after they went someone broke into his house and stole all of his guns and my Ruger 22. I didn't write down the serial number and keep the record, he didn't have it, It was just listed as a stolen weapon. But when I lived in CA and you bought a firearms, you waited 10 days before picking it up, their cool down period, and the serial number on the firearm was registered to you with the documentation you provided. In my case a drivers license.

Well a 1 1/2 years later I thought it was gone for sure when I received a letter in the mail from Whittier Police Dept. saying they recovered it after an attempted robbery, and if I wanted it I could come down and pick it up. All I had to do was go down to the property recovery building they had, sign with ID and I could have it back. This is where the story gets interesting. In CA any mention of a gun throws terror into police and the leftwing citizens like nowhere else. It is almost comical. You would think the gun would jump up leave the house by itself and start shooting randomly. People had instilled in them so much fear by politicians and media it was crazy.

So when I went in the building behind the counter a Whittier Policeman cooly says yeah I have it ask for ID and off he goes to get it from the shelves. He comes back ask if this is the one and of course I said yes it looked the same and I have the engraving filled with white to make it different from the rest. So he says ok takes all of my info one more time and through about 4" of glass pulls the magazine out of the gun and it's loaded. Now he is going to put it in one of those bank type slide drawers to send it out. I looked at him and laughed and said are you crazy your going to hand me a loaded gun. He says he has to return it in the same condition they got it in. I said you mean you handing me a loaded gun, and the second I receive it I am breaking the law. He smiled thought a second and said yes. I am at a police station for crying out loud. So he said he would unload it I wanted, it would still make it illegal to have it that way outside of my home. So I ended up asking him several times to throw away the ammo. Finally he concedes and tosses the ammo in the trash and gives me back an unloaded gun. No box, bag, sack or anything. Just here ya go see you later. Talk about nervous I am not one of those lucky people where always go smooth. I could see getting shot walking out of a police building in a city and a gun in my hand. So I put it in my waist band once again illegal.

So after this very long story when you purchase a firearm, any firearm, rifle, shotgun, or handgun, now it is federal law you go through a background check and the serial number is registered to you. This has been a complaint of pro-gun people for years. Because now they know who has what in the way of firearms, how many, and when they want where to come pick them up. As a side note in CA now if anyone in your household goes to a shrink for any reason it doesn't matter they send out a team to collect all the guns in the house, they already have the info necessary to know what to get.

So in the end the serial number is unique to each and every firearm. I even own a custom STI handgun when I shot competitively with my last name as the serial number. One call at the manufacture to AFT to clear the request and some addition money you could get any serial number you want. Of course it helps to know the right people in the process but it is possible. 

Sorry for the long story but the info they gave you is incorrect. The database they keep this information in has been for many years illegal and pro-gun folks have been fighting it for decades.