I’ve always been curious why I was asked about my gun. It’s the only time where I had ownership of a gun but was not issued a LTCF yet and got that question from a cop, but it DID happen. WHY/HOW did he know that I even owned a gun, at that point? Can any recently retired or active LEO clarify? I think the year of this incident was 2017.
Aren’t FFLs required for all private sales? Or is this requirement state specific? Here in Commie-fornia, an FFL is required for all private sales. Unless of course, you are a criminal and you probably ignore all these pesky laws to begin with.
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Federally licensed firearms dealers are required by federal law to conduct background checks on prospective buyers, but private (unlicensed) sellers are not.
However FFL is a great “insurance” option for private seller - the buyer is gonna be checked first before receiving the firearm.
Every state is different.
In IL, where I live, we have these rules:
430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 65/2 : Buyer must have a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification Card, for which a background check is conducted.
430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 65/3 : Dept. of State Police must conduct background check on prospective buyer before firearms are transferred at gun shows. Seller must check validity of buyer’s FOID card.
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Again, can you explain the situation I previously described? This all occurred within minutes, not 7-9 days.
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This?
Officer asks if I have my gun with me
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@iamteeg — I’m not sure how it works in other states, but where I am, police know that I have a carry permit as soon as they run my driver’s license because that information is in a sherif’s database. They should not know what guns I do or don’t own, as that is all separate. @Jerzees spelled out the process well — when you purchase a gun, you have to list the make and serial number on your background check. Where I am, that’s true of all sales. BUT, that information may not be stored by any state or federal agency — the only record is supposed to be with the FFL and they are not supposed to turn that over unless a crime is being investigated.
Then, when you sell a gun, they list it again on the buyer’s background check, and it is worth keeping that record to prove you don’t own it if it is ever used in a crime.
As others have pointed out, that’s the way it works in theory. In practice may be something else entirely.
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@iamteeg — one other thought about the situation you described. The police officer may not have known you had any interest in guns, but was fishing. “Do you have a gun on you,” is a perfectly legitimate question to ask, even without knowing you are or are not in the process of doing a background check or getting a carry permit.
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Thank you @CascadiaNow.
You have saved me a lot of time … And I’m not a good writer 
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As to the first part, you are welcome. As to the second, I disagree. I learn a lot from you here in the Community!
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@Jerzees @CascadiaNow @MikeBKY
I’ve been asked “do you have YOUR gun with you” twice during traffic stops… once I believe they saw my permit.
The time in question, I did not have a permit yet, and only a couple weeks prior did I buy a handgun…
I had both permit and guns in the past previously but didn’t renew my LTCF at the time and had to sell my guns out of hardship.
And for years nothing ever got mentioned to me about guns during a traffic incident.
So the only change was a couple of weeks prior to this incident, was me purchasing a handgun. And I got asked if I had MY gun on me.
Jerzey, I don’t want to disrespect you, but given this incident with a local LEO + my knowledge of databases and technology from a past professional standpoint, it just seems crazy to believe that the government doesn’t have more info together around specific gun ownership than they’d admit. Obviously private sales would challenge that, but I find it hard to believe that at least NICS-check (dealer purchase/transfer) weren’t somehow stored somewhere… like the tech required to have that “digital trace” on a model and serial number are so simple that it’d save probably hundreds of thousands of payroll dollars annually to eliminate this “paper tracing”…so maybe they already have…
We know they utilize “alternative wording” to deny quotas, maybe they also utilize “alternative wording” to deny a “gun registry”…
I’m just looking for a reasonable explanation, and I’m not buying the “fishing expedition” explanation here because it’s never been a thing that was brought up in this local area, and in the past I’ve had too many traffic involvements with the police… I’d think if that was the explanation then I would have heard it a few times before, or my friends or family would have definitely mentioned a weird occurrence like that happening to them and I never have.
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Dude, what are you doing to get stopped so often?!
Like I said, I think there are both state (at least my state) and federal laws that prohibit agencies from keeping a record, but your experiences do seem to suggest a bit of mission creep going on behind the scenes.
Drive safe!
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@iamteeg,
I understand your point. I’m not a guru here and also may be mistaken.
However I’ve spoken with several people about gun laws, gun information flow so whatever I wrote here was based on my best knowledge.
I agree with @CascadiaNow, he explained everything in today’s posts.
One thing is known for sure - once you buy first firearm or apply for any state or federal document which tie your name to firearm, it is the moment you have to expect such question - “do you have firearm on you?” But it doesn’t mean they know what kind of firearm you own or model or serial number (at the time they ask the question)
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Works the same here in the state of Virginia
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I’m gonna “plead the fifth”… I was a wild child for a while.
This particular incident, though, IMO was a nonsense… this jeep (who little did I know, was being driven by a cop from a known and acknowledged corrupt local city… Coatesville, PA) was playing games with me for about 7-10 miles across two different roads, not letting me pass and then keeping 20 below the speed limit… and I was being an idiot with not letting it go. I was tailgating the jeep through an intersection, and this motorcycle trying to turn left started his turn right after the jeep and sideswiped me… I ride motorcycles, I never would do a turn like that, and I’m not sure why he didn’t see me. The part of this incident that I’m asking about happened when the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) arrived, right after they ran my info.
I understand, and I’m not upset, and I hope I didn’t upset you either… I love how free you are with sharing information and opinions … I’m just so absolutely baffled, and curious as to how corrupt or illegal Chester County truly is behaving at this point…
Yeah, at the time I didn’t think anything of it, because I didn’t have anything to hide and I was more worried about how I was basically “set up” by a cop in his personal vehicle to get in an accident… but it was very very suspicious, now that I think about the strong denial of the existence of any kind of “registry…,” and me not yet having my LTCF (which I’m sure IS allowed to be in an accessible “registry”)…
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No worries. This is how the Community works. We share info and discuss.
I’ll probably be upset when someone calls me “stupid mo&@#$!?*er” 
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Officially, federal law prohibits keeping a database of gun sales. Kentucky has no such thing. However, in Kentucky, and I would assume all states, have records of all CCL holders. If you are stopped in Kentucky and have a Kentucky CCL the police officer knows it.
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That should close the case then 
I like the word: Officially… But we have to trust it’s true.
For all IT people it’s obvious how easy would be to create and maintain such database.
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The 4473 is a registry. it is a reverse registry, but it is a registry none the less.
Let’s be honest. Half of you guys have uploaded pictures of most of your guns already to social media anyways. The facebook voluntary gun registry.
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Hopefully SNs are not visible…
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Well, if the government comes looking for them I don’t have them… They’re lost somewhere after by boat crashed. That was a close one!
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