Oh definitely not, actually if you look at the math of how many guns there are in the country VS how many are used in murders it’s basically just a rounding error. That’s actually why it makes me laugh when people demonize all gun owners like they’re all just one day away from killing. Statistically that isn’t the case. Of course nobody made that claim, so “cool” I guess.
Still though, if they find a gun at the scene with a serial number and NICs says that Steve’s Pawn sold it and Steve’s Pawn’s paperwork says it was sold to Joe Smith, Joe better have a good alibi in most states or else he may find himself in court defending his innocence because “It was stolen and I never reported it” is a very shaky pretense for a defense, the DA could believe you, but it’s unlikely.
Or not, whatever, believe what you wish idgaf. I wouldn’t take “oh I live in X state so I don’t legally have to report stolen guns” to be a good idea myself but you’re free to make your own decisions regarding your stolen guns I guess. Personally I’d report it anyway to avoid future questions and hopefully recover my stolen property, but that’s just me, obviously you disagree since you’re so dead set against me on that.
Oh, unless of course you mean in cases where the gun isn’t found, in which case all this is moot because without the gun there’s no serial number to tie it to anyone anyway, it may as well be unreported. Of course they have to have the gun. Not sure why you are going on a tangent about “not all illegal guns are used to murder people,” because typically ones found at murder scenes were, and if it is tied to a NICs check you did and you haven’t reported it stolen, know what? Just come on back here and let us know how it went for ya.
The source is there in the statutes laid out by the state, I’m unwilling to aggregate it for you, as I have a whole other job I’m doing that actually pays me. You are free to look em up yourself.
What I’m saying is “No I do not have an article that lays out state laws succinctly, you’d have to search the actual .gov pages for the laws themselves, and as I am not your paralegal and not getting paid for my work I am declining to do it.”
Or you could just do some thinkin’ and realize “Yeah if a gun that I did a NICs check on that got stolen shows up in a murder and I don’t have an alibi, I might be a suspect in said murder” isn’t actually that wild of a situation. If you can’t see how it could be likely though, like I said, you’re free to search yourself.
Ehhh no thanks. States like NY and CA which publish a “steal guns from me” list with your name and address are not exactly privacy friendly. I mean, “what if the database got hacked,” but also what if CA and NY just publish them as public knowledge without the need to “hack,” because they do. Furthermore, there’s already 600,000,000 unregistered firearms in ~50% of the populations hands most of whom refuse to register, it’s not even effective enough to make a difference. And with that whole AWB thing, they can’t really take them all right now, but with a registry they could, and that’s why they push for it so hard. Those of us who see this writing on the wall are hesitant to give them the power they seek.
You’d have to look into state laws and previous cases where a gun purchase being tied to some murder got someone convicted. I’m not going to hunt it down to prove it to you but you’re free to spend your time doing so.
In most states, not just CA. And even most without a “duty to report” lets call it, can and will punish you if an unreported gun is used in a crime. Besides, not reporting a criminal stole your gun a good way to get falsely imprisoned for murder which usually people don’t want to do, so even without laws requiring one to do so or not specifically enumerating punishment for not reporting if it is used in a crime, it is still seen as a generally good idea to prevent said false convictions.