William_E_Tibbe- In my previous post, I asked you to cite the New Jersey state or local statutes that make it a crime to take possession of a serial-numberless pre-68 J.C.Higgins 22 rifle, as opposed to one with a serial number.
The ONLY pertinent part of your reply to this request was this:
Originally Posted by William_E_Tibbe
... When the gun arrives without a serial number that's when the fun begins with the Ringwood police. ...
What laws, either state or municipal, support the Ringwood police in their "fun"? Are you stating that they are enforcing some law? What is that law?
Some further notes on your response:
Originally Posted by William_E_Tibbe
#1. The touted GCA 1968 law requiring that all guns needed a serial number was preceded by a 1938 Federal Firearms act. The 1938 act required rifles to be stamped with serial numbers. Prior to that date serial numbers were by manufacturers option and all of the serious ones did number their guns and some even numbered individual parts. .22 caliber and shotguns didn't need serial numbers until 1968.
You're wrong. The Federal Firearms Act of 1938 did not require rifles to be stamped with a serial number. The 1938 act is given in its entirety here: [color:#0000FF]1938 Federal Firearms Act[/color] The only reference to serial numbers in that act is a prohibition against transporting or possessing a firearm from which the serial number has been removed, obliterated, or altered. (Section 2, subdivision (i)). If you can provide one or more references indicating that the 1938 law DID require a serial number on rifles, I'd appreciate your posting it, and will apologize for doubting you.
Originally Posted by William_E_Tibbe
#2. If not MOST, then many JC Higgins Sears Roebuck .22 caliber rifles didn't have serial numbers. Sears farmed out the manufacturing of their guns to numerous manufacturers. A model number appeared on each gun and it identified the company that manufactured the gun for Sears. There were numerous well known manufacturers, Americans, as well as Mauser. The Mauser pirates counterfeiting, that I alluded to, occurred at the close of WW11 when Mauser was dismembered and the equipment hauled off to other countries one of which was Serbia.
I was pretty much aware of this, which is the reason for the description in my first post of this thread, giving an approximate date of manufacture and the identify of the manufacturer.
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#3. As to your gun without serial number, to determine if it is legal or illegal depends on caliber and date of manufacture. If it is post 1968 illegal. If it is post 1938 and a rifle larger than .22 illegal. If it is pre 1938, without serial number, probably legal. If the serial number was effaced - illegal - a felony. Some sentences were 5 years and $10,000 fine. Again, I covered this in my original post here but it apparently was too brief, or not sufficiently explanatory and lacked detail for some to absorb and for that I am sorry.
"If it is post 1938 and a rifle larger than .22 [possession is] illegal." Again, this is a factually incorrect statement. Your paragraph #3 is only in the context of federal law. Before 1968, federal law did not require US manufacturers to apply serial numbers for rifles and shotguns not regulated by the 1934 NFA, regardless of caliber or gauge. (Again, if one exists, an authoritative contrary reference would be appreciated.)
I'll await your citation of the New Jersey law that requires serial numbers on rifles made before 1968. --Bob
