What is the deal with serial numbers?

[TMan]

I've wondered about this for a long time. I've given it some amount of thought, but I really can't come up with a reasonable answer.

I've seen other people do it, so I've done the same thing without knowing why. Why do people bkank out the serial number on guns when they take a photograph?

[5ontarget]

People do it to prevent someone else from keeping records of their guns. Possibly using that information for malicious reasons. Perhaps paranoia that the serial number might somehow get transferred to another gun and used in a crime. That gun is then later discovered in your collection by some internet searching, or something.
Generally I think it is to try to stay as anonymous as possible, but still share/brag/show off/inquire.

[TMan]

5OT, it seems to me that transferring a serial number to another gun without it being detectable would be a bit difficult to do. Also, if someone searched on the Internet for a serial number, they aren't going to find it if it is in a JPG. In text I can understand.

I would say that for a good number of my handguns the ATF has the serial number anyhow because I've bought more than one in a 10 day period.

I suppose if you had the serial number in text, sold the gun to buyer X, who sells it to buyer Y, who sells it to buyer Z, who in turn commits a crime with it and stupidly leaves it at the scene, you could be in trouble.

When I gave my Ruger Mark III barrel/receiver to Bill vs destroying it, I probably should have gotten a receipt. Not that I don't trust Bill, but he has had heart attacks in the past, and God forbid that he expire, the gun could be used in a crime by a new owner. (I bought a Pac-Lite barrel/receiver for the gun).

You would think someone as paranoid as I am would keep better records. I just ordered another inside security camera because I had part of the family room that I couldn't see. I had a perimeter fault while I was in India. It was extremely cold for Texas and one of the magnets fell off. Fortunately, we had just had a light dusting of snow, and swinging the outside cameras around I could see that there weren't any tracks. However, with the inside cameras I couldn't see all 3 of the living room windows, and that was where the fault was. All I got off the file server was pictures of the policeman coming to the front door.

Based on the circumstances, my heart returned to a normal rhythm, but I would have been much more comfortable if I could have seen all of the inside of the house.

The good news was that I was running late on the way to the airport and I forgot to trip the switch that enables the gas canisters, so I didn't have to clean anything up.

The other thing that I need to do is put IR emitters out in the backyard. The inside is lite up at night with IR, as is the front doorway, but not the backyard.

If someone got close enough to the patio, they would be picked up and recorded, but not further out in the yard. What is to steal out there? The pumps cost over $1K each, not to mention all the copper wire and copper plates for the lightning arrestors.

Why do I have lightning arrestors? House has been hit before, and I was lucky. Two blocks down a house got hit and burned to the ground. (We are up high here, and we get a lot o hits).

[MLB]

I remember hiding part of the serial numbers when first posting pictures of my firearms. Seemed like the prudent thing to do for whatever reason. NYS knows the SN of every handgun I own, but the rest of the world didn't need to know I figured.

Later on, I didn't bother. That information isn't really helpful to anyone, and doesn't bother me enough to hide it. It's a bigger risk to show what firearms you have than to know the particular serial number.

[TMan]

...It's a bigger risk to show what firearms you have than to know the particular serial number.

I've thought about that MLB, and that may be part of the reason of the security that I have at the house, which my neighbors call "Fort Knox".

Then too, I have little here that anyone could get at. I prefer off- site storage.

One of the things that I frequently do is google my name and see what hits that I get. I was getting hits for the RO schedule at the local gun range. I changed that in a hurry to just use my first name.

I guess my biggest concern is forced entry while I'm home alone. Consequently, there are loaded guns in nearly every room of the house. (No kids). I have a safe room on each floor.

(Just saw a commercial with Florence Henderson - she maybe old, but hasn't lost her looks. I used to work with a very attractive woman who used to stop by my office frequently. [ I know what you are thinking, but we agreed early on that the only physical contact would be a handshake, and that only happened twice.] The guys in my department used to drool over her. I recently saw her on Facebook. Yikes!!! Years have not been kind. On the other hand, they have been very kind to my wife)

["DoubleAction"]

..In the county where I live, we have more muggings by the cops and judges than we do by the criminals. Because of the Federal Law, The Lautenberg Act, it don't take but one single three digit phone call to relinquish a person's right to own a firearm. Any local magistrate judge can give the order to have all of your firearms seized from your possession and your property by the local democrat anti-gun rights Sheriff.

...That is the way it is when the democrats has full control in a city or a county, regardless of the rights given by State Laws.

....For me; My freedoms are restricted by the length of my right arm and my lack of interest in the place that I once called home.

....I have more in common with you, than I have with the people that I live around. Something has changed a lot in this country during the past 30 years.