Question on serial number visibility

[RickD427]

A lot of older browning hi powers with the wrap around grips cover the serial number. I won?t worry about a grip that covered a serial number. I would just have a cell phone photo of the serial number and have the ability by having a screw driver to remove the grips.

I think there would be a difference in the section code mentioned about cover between a temporary cover like a grip and what some people may do that won?t be temporary. Non temporary cover that the section would apply to in my opinion be like someone redoing a gun blueing and filling in the serial number where it is not readable.

I won?t over think things with serial numbers under grips.

There ain't anything in the statute that makes such a distinction.

Before you do that, ask yourself how many folks you know who have had a covered serial number on a firearm become an issue. I personally know a lot of folks who regularly transport all types of firearms all over the country, and never has it ever come up. About the only circumstance I think it might be an issue is foreign travel wherein a customs official needs to verify the serial number on the weapon to verify the same is on any required documentation.
If anyone has ever actually had a covered serial number on a firearm become an issue in itself, please let me know.

I've never seen a case where PC 537e has been charged, absent there being a larger context to the criminal case.

The most common application of section 537e is where a nice LEO finds a knucklehead with a bunch of stuff that is most likely stolen, and where follow-up investigation is needed to establish that the stuff is stolen. For instance, I might make a traffic stop for a B/O taillight and then find 50 car stereos in the trunk, with the serial numbers removed, while checking the taillight wiring. In that case, someone is going to jail for 537e while we check the stack of auto burglary reports to see if any of the stereos match a stolen report.

While an arrest for 537e, based only on a S/N being covered by a firearm accessory may be lawful, it's hard to reconcile with the enforcement guidance of Penal Code section Four.

[BearCreekRoad]

I've never seen a case where PC 537e has been charged, absent there being a larger context to the criminal case.

The only serial number charges I'm familiar with (and I'm neither a LEO nor a professional attorney) are:

• Vehicle chop shops, where big pieces of cars have the VIN ground off.
• Firearms, if the serial number is ground off completely, and then only in conjunction with other charges.

Theoretically, as D_K said, a LEO could arrest for just "serial number covered by a grip", and the gun would be taken as evidence (which is not the same as confiscated as a nuisance). It would be hard to imagine a DA charging for that, and even harder to imagine a court convicting.