School me about serial numbers in photos.

[Dekker]

They did it in Gone in 60 Seconds....it has to be legal >_> Don't know if they're legit but they do have sites that allow you to look up plates, gotta pay some money but most of the time after that first time fee you get unlimited searches for a few years.

[audihenry]

Just prudent that we keep to a certain level of anonymity on the net. Little bit of info here, little bit there, someone can put together a bigger picture and possibly use it against you in nefarious ways (anything ranging from simple fraud to burglary to aggravated assault). Costs nothing to obscure the number, so it's a good investment of time.

Make sure that tinfoil hat is on nice and tight.

[xibunkrlilkidsx]

All kinds of reasons.

You post a photo of a rifle (no DOJ record) and I can read the serial number.
I call and report it stolen... then a few days later, I call the PD back and tell them "Hey, I just found my rifle over here on www.whatever.com!"

hence why i keep ALL my recipts,including the dros info from buying guns and the serial numbers off the box. yah you might get me in trouble now but its not going to do anything long term except cause the police to waste their time.

[BuisJoel]

better safe than sorry.

+1. only costs a few seconds of your time

[Cokebottle]

dood thats scary. is that legal to do so?

No, it's not.

[audihenry]

better safe than sorry.

I had posted a picture of my Camaro on a site I frequent. A few months later a guy comes up to my house and ask if I'd sell my Camaro. I asked how he knew that I had a Camaro cause its always in my garage. He said he had read my post, saw my pictures and had a friend at DMV look up the plate. Along with my address. Scary stuff.

vinz

You do realize that if someone wanted to know this same information, they could have simply followed you home. It's pointless to osbcure something that is PUBLIC anyway!

[Cokebottle]

You do realize that if someone wanted to know this same information, they could have simply followed you home. It's pointless to osbcure something that is PUBLIC anyway!

Why make their job easier?

There are people searching the internet for opportunities.
Your "public circle" may only be a radius of 30 miles from home with such a vehicle, but a public posting immediately opens that window of opportunity up to a dishonest person as far as 100 miles away... or thousands if the person who notices your photo has a friend in your area.

And the serial numbers on my guns are not exactly "public".
I can guarantee you that nobody other than my dealer and the DOJ know more than the first 5 digits of my serial number.

[joepamjohn]

I've noticed some people make sure to obscure the serial numbers of their firearm in photos, why is that exactly?

They will blurr out the gun serial number or car license number, then they will post pictures of their family and kids for all to see. They probably offer to have potential buyers come to their house to look at the items for sale too. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I have a lot more fear of "cyber freaks" looking to do my family harm than I do my guns or cars.

[Sniper3142]

People obsure serial number because they choose to.

Anyone who thinks this it is a pointless or needless safety measure should reply to this thread with the Serial Numbers and descriptions of ALL their weapons. Also throw in the license plate info for all your vehicles.

It's all public information already so it won't hurt... right??

[xxdabroxx]

You can go to jail covering the S.N. Be Careful!

FUD Many if not most wheel guns have the serial under the grips from the factory. It has been noted that applying something over the serial to purposely obscure it could violate another section not directly dealing with firearms.

537e. (a) Any person who knowingly buys, sells, receives, disposes
of, conceals, or has in his or her possession any personal property
from which the manufacturer's serial number, identification number,
electronic serial number, or any other distinguishing number or
identification mark has been removed, defaced, covered, altered, or
destroyed, is guilty of a public offense, punishable as follows:

I really think there should be an implied permanence to this section even though it does not present itself.

BTW, this is fairly off topic

On topic: Its a privacy thing, just like the above said. Is it worth it? who knows.

[thempopresense]

What's to stop someone from using your serial number on a home made or modified weapon?

Anything that can easily link back to your home address, name, and other info should be covered up.

[joepamjohn]

What's to stop someone from using your serial number on a home made or modified weapon?

Anything that can easily link back to your home address, name, and other info should be covered up.

To the right individual the mere fact that you surf the internet is all the info needed to track you down. IP addresses and other forms of your "cyber footprint" is plenty of information for the wrong person. You really just need to hope that you are not important enough for someone to mess with, or that you are just plain lucky.

[Cokebottle]

To the right individual the mere fact that you surf the internet is all the info needed to track you down. IP addresses and other forms of your "cyber footprint" is plenty of information for the wrong person. You really just need to hope that you are not important enough for someone to mess with, or that you are just plain lucky.

Those methods require a little more work, and "Joe Schmoe" on the net... out of the millions of people, often just doesn't provide the incentive to do so.

Why make it easy by posting a flashy truck or nice gun collection and providing the positive ID information in one photo?

[MasterYong]

To the right individual the mere fact that you surf the internet is all the info needed to track you down. IP addresses and other forms of your "cyber footprint" is plenty of information for the wrong person. You really just need to hope that you are not important enough for someone to mess with, or that you are just plain lucky.

That wrong person would have to be capable of breaking through your ISP's security to get the street address of your assigned IP- and even then you may be sharing it. That's why the feds don't track down and arrest every crackpot that claims they're gonna do something illegal- they have to get a subpoena for the info from the ISP. You can't simply track someone's physical location with just the IP address (for example my IP address currently says I'm in Mesa, when I'm really in Sun City, and I didn't do anything to mask or change it).

[BONECUTTER]

There's an aweful lot of guns out there legally with no paper trail.

No paper is a two edged sword. We like it because it reduces traceability for when "they come for our guns". It also means no liability in the event of theft should the thief use it in a crime.
It also means that it's less likely to be returned to it's rightful owner.

There is paperwork....The FFL keeps it for 20 years. The state doesn't know serials but anything can be traced down.

If a remington 870 is found at a crime or in a dumbster they give the serial number to remington and know what dealer it went to. The dealer knows who then transfered it to....maybe you in this case. If you sold it to someone else they can track that as well unless someone is face to facing it in another state.