PA handgun transfer

[JimD98]

I have a pistol that was just given to me by my father. It was willed to him by my uncle when he passed away 20 years ago. He lived in Califonia. How can I go about getting it registered in my name?
Thanks
Jim

[GunLawyer001]

Cool, another hot button.....

If you want the gun associated with yoiur name, find a gun shop willing to run it through their book for you, run PICS on you, and "transfer it" from you to you.

It's not required, but it prevents some possible troubles with confused police officers.

[Xringshooter]

As GL001 said it isn't necessary to have any done. PA laws says that a parent or grandparent can give a handgun to a their child or grandchild (and vice versa) with no paperwork completed. This is also the same for a spouse to spouse gift.

However, some police think (incorrectly) that the PSP database that records transfers or sales of handguns between two people or handguns bought in a gunshop is a "registry" (which it is not!!!). If for some reason you were stopped and it ended with your gun being taken from you to be run against this database (which is not supposde to happen but it does) and it doen't come back with your name attached to it, some police will be jerks and try to roust you for this, even though it was a legal transfer from your dad. Then it is you are guilty until you can prove it belongs to you. Hence, many people spend the time and money to have the gun transferred to themselves so that their name is associated with that gun in the database.

[BimmerJon]

What the guys above said

You and your dad both PA residents, right?

[JimD98]

Thanks for the replies!
We are from PA.
I think I will get it registered to play it safe.

[ByblosHex]

Thanks for the replies!
We are from PA.
I think I will get it registered to play it safe.

There's no registry and there is no getting it registered. All you can do is transfer it to yourself so that you have a receipt and a background check done.

[BimmerJon]

Thanks for the replies!
We are from PA.
I think I will get it registered to play it safe.

Not to nickpick, but using the correct terminology is very important. There is no firearm registration in PA.
You are not registering anything, you are simply having an FFL transfer it to yourself. You-> FFL -> You again...

This records it on their bound book. Any record of the "sales" transfer by the police is required to be destroyed after 72 hours. We know they DON'T destroy it, rather keep it, but that's the process

[acosenza2]

Thanks for the replies!
We are from PA.
I think I will get it registered to play it safe.

Don't waste the money. There is technically no registry in PA, although the PSP does have a fairly crappy incomplete "registry". Even if you have it transferred from yourself, to yourself, there is no telling if you will actually be on the "registry".

A little story. My cousin was pulled over while working as a delivery driver. He had his gun with him in the car (yes he has an LTCF). They told him he was drunk and arrested him and searched his car before towing it. They found his gun and ran the numbers and told him that the gun was not registered to him and that it was stolen. He disputed that and said he had the receipt for it. At any rate, they cuffed him, and took him to the county courthouse. When he got out of the police cruiser, they told him that they ran the gun a second (perhaps a third) time and that now the gun was coming back as his. They also then gave him a breathalyzer and he blew a 0.0. they returned his gun and told him he was free to go, but that he would have to pick up his car from impound in the morning.

The moral of that story? Even if your gun is transferred to you via an FFL (I distinguish here because it was already legally transferred to you), there is no telling that if the police run that it will come back to you, or come back at all as being in there.

[GunLawyer001]

. . .

A little story. My cousin was . . .

It's true that no plan is perfect. There are incompetent cops who will transpose serial numbers, lie, and generally commit acts of malfeasance.

However. Life is uncertain, all you can do is play the odds and do what will be MORE LIKELY to avoid trouble, proportional to the costs involved.

Smoking crack and stealing for a living is bad for you, yet I'm sure we could find some story about a man who went through rehab, kicked the habit, got a job, and then died in a plane crash. Doesn't change the fact that addicted thievery is a worse policy.

Yes, it's legal to do a paperless transfer from PA father to PA son, of a firearm that doesn't show up in the PA database at all. But we've heard more tales here on PAFOA and elsewhere of people meeting troubles over "unregistered" guns, than similar troubles over guns that gave cops the comforting match in the database.

It's not a waste of money to transfer to yourself. You get something for it. You shouldn't have to do it to avoid wrongful hassles, but then again, we shouldn't need locks on our doors or anti-virus software on our computers. Or to carry a gun at all, to defend yourself in case someone wrongfully attacks you. You have no legal or moral obligation to do any of these things, but most people think the money is well-spent anyway.

[acosenza2]

It's true that no plan is perfect. There are incompetent cops who will transpose serial numbers, lie, and generally commit acts of malfeasance.

However. Life is uncertain, all you can do is play the odds and do what will be MORE LIKELY to avoid trouble, proportional to the costs involved.

Smoking crack and stealing for a living is bad for you, yet I'm sure we could find some story about a man who went through rehab, kicked the habit, got a job, and then died in a plane crash. Doesn't change the fact that addicted thievery is a worse policy.

Yes, it's legal to do a paperless transfer from PA father to PA son, of a firearm that doesn't show up in the PA database at all. But we've heard more tales here on PAFOA and elsewhere of people meeting troubles over "unregistered" guns, than similar troubles over guns that gave cops the comforting match in the database.

It's not a waste of money to transfer to yourself. You get something for it. You shouldn't have to do it to avoid wrongful hassles, but then again, we shouldn't need locks on our doors or anti-virus software on our computers. Or to carry a gun at all, to defend yourself in case someone wrongfully attacks you. You have no legal or moral obligation to do any of these things, but most people think the money is well-spent anyway.

Yes, yes I completely agree. Perhaps I should have phrased it differently. The OP seemed to want to transfer the firearm for absolute peace of mind. I wanted to convey that even transferring a firearm may not give him absolute certainty that he will not run into trouble.

Of course, being able to provide the paperwork if the gun should be confiscated would be cheaper than hiring an attorney.

In an instance such as this, where a father is transferring it to a son, would a certified/notarized letter stating that the father transferred it to the son pursuant the applicable statutes suffice? Not saying this is what the OP should do, but I really am curious about it.