ABSTRACT

When the Gun Control Act was enacted in 1968, one of its provisions was the requirement that all rearms be axed with a unique serial number. Prior to the act being signed into law, shotguns and .22 ries were exempted from this requirement, but this did not preclude a manufacturer from axing a serial number on any rearm as a matter of normal business practice. Despite the lack of legal requirement, many manufacturers voluntarily axed serial numbers to arms, the major exception being shotguns and ries branded by department stores. Since 1968, all articles that are legally articulated as a rearm that is manufactured or imported into the United States are legally required to have a serial number axed to the frame or receiver. As part of the serial number requirement, the act further specied that serial numbers be unique; manufacturers could no longer replicate serial numbers. Furthermore, importers of rearms could not replicate a serial number on any other rearm they had previously imported, and in the case of a foreign-manufactured rearm where foreign characters are used as part of the serial number structure that was originally axed by the manufacturer, the rearm would be assigned a new serial number made up of Arabic numerals.