They all were recorded as retail sale at some point. At the point any subsequent sales went off the books, the BATFE just resorts to some form of “rubber hose cryptography”.
I don’t think you’ll ever be expected to know who owned any weapons you may lay claim to before the person you bought them from. I don’t think any state says you are even required to maintain a list of the person you bought them from. Isn’t that how the the BATFE justifies their value to America?
You could always lead a simple gun free life, such as my own.
>They all were recorded as retail sale at some point.<
Another thought. I am not quite sure that my original Stevens .22 had a serial number on it. 1955 or ‘56.