Registration(?) of old firearms

Question
Dear Mr. Little:

In an answer to a question about a Handyrifle, you made the statement:

If it was not registered prior to 1968, the gun is considered contraband and must be surrendered.

Could you please expand on what this statement really means?  I'm an old guy who was a teenager in Oregon in the 1950's.  Back then and there firearms were readily available, even to teenagers, with no questions asked.  I never saw any kind of registration form.

During the past few years, I have looked at several pre-1968 firearms with private sellers.  Didn't buy any, but none of these individuals offered a registration form, and it never occurred to me to ask.

There must be millions of firearms that predate 1968 in closets or whatnot that not seen the light of day in decades.  Are all of these supposed to be "registered"?  Are there millions of law-abiding people who are now instant criminals?

Please enlighten me.  Many thanks in advance.

Answer
Gordon,

I'm happy to help clear up your misunderstanding of what I wrote earlier.  The Harrington and Richardson Handy Gun is considered to be a 'short barrel shotgun'.  As such, it is restricted under the National Firearm Act of 1934.  The purpose of the National Firearm Act of 1934 (NFA) was to attempt to make it more difficult for citizens to obtain full auto weapons (remember Al Capone and his crew were running wild then with tommy guns in violin cases) and other dangerous weapons like "sawed off" shotguns.

The restrictions mentioned in the article I wrote related specifically to the Handy Gun, not shotguns or rifles in general.  Under the NFA, owners had until 1968 to 'declare' and properly register any NFA firearms that were privately owned.  After 1968, that grace period ended and any undeclared NFA firearms were considered to be contraband and therefore illegal under the NFA.

There is no federal gun registration for either long guns or handguns.  Some states do require registration of certain classes of guns like handguns or 'assault weapons', but there is no federal requirement.

Prior to 1968, manufacturers were not required to place serial numbers on long guns and the ability to acquire rifles was pretty much unrestricted.  You could buy them by mail through most of the major catalog companies like Wards, Penney and Sears.

A completely separate law, the Gun Control Act of 1968 brought all that to an end.  That law required serial numbers on all guns, restricted commercial sales to federally licensed firearms dealers, introduced age requirement for firearms purchases and a whole host of other restrictions on who could and could not purchase or possess firearms.

So, to answer your question, the restrictions that I mentioned about the Handy Gun were specific to those guns, not guns in general.  All those older rifles in closets are just fine.  I have a few of them myself!

Best regards,

Doug Little