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Police, dealers split over making possession of defaced-serial firearms a felony
Summary
SB466 would elevate possession of a firearm with obliterated serial numbers to a class-A felony under a committee amendment. Manchester police argued traceability is essential; gun-industry witnesses urged technical exceptions and insertion of 'knowing' as a mens rea element to avoid ensnaring lawful owners of older or corroded guns.
Captain Rob Gravel of the Manchester Police Department testified in support of SB466 as amended, saying obliterated serial numbers frustrate the ability to trace stolen firearms and identify straw purchasers. "When the serial number is destroyed or altered, this process cannot happen," Gravel said, and he asked the committee to find the bill ought to pass.
Several longtime federally licensed firearms dealers and an industry witness urged specific changes, saying the draft should recognize pre-1968 firearms that were never serialized, add an explicit "knowing" mental-state element, exempt law-enforcement actions in the course of duties, and provide corrosion exceptions when markings have been lost to rust. One witness warned that without such clarifications, owners of vintage firearms or those with rust-damaged numbers could be wrongly charged.
Committee members asked whether the proposal would cover so-called "ghost guns" and whether federal law already addresses similar conduct; witnesses said the bill targets firearms that originally had serial numbers which someone later defaced, not frames that were never serialized. The Department and police framed the change as aligning state penalties with the seriousness of obstructing traceability.
No committee vote was recorded; testimony closed after technical Q&A and suggested drafting amendments from industry witnesses.
