Thanks for visiting Federal Lawyers, a second-generation criminal defense firm managed by our lead attorney, with over 50 years of combined experience defending firearms cases throughout New York. Police find a gun with a filed-off, scratched-out, or otherwise altered serial number? Your facing serious felony charges – both state and potentially federal. New York Penal Law § 265.02 makes it criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree to possess any firearm with a removed, defaced, or altered serial number. That’s a class D felony carrying 2-7 years. Federal law adds another layer – 18 U.S.C. § 922(k) makes it illegal to possess, receive, or transfer any firearm with an obliterated serial number. Up to 5 years federal time. Prosecutors charge these cases aggressively because defaced serial numbers indicate the gun’s been used in crimes and trafficked through illegal channels.
Why Serial Numbers Matter
Every commercially manufactured firearm has a serial number stamped on the frame or receiver. These numbers serve critical law enforcement functions.
Tracing Crime Guns
When police recover a firearm at a crime scene, they submit it to ATF’s National Tracing Center. ATF uses the serial number to trace the gun from manufacturer to first retail sale – identifying which dealer sold it and who purchased it. A gun with a defaced serial cant be traced. That’s why people deface them – to prevent tracing back to the original purchaser or linking to previous crimes.
Linking Guns to Multiple Crimes
Serial numbers connect one firearm to multiple criminal incidents. Gun recovered at a Manhattan shooting has the same serial as a gun used in a Brooklyn robbery? That links the cases. Defacing the serial breaks that chain.
New York Law: PL § 265.02
PL § 265.02(4) makes it a crime to possess “any firearm… which has been defaced for the purpose of concealment or prevention of the detection of a crime.”
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(212) 300-5196Class D felony – 2 to 7 years. The statute doesn’t require you to be the person who defaced the serial. Possessing a gun someone else defaced is enough.
What “Defaced” Means
Defaced means removed, obliterated, altered, or covered in a way that makes the serial illegible or difficult to read. Filing it off, grinding it down, scratching it out, stamping over it, covering it with metal or polymer – all qualify.
Partial defacement counts. If enough of the serial is removed or altered that it cant be fully read, that’s defacement. You dont need to obliterate every digit.
Todd Spodek
Lead Attorney & Founder
Featured on Netflix's "Inventing Anna," Todd Spodek brings decades of high-stakes criminal defense experience. His aggressive approach has secured dismissals and acquittals in cases others deemed unwinnable.
The “Purpose” Element
The statute requires the defacement be “for the purpose of concealment.” Prosecutors must prove someone defaced the number for that purpose – but they dont need to prove YOU did it. If you possess a gun with a defaced serial, prosecutors presume it was defaced for illegal purposes.
During a routine traffic stop in Brooklyn, police searched your vehicle and discovered a handgun under the passenger seat with its serial number completely filed off. You legally purchased the firearm years ago in another state but have no explanation for how the serial number was removed.
Can I really be charged with a felony just for having a gun with a defaced serial number, even if I'm the original legal purchaser?
Yes — under New York Penal Law § 265.02(3), criminal possession of a weapon with a defaced serial number is a class D violent felony carrying a mandatory minimum of 3.5 years and up to 7 years in state prison, regardless of whether you originally bought the gun legally. Federal charges under 18 U.S.C. § 922(k) can also apply, adding up to 5 years in federal prison on top of any state sentence. Prosecutors do not need to prove you personally defaced the serial number — mere knowing possession of the altered firearm is enough to sustain the charge. An experienced firearms defense attorney can challenge the search that led to the discovery, dispute whether the number was truly 'defaced' under the statute, or negotiate alternatives to the harshest mandatory sentencing guidelines.
This is general information only. Contact us for advice specific to your situation.
I’ve defended cases where clients argued they didnt know why the serial was defaced. That doesn’t help – possessing it is the crime, regardless of who defaced it or why.
