Gifted gun. Legality on registering.
Greetings. I was gifted a gun, as a graduation gift, a 1944 Remington M1911A1 to be exact, from a family member. Upon asking if I could register this gun in my name, I was told by this family member that this gun could not be registered because it technically never belonged to anyone other than the US Government and attempting to do so could result in forfeiture of the firearm and potentially persecution by the authorities for possession of one of Uncle Sam’s pewpews. I was also told that this gun, though having a serial number, is technically “off the books” due to its age and it was never technically registered to an owner.
I like the gun for its historical value. It is in great shape. I do hate to possess illegitimate items when it pertains to firearms and so I did not accept. My questions remain. Is my family member’s story bogus? Like, is the situation of my family member owning a serialized, US government issue firearm and having it completely off the books even possible? Without this gun having a true owner (to my knowledge or theirs) could this gun be registered?
How could one ascertain WHO exactly this firearm belongs/belonged to without fear of ruining my own life or anyone else’s? Do FFL’s have a mandate to report the presence of illegitimate owners and firearms in their shops, even a situation such as this where I am trying to approach this in a legal way? This family member will obviously not show up to a gun store to engage them in any conversations with the gun. Can someone educate me on how war time guns were obtained and the process they went through for obtaining these guns legally?
My desire would be to legitimize ownership of this very cool wartime gun, however, maybe the only true solution is to wash my hands of this situation entirely and never speak of it again. There are so many red flags with this, it’s like playing a game of minesweeper.
For state advice, I live in NV.
Thank you!