Anonymous
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You only need to register a firearm if you have either local or state laws that demand registration. In Ohio, where I live, we have no mandatory state law for registration. There are several large cities however that do demand registration. You can check with either your local Police department or City Hall for your jurisdiction.
One piece of advice I will offer here also, and I do this on every used weapon I have ever bought. Take the serial number of the weapon and have it run by the police department in your area for lost/stolen records. You can get into some serious legal issues for receiving stolen property if caught with a weapon that was listed as stolen at any time in the past. The police will be glad to do this for free, but if it comes back on the hot sheet, you will need to tell them where the weapon is or who has it. Notifying the seller that you intend to do this may also give you an answer if they balk or say you can't.
Best of luck and I hope this is useful to you
little_whipped_mousey
nightrider made a good point about making sure the guns not stolen, you also want to be very sure its not ever been involved in a crime...it would really suck to get pinched for something minor someday and they find your gun, run routine tests on it and find it was used in a murder or something..which unless you can prove exactly how you got it, your likely to be the one sitting in a small cell for the rest of your life..a lot of guns sold person to person or swapped/bartered have a reason for not being exchanged properly.