"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It is not possible for authorities to trace the rifle used in this week's shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum to the original purchaser, a law enforcement source said Friday.
The source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, said the weapon is a Winchester Model 6, .22 caliber rifle -- a type of gun manufactured between 1908 and 1928 -- long before records were kept on gun purchases.
Authorities also were checking to see if the weapon had been used in any other crime, the source said."
I suppose a reasonable and fair solution to this clear loophole in our nation's gun laws would be to have all old weapons turned in for serialization and registration. They should probably all be stamped with a legal disclaimer, and retrofitted with safety features ... all at owner expense. Or just simply smelted as they do in the more civilized societies of Europe.

Unless rabbit and squirrel hunting is illegal somewheres, I can't imagine a Model 6 having too checkered a past.