I believe this to be the case... This December 31st, you will have to obtain what I beleive is referred to as a PAC (personal acquisition cert.) and a POC (personal owners cert.). This will allow you to buy amunition and own a gun... I beleive that you do not have to get your rifle registered until the year 2002? Can anyone else help on this issue? My information may not be exactly correct. But I tried.