Legit Characters
A legit character is defined as one that is trying to play by the law, have a registered SIN, and so forth. There seem to be a number of MUSH myths about this character type. First off, being legit does not, in any shape or form, make you a nice person. Some of the most mean bastards of Shadowrun are legit characters - Damien Knight, for example.
The police are legit. They'll bust your head in if they think you represent a threat, SINed or not. The guy who works at the McSoy's is legit, and he just screwed up your order on purpose because he doesn't like your meta friends. The P.I. trying to hunt you down for breaking into that facility last week and killing a guard is legit.
Being Legit
Lots of people on here, however, try to mix being a legit character with doing para-legal things in the shadows. There's some inherent problems with this approach. To start with, all your real information - your DNA, fingerprints, retinal patterns, appearance - that's all stored in your real SIN. If you commit a crime and your DNA ends up getting splattered all over the scene from a bullet, they're going to know pretty much every detail of your life, from where you live to what kind of food you like to buy from the grocery store.
What's more, if you're actually trying to be legit and carry weapons, etc., there's all kinds of licenses and permits and whatnot that you need. It's a pain in the ass and an exercise in paperwork. There's insurance you need to get, taxes to pay and so on and so forth.
Speaking of taxes, you have been paying your taxes, right? And reporting your income? Just how have you been affording the payments on that 100K =Y= car when your job only pays you 40K a year? All sorts of rather inconvenient questions get asked about legit types.
Getting Gear Legit
There's also a problem with the kinds of gear you can get legally. You see, guns and armor and… well, pretty much anything you could hurt someone with are all heavily regulated in 2060. Because of this, it's often harder for a legit type to get equipment he wants.
If something is listed as Legal in the book, plain and simple, they hey - your legit character will have no problem walking down to a store and buying one right then and there. For anything else, prepare for paperwork.
Guns requires that you have a permit for the gun (money and paperwork) and you also have to fill out some documents of ownership (more paperwork) and you have to wait a period before you can actually fork over the money and buy the gun. Sometimes, it'd be faster asking a fixer.
If you actually want a useful weapon, like, say, a sub-machine gun or machine pistol, welcome to the wonderful world of security-grade gear. You can't just walk in and ask for one. You've got to be employed in a registered security firm.
For all those people who the thought immediately occurs, 'Well, I'll just start up my own security firm!' Start looking into the incredible, monumental amount of paperwork that doing that entails today. I'm not even talking about the life insurance you'll legally be required to purchase for your employees, the liability insurance to cover incidental damages or shooting the wrong person. Just the paperwork the police want before they'll say, 'ok, you can legally go and purchase an SMG to use in your security firm.' It involves huge amounts of money and certifications, and no small amount of waiting for paperwork to clear.
And milspec gear is still just that - milspec. In other words, the military has this - not you. Forget about even touching it legitimately. There's no permits you can get to let you have this gear.
By the way, security grade gear is around Ratings 4-6, and Milspec is anything higher than that. Figure any full-automatic capable rifle as Milspec, and anything heavier than that - machine guns, sniper rifles, and such. Note that tear gas grenades are considered security grade, and anything actually explosive is military - you can figure on just about any sort of explosives being closely regulated.
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