Learned the hard way about letting others borrow your guns.

I don't loan out anything.

From my guns to my tractor I temporally give the item to someone.
If they bring it back in good shape then I'm fortunate.
If I'm concerned that they will not take care of it like I would, then I don't give them temporary ownership of the item.

It's your responsibility to refuse to loan anything to anybody that won't take care of it like you would.

If you misjudged them and they trash it, then it's your fault for loaning it to them in the first place..

Another reason not to lend.

I was researching a local criminal in public records at our county court house and found that one of the charges against him was "lending a firearm" - this was just one of dozens of charges.

I was talking to the sheriffs and he said that he had never seen that charge, but apparently it is on the books in PA.

I am assuming he lent the firearm to someone who subsequently used it in a robbery or lent it to a felon.

one of the charges against him was "lending a firearm"

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I don't know what the exact charge would be, but I know it's illegal in Texas to make a firearm available, in any way, to someone you know is going to use it in a crime.

My father borrowed my Mossberg. Never, EVER again. I fixed up the minor surface rust, but the idea of shooting it and then letting it sit three months without so much as a wipe down... I can't imagine what he was thinking.

I borrowed a friend's Benelli, and he got it back spotless, lubed up, and with a new sling and a box of #7 to say thank you. I ALWAYS give it back in better condition. If it's already spotless, I'll pick up some accessory I heard the lender mention.

U.S.SFC_RET said:

Twice I went overseas while stationed in the Army and each time I came back I found severe neglect with my firearms from my own brothers. one was a Remington 742 BDL which rusted in the chamber and developed pits. Every time I would fire the darned thing the round would swell up and fill in the pits and sieze.
The Second time I had a Remington 03A3 develop rust in the top of the barrel due to rain and again neglect:banghead: .
First time shame on you, second time shame on me. I will never, ever loan a gun for whatever it will be, for any length of time for any reason to anyone unless it's a true emergency. I am retired now and I don't go overseas too much
so I hope I can pass along a lesson to others with this thread. Don't loan your guns to anyone, to include friends or brothers because they will not take care of them like you will. If you have any shared thoughts or gripes, likenings or such
lets hear em.

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Interestingly, that's one of the reasons communism doesn't work. It is the knowledge that something is your personal property that causes you to take pride in it. When everything is communal, it belongs to no one, and soon falls into disrepair because there is no one who owns it, and thus no one who takes pride in maintaining it. No matter how highly motivated you are, even by blood loyalty, it is just very unlikely that you will take good care of something that isn't your property. This is also why public housing doesn't work. If it doesn't belong to me, I am not going to take care of it. Soon they just fall apart and garbage is just thrown out windows. The whole neighborhood looks like a war zone.

Well, that's not anything I want to hear now. We're headed overseas in a couple months for PCS and no guns allowed. So, we're leaving our collection with Dad.

If when borrowing something they says, "I'll take care of it like it's my own", I say, "No, you take care of it like it belongs to me".


They know how I take care of my stuff.

I've loaned my SKS and .45 cal BP pistol

Both are damaged and one is beyond repair.

Never again.

People just don't give a rats a$$. Even nice supposedly responsible people
will let borrowed items turn to crap.

Whenever I am entrusted with something it goes back BETTER than I received it.

If god forbid it gets broken in my care I replace it or give full blue book replacement value.

Shorts

Rent a climate controled "Self Storage" place to put the guns into while you are gone. Where I live they can be had for $20 a month for a tiny basic unit that will store dozens of guns. Take the bolts and put them into a mini-safe and give it to a trusted family member. Be sure to show them what is inside so they won't get curious and loose the bolts to you're guns trying to get it open for a "peek".

As a matter of principle, I don't lend firearms to anybody. All the people I know aren't straight-and-arrows so I wouldn't feel comfortable and even those I trust, you can't be sure when someone will have a brain fart and do something they're not supposed to. And you, the owner, are liable for everything they do. That's enough reason not to lend.

Some Observations

I too was raised on the standard that if I borrowed something, then I was to return it in better condition than I received it. I was to treat it better than my own. I learned it as a young lad in the Midwest. Perhaps it derives from the rural/agrarian life. When we moved to the 'big city', I was really shocked to hear from people that were otherwise decent folks the phrase: "its not mine so why should I care?".

I have loaned things out (not guns EVER!) and sometimes got them back a LOT worse than when they went out. I know one friend that when he went overseas for a job, told me he left his guns with family and when he came back they "didn't know" what happened to them. The next time he moved overseas, he sold his collection to me . When he came back years later, he only wanted to buy one back .

I believe that in PRK if you 'loan' a gun to someone, that can be charged as an "unlawful transfer". It exempts exchanging guns during range sessions as long as everybody goes home with "the ladies they brought to the dance".

I am sure a lawyer could advise on the liability factors of loaning someone a gun.

The suggestion for the military person to rent a small storage space sounds like the most reliable option. Be sure and pay the full charge for the time it is needed and don't tell anyone about what is in the space. Storing the bolts seperate makes sense too.

Before my boating accident, I once loaned a Desert Eagle .44 Mag to a long-time co-worker for a week or two.

Turned into almost four months.

I'm reasonably certain he pawned the gun.

Whatever happened, he got it back and returned it to me a week after I made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

John

Shorts said:

Well, that's not anything I want to hear now. We're headed overseas in a couple months for PCS and no guns allowed. So, we're leaving our collection with Dad.

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you can leave your weapons with the armory on base... you just need a locking hard case, so once you do an inventory with them, you just need to lock up the case, and it goes in a hardened vault with alarms and the works... one of the armory guys, Mr. Williams is a real cool guy and I trust the fellows over there, so...

History Nut said:

I believe that in PRK if you 'loan' a gun to someone, that can be charged as an "unlawful transfer". It exempts exchanging guns during range sessions as long as everybody goes home with "the ladies they brought to the dance".

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I'm pretty sure the length of time you can loan guns in CA is 30 days. All transfers with the exception of non-"assault weapon"/50 BMG from parent to child must go through an FFL.

I loaned my 270 ruger that I had never used to a friend
the thing came back and looked like someone had taken a file to the stainless barrel , I ended up selling and taking a big loss
Being the nice guy I am I then loaned my muzzle loader and it came back beat up and dirty

so never again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have had friends ask to borrow my guns either to hunt with or go to the range. IF......I was there with them it wouldn't be a big deal unless they didn't have a clue about safety. Any other time the answer is NO.

The ONLY person I don't mind lending my guns to is my son. He's keeps his own guns spotless and is always on the ball regarding safe handling and useage. I've always gotten mine back cleaned and lubed.

well, I will be contrary to a point. Rockstar.esq is my real life shooting buddy, and he actually DOES have one of my guns at the moment. I haven't lost a moment of sleep over it, and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if it came back to me in better shape (and, in fact, he actually did fix something on it). He is sort of the exception to the rule, but still... I would loan a gun to him without worrying too much if at all about it.

Here in Cdn you cannot loan your guns to others. Against the law. Now at the range I can loan my guns to members or even non-members as long as I keep the gun under my supervision.

Like I have a chap, that joined the Club around this time last yr & he has been borrowing my S&W 617X6 .22 every week. Will probably be 4 ot 6 months before he can have his own gun. He just passed the Cdn Firearms Safety Course & now applied for the Possession & Acquisition License (PAL) & feels it will be in a week or so. I did point out it might be longer for my first one took 7 months & the renewal took five months. THEN he has to purchase the gun, it will be registered within a day of purchase, only he will have to apply for an Allowance To Transport (ATT) the gun to & from the range which is another month or so, but will be good for a year. The PAL is every five yrs. So a bit of red tape for us h/gun owners & the same for those with any form of rifle or shotgun. The long bbl people thought Bill C-68 of all this red tape was only for us h/gun owners. I tried to point this out to this meant ANY form f/arms, but they knew better till the last boot was dropped toinclude then along with registering all long bbl guns while we re-registered our h/guns for h/guns had been registered in Cdn since 1934.

No one cares about your guns as much as you do. I don't like lending anything out and rarely do. If I do I expect it to be returned broken. I only lent out a gun once. I had hunted on someone's land and his son asked to use one of my shotguns for hunting. I knew the father and son. I actully told him not to clean my shotgun when he was done because he had very little experience with guns and I didn't want him mucking it up. The gun came back a week later with a little surface rust. I took that baby apart and cleaned and lubed it and welcomed it back into the fold.

After that I was more careful about tallying favors and I rarely ask favors of others. I am often willing to help others out but I don't like owing favors. It makes it easier to say no in circumstances where people want to borrow things.

What kind of

POS would not take care of/abuse a gun that was loaned to him?

matthew.g.george said:

you can leave your weapons with the armory on base... you just need a locking hard case, so once you do an inventory with them, you just need to lock up the case, and it goes in a hardened vault with alarms and the works... one of the armory guys, Mr. Williams is a real cool guy and I trust the fellows over there, so...

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Army regs do not allow you to take over private arms to Europe. I had to leave mine in a locked cabinet at my mother's house, after I doused them in rust preventative and wrapped them up.

Brother still took one out and shot it and replaced it without cleaning it. Never again will that happen. :banghead:

Pwolfman

A great quote from my now 70 something dad.

"Loaning out a gun is like loaning out your wife, you just don't do it."

The main problem I see is that you typically loan something out to someone who doesn't have one thus they probably don't have a good knowledge of use and definately don't have a clue on how to take care of it wether it be a tool or gun.

Most people that don't have guns think they just are for shooting, they don't take the time to realize they are made of metal (they rust), wood (it dents/scratches), moving parts (don't beat on it or jam something in), sensitive parts like optics (go back to moving parts) therefore they are treated as such and are neglected like a hammer. How many hammers have you seen that just the striking face is beat up? Not any I bet, they get droped, tossed in the tool box, pounded with the side etc...

In the event anyone is tempted to loan out a gun I would suggest you sit down with the person you are loaning it to and teach them how to clean it first and then lend them the cleaning kit too.

Anybody I know that I would loan a gun to already has more than enough of their own.