Bad gun deal!!

[vatrader01]

Mnrivrat seems to me to have the best suggestion. Patience and persistence may pay off or may not. You can continue trying to assign blame, or focus on finding some resolve. Please keep us informed if you pursue some resolve. If a claim was paid by an insurance company, the firearm would be the property of the insurance company, I would think. That may be a place to start. They may of paid out $75.00 20+ years ago for this claim. With some proper presentation, you may be made whole again by making the insurance company whole again. Only one way to find out.

 

[kaferhaus]

I had enough to go to court and get a judgement, but, I would have had to travel roughly 900 miles into another state, hire an attorney, take off work, eat the travel expense and lodging. In the end I would have spent more than the $600

exactly why I don't buy used guns online..... If I can't hold it in my hands and inspect it before the money changes hands I don't need it.

 

[rattletrap1970]

This is why you should only deal with licensed dealers.

Well that's a load.
I've purchase many guns privately and I've sold many privately, I have never had a problem. Your comment smacks of "Only Police and military should be allowed to have guns." Hey, sometimes these things happen, and it sucks to be on the receiving end of them. But to make the statement that no one should be able to transfer a gun privately is like saying: "A gun was used in a crime so no one should have one."

 

[mgkdrgn]

You are very lucky you did not get charged for receving stolen property. This is why you should only deal with licensed dealers.

Why do you think that would help?

I'm a "licensed dealer" and I have no way to check to see if a gun is stolen ... at least not that AFT or SLED has ever bothered to tell me about.

 

[bigtubby]

I contacted the original seller and he has agreed to make payments, We both use a local gun forum here. I agreed to do anything i can do to help him recover his money from metro or the city.

 

[Frank Ettin]

...You have no claim I can see to ask the seller to take responsibility - he did everything right at the point of sale...

Whenever you buy anything that turns out to be stolen, your claim will always be against the seller (just as he will have a claim against whoever sold it to him).

Since the item was stolen, the seller really didn't own it. It was not his to sell. And therefore he could not transfer ownership to you.

 

[therewolf]

IMO, what sucks about this particular situation is 400$ is a little hard to ignore unless you're independently wealthy. I have to agree further verification is needed, it sounds like a gun which may have been cleared, but still has a record hangup in some systems.

If it were 200$ or less, you'd probably just not want to be bothered pursuing the matter, even though the principle is bad.

In the future I know if I'm not dealing directly with a FFL, I'm going to have the weapon serial # cleared through the police database before purchase, or I'll pass. There's a million fish in the sea.

 

[mgkdrgn]

In the future I know if I'm not dealing directly with a FFL, I'm going to have the weapon serial # cleared through the police database before purchase, or I'll pass.

He -did- have it cleared by the police when he bought it ... and they (the Police) got it WRONG. They (the police) got it RIGHT when he went to register it.

You'll find no "protection" there.

 

[leadcounsel]

Talk to the original seller. Maybe a link that goes back a few sellers but they may be able to locate the original thief.

Maybe the seller would split the cost with you also.

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

I am out $400.00

That is pittance compared to litigation. The filing fee is probably $400.00. In addition you would have to hire a decent lawyer $1,500.00+ for a small claims case, hire a process server $50.00, record the judgment if you get one $20.00, another $50.00 process server fee and $1,000.00 to depose the guy to determine where is assets are, and $1,000.00 in expenses for the sheriff to go to the guys house, take his assets, and sell them off to satisfy your judgment. It will cost you at least ten times the $400.00 you lost to obtain legal satisfaction against this guy, I'd just leave bad feedback and call it a day.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Just a thought

BUT check with the original claim,
as, you can put a claim on the gun from possession
and some jurisdictions actually forget to remove 'recovered' gun, a problem someone was posting here when they bought a gun at a police auction. If an insurance company paid a claim on the gun, then they own it, and I'm sure they would love to sell it back to you too.