CT Police Seize 601 Guns (some of which were allegedly stolen)

[Buttermilk]

I hope this isn't one of Bloombergs' deals where they set a person up and then falsely claim it is a legitimate illegal purchase. If they were the right guns, I'd love to own 600 guns. I'd be in hog(gun) heaven! What a great time to be able to have a collection that large and know the history of the guns, etc.. Think how enriched your life would be. 'Course, I love guns!

 

[Rem700SD]

It wouldn't suprise me if the man had reported the guns stolen 20+ years ago because he forgot where they were...How Do you keep track of 600 guns?

 

[ceetee]

I wouldn't be surprised if most of those "stolen" guns end up being cleared because of things like transposed digits and/or bad handwriting.

 

[Kali Endgame]

Kali,
What was the California moment? Do you have to pay a fee there for owning firarms????

I'm pretty sure you have to transfer all guns through an FFL. Even if inherited, I think a transfer is needed. Those were the fees I was refering to. I may very well be wrong.

 

[swoter]

"A female friend of mine sent me this story and said "this is what gives gun owners a bad name. " I asked why and she said no one needs that many and what if he goes on some crazy spree.

My response was how many collectors need....

600 beanie babies
600 ceramic dolls
600 stamps
600 commemorative plates"

There is a guy close to where I live who has over 1500 Santa statues/figurines. I've seen them and they fill his garage with no room for anything else. If I could afford to buy 600 guns, I would have them.

 

[Langenator]

Quote:
It's hard to answer your question, because police didn't release much information about this case. It's not against the law to own a lot of guns, as far as I know. As long as they were obtained legally.

Check out Dave Owens' update in today's paper. It's on line, too. The story indicates that police were focusing on the (allegedly) stolen guns.

Link!!!

 

[pacodelahoya]

Langenator, that was just a cut and paste of her email reply to me. Hit the link in the op then hit home and do a search.

 

[Werewolf]

The only thing the ole guy is guilty of is owning more guns than our masters believe is reasonable.

 

[Langenator]

It seems crazy to me that he could be charged with stealing the guns when it's entirely possible that he didn't know they were stolen, especially given the number of guns he had. Of course, we haven't heard anything from his side in this story.

I'm not sure what case law is in other states, but I know that here in WA, they can't even charge a guy driving around in a stolen car with auto theft unless he was observed in the act of actually taking it. They can only charge him with possession of a stolen car.

Guess the case law's different in CT.

 

[Elza]

I’ve wondered about this myself. I purchased a beautiful Underwood ’44 M-1 carbine. The guy wanted $175 for the gun, several mags, and some L.C. ammo. Needless to say I didn’t quibble over price. (This was several years ago but it was a great price even then. I was told that it was worth $300 minimum at the time.) Now, was the guy hard-up and needed some quick cash or was it stolen? If stolen, where does this put me? It was a private f2f cash sale years ago. There is no way I can prove how I acquired it.

 

[sacp81170a]

so whats a good way to check to make sure you don't but a hot gun ftf?

One way is to ask for the original purchase reciept for a gun you buy ftf. Another way to cover yourself is to get a bill of sale. It doesn't prove that the gun's not stolen, but it proves that *you* didn't steal it in the first place (theft by receiving is still a problem, though, if you should have reasonably suspected the gun might be stolen). In Arkansas, I've filled out a request form that they have at the County Sheriff's office to check and see if the gun comes back as 10-51(stolen). Of course, you want to do that *before* you plunk down your money for a gun of questionable provenance. Keep a copy of that request and the reply and the theft by receiving problem goes away.