How long do you hold on?

[Guido]

I recently found out that my brother pawned some of the guns my dad had given him years ago and didn't bother to pick them up. Luckily, the shop owner knew my dad and gave him a call to see if he wanted them. I can't understand how he could do something like that. I've still got my very first and have no plans of ever getting rid of it. Would you ever sell guns passed down through your family? If so, under what conditions?

 

[Lupinus]

Right now al lthe gun's I have were passed down from my grandfather. He didn't use them a lot but they were his. Heck two of them I will likly never fire agian. But they will be kept. And I hope when my time come's my kid's don't just just take my guns to the local pawn shop.

In truth, there are very few thing's that were my grandfathers that I would get rid off. Still have bags of his cloths around here somewhere too lol.

 

[M-Rex]

I would never pawn or get rid of any firearm.

 

[mnrivrat]

Some people put a great deal of value on a handed down family firearm , and some place no value at all on them.

My first 1911 .45 auto was picked out of the back of a garbage truck . It had been thrown out by the widow of a WWII vet along with other war related personal items. The .45 appeared to have been unfired but the slide was damaged in the crusher arm of the truck before it could be retrieved.

I spoke with a fellow one day who remembered when his grandfather passed, that when the house was being cleaned out his father took the old muzzleloader guns and tossed them in the river.

Like I said - some people place no value on them at all.

 

[Adept]

When I was 14, my Grandfather passed away and left me his favourite shotgun, a Winchester 101. It holds a great deal of sentamental value (and shoots straight as a die). I'd never, ever get rid of it.

 

[Standing Wolf]

My father dropped his only gun in Lake Huron. I guess he didn't want it to run around causing crimes.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Sure I would be willing to sell some passed down guns, assuming they held no sentimental value and would be more than willing to sell of those that had bad memories/associations with them. For example, I have a COP (4 barrel in .38 spl) that belonged to my brother. He only got it because it was an oddity. He never carried it and apparently only shot it a couple of times. So, I have no need for it and it has no sentimental value.

Not real life for me, but would you want a gun your father used to kill your favorite dog? Would you want a gun wrongly discharged (ND, AD, UD) that killed a family member? Would you want a gun used in a suicide?

I have some sentimental guns. They are virtually all safe queens. One of my favorites is a S&W revolver that was my pop's issued sidearm when he joined the Dallas Police Department in the 1950s. Later, it did duty as the under-the-counter gun in our family business. Pop is still alive, but alive or dead, I would not part with it willingly. I don't even like revolvers, but it does have a cool family history.

 

[tc300mag1]

I wouldnt ever get rid of any of the guns given to me i have sold a few i bought but that is different

 

[AF_INT1N0]

First of all you never just throw grandpa's anything in the river..

Especially not his guns.

Especially, especially if they we any sort of duty weapon.

Especially, Especially, especially if he gave them to you before he died..

We had a gentleman sell an original colt Navy awhile back. Belonged to his great great grandpa who was a union soldier. Still had the holster though it was showing some signs of neglect.

The dealers at my shop (the one I go to/live at) kept asking him if he was sure he wanted to sell it.... He did.

Oh well if you don't value grandpa's old 1911.. Someone will..

As a matter of fact if anyone has guns that they no longer want, I just happen to know of a good home..

 

[M-Rex]

My first 1911 .45 auto was picked out of the back of a garbage truck . It had been thrown out by the widow of a WWII vet along with other war related personal items. The .45 appeared to have been unfired but the slide was damaged in the crusher arm of the truck before it could be retrieved.

That is so sad. Not to drift too far off topic, but I retrieved a complete steel pot helmet from the local waste transfer station on the 4th of July, no less. It ticked me off that someone would throw something like that away on a day celebrating our independence.

Anyway, I digress.

 

[Flyboy]

Would you want a gun used in a suicide?

Well, I can't quite answer that question, but I can come damned close. Probably within five or ten minutes, in fact. Dad walked in on my little brother in time to stop him from taking his life with the Single Six. Dad hasn't fired a round since that day--matter of fact, he got all of the guns out of the house within a couple of days, and gave them to me directly from where they were being stored--and I now have that gun (along with a few others).

Doesn't bother me a bit. Matter of fact, it was, and still is, one of my favorite guns.

That hunk of steel didn't do anything wrong; it was just a tool. My brother had a problem. That problem has been addressed, but the gun wasn't the problem, just a tool he (almost) used as a symptom.

Now, as I said, I can't say it wouldn't be different if things had taken a different turn, and Dad has no desire to ever shoot any gun again, but it doesn't bother me a bit. Fixating on that hunk of steel would only have directed attention away from the real problem.

 

[Turtle Club]

Get rid of a gun ?!

" Holy radon, Batman! Bill Clinton must have brain washed some folks into getting rid of a gun. "

I would NEVER get rid of a gun. Thats like saying " I have too many kids, I think lil' Tommy would fit in with the Patterson Family down the street "

 

[carp killer]

I really gets depressing hearing about familys fighting over cherished family hierlooms. Only to hear later the "winning" person sells the hierloom for money.

 

[Darth Ruger]

A couple of years ago my parents, who aren't into guns, mentioned in a conversation that they had my grandfather's old gun. I wasn't even aware this gun existed. They had it in a box in the closet for the last twelve years and now were planning to sell it. I made them give it to me to take care of instead.

It's nothing special, just an old Walther PP made in 1933. Not a collector's item or anything, but it's worth a lot to me. When I was in Desert Storm in '91, I got an opportunity to call home and I found out he had died three days earlier.

My own kids were several years in the future when he died, so they never even knew him. But it will be handed down to them one day (along with stories he told me about serving in WWII). It stays in the family.

 

[Moparmike]

I have been thinking about getting rid of my first handgun, a Witness 10mm. It torques my wrist all to hell and barely stays on an 8x11 paper at 7yds. Keep in mind that with a proper .45acp (thanks Hillbilly!), I can keep all 7 on a playing card, and surprised myself when I put 3 on the same staple holding that peice of paper up...


On that note, I think I will never aim at a staple again, so that I never give Murphy an opprotunity to prove me wrong.