I bought a stolen handgun off of the internet

[41mag]

Actually I "won" an internet auction for it.

As I live in Michigan I have to register my handguns after purchase.

I won the auction last week &,because the dealer I bought it from is in-state,I just made a little trip to go fetch it monday last.(In the city I live in it takes 5-8 business days to get a "purchase permit".Feeling lucky,I applied the week before.)Anyways,today I took the handgun down to the GRPD for my safety inspection & subsequent registration.During the guns background check it popped up stolen in Florida back in 1973! .What was really odd is that it had been legally registered in Mi back in 1992?!Next step?The GRPD confiscated "my" new handgun!I did get a photo copy of a locker tag & purchase permit for my trouble though.

The next step is that they,the GRPD,will contact someone in Fl tomorrow & try & figure out if its an error,if it should have been changed from stolen to not,or if it needs to be investigated.

So,on the negative side,I may be out the $$$ for the gun(though I expect the dealer to make good),I AM out my time going to & from the local PD(huge PITA),& now,even if I do get the gun,it's tainted to me.


On the flip side I almost hope that there's some old guy in Florida that'll get re-united w/his long lost handgun.That,I think,would be the best overall.

 

[tc300mag1]

I dont get how it was registered in 1992 here if it was stolen ... What Dealer did ya get it from they usually have to transfer it to there ffl/shop or something like that so it should have got run again ... thats just to weird

 

[iiibdsiil]

What kind of gun was it?

 

[41mag]

tc300mag1?The really strange thing was that,after I called the gunshop to give them a "heads up" as to what was coming,they called back & left a message that they had aquired the gun from another dealer!I thought that they had to register/background check it themselves too.In fact,I purchased another handgun from them @ the same time(no problems!!!) & the GRPDs' background check showed that they,the dealer,had in fact registered it in their name.Very strange.

In fact,the guns background check showed:
stolen in FL,1973
registered in a central MI city,1992
& finally,purchased by me now
no mention of either dealer????Odd.

tc300mag1 iiibdsiil?I'm going to wait to name names until a resolution has occured.I expect to be taken care of either way but I want the chips to fall before I name the parties.I want all involved to have the chance to make right.

iiibdiil?It is a just an old S&W.

 

[GunGoBoom]

yeah? and

though I expect the dealer to make good

I'd sure be curious to know if they do or not.

 

[Moonclip]

I recently bought a gun from a pawnshop. When I went to pick it up after our states mandatory waiting period, I was told it had been reported as stolen! Seems strange as didn't the pawnshop have to check out it wasn't stolen before accepting it in pawn or buying it?

Store refunded my money but said it was not going to refund the fees for my background check. I told them it was no fault of mine the gun ended up being a stolen one and I expected every cent back. They relented after they saw I wasn't going to back down about that.

 

[c_yeager]

Im thinking of two likely possibilities.

1) It was stolen and recovered, and the system never got updated.

2) it was stolen, and the Police in your state have only now managed to link their data base to wherever stolen pistols serial#s are stored in Florida.

 

[Shootcraps]

My sister got up one morning, got dressed and walked outside to go to work. Her car was gone! She called the police and they said yeah we have your car. Somone had stolen it and sold it to the car dealer she bought it from.

 

[TarpleyG]

On the flip side I almost hope that there's some old guy in Florida that'll get re-united w/his long lost handgun.That,I think,would be the best overall.

I was going to say the same thing...hopefully you get all your money back or this will turn out to be an error. Is the shop you purchased from amicable about all this?

Greg

 

[Zach S]

2) it was stolen, and the Police in your state have only now managed to link their data base to wherever stolen pistols serial#s are stored in Florida.

I'd put my money on this one. Communications have got a lot better since '92.

 

[HankB]

I expect the dealer to make good

Hmmm . . . since he sold you a stolen gun, he darned well BETTER make good on it!!!

 

[Old Fuff]

I know of several cases where a serial number was either incomplete, or was incorrectly entered into the database. By any chance does this "old S&W" have a serial number with a letter prefix?

 

[MAURICE]

I got a phone call from the Sheriff's Department one day while at work. The detective asked if I had recently purchased an SKS from a local gun store. I told him I did indeed buy the SKS.
He told me it was stolen...sigh.
I turned it in to them and they told me they would reimburse the purchase price of the rifle. Never got that check. The gunshop did give me a replacement SKS at no charge. Did the 4473, called it in and told me I was good to go.
Not a big deal all in all, but I cannot say my heart didn't skip a beat when the detective told me I had bought a stolen gun.


Turns out the guys that stole it had hit houses in three different counties stealing guns and selling them to gun stores and pawn shops. The one I frequent had its suspicions so they called SPD and County to let em know. The one I purchased had been reported stolen, thus the easy task of tracking me down.

 

[Halffast]

Last year I got a gun back that had been stolen 17 years before. It sure felt good to get one back.

David

 

[armoredman]

Tucson has an interesting system for used guns sold to dealers - a 14 day waiting period. Not for a purchase, as the gun isn't supposed to even hit the shelf, but on the GUNs background, as all it's infor gets sent in via pawn ticket to PD to trace the serial number. If it come back stolen, John Q Public never even saw it on the shelf, much less bought it.

 

[Riktoven]

Am I the only one that thinks Thieves should be shot or have thier hands cut off like the good 'ol days?

 

[Father Knows Best]

Riktoven, I'd sure like to see the crook who stole my lovingly restored '66 Pontiac Bonneville put before a firing squad. It was taken from the street in front of my house (in Detroit) back in '96, and still hasn't been recovered.

 

[mete]

I know of a case of 2 Lugers that had the same serial number ! The one was used in a crime so the data bank was checked and they questioned the owner of the one on their permit list.

 

[GRB]

Many time the serial numbers on different guns match because let's say S&W uses a number like K12345 and Colt uses one like P12345, or worse yet they both just use 12345. Sometimes this is easy to figure if the records were filled in completely. other times not so easy. Hopefully this would be what happened and the gun will be returned shortly. This would be the best scenario, I think, in this particular situation - better it was not stolen at all.

 

[Double Maduro]

even if I do get the gun,it's tainted to me.

Wouldn't be tainted to me, I would have another story to tell around the camp fire.

On the flip side I almost hope that there's some old guy in Florida that'll get re-united w/his long lost handgun.That,I think,would be the best overall.

I like the way you think.

A couple of years ago, I was going to a gun show and was planning to buy a Ruger MKII. I called the local police to find out if there was a number I could call to check if the gun I was buying was stolen or not.

They said no, but that it wasn't a bad idea.

DM

 

[41mag]

Well,I just got off the phone w/my contact officer the GRPD.He suggested that I clam up a bit until he lets me know otherwise-sometime next week.

Oh,& that I might be getting a call from the ATF.*sigh*

 

[wmenorr67]

Had a Ruger pistol stolen in Colorado Springs back in 1990. Didn't think anything else of it after I left and spent 18 months in Korea and then a year of so at Ft. Campbell. Then one day in about 94 or 95 Mom asks me about what type of pistol I owned. Told her a Ruger 9mm. She then said then I wouldn't want another one would I. I said sure why wouldn't I. Then she told me that an Aurora, CO detective had called and was wanting to return it to its rightful owner. Appartently some goon had used it in a crime and the Aurora PD was holding it until the case was completed. Apparently the guy got off on whatever charges he was up against but I got my gun back. Gave it to my Dad so as to pay off some money I owe.

 

[Trebor]

NCIC check are run by serial number ONLY. They have to do a follow up to get more details. Make sure that it REALLY is your gun that came up stolen and not some other gun, even a different make and model, with the same serial number.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

Well,I just got off the phone w/my contact officer the GRPD.He suggested that I clam up a bit until he lets me know otherwise-sometime next week.

Why would he say that? And why would you listen?

 

[41mag]

Well,I talked to the officer doing the investigating @ my local PD today.He told me that the original owner is still alive & that the gun will be returned to her.Not my best solution,but it makes me happy anyways.He told me that they'd forward my name & addy along w/the gun.I hope to hear back from her.I'd like to know the story.

Supposedly the ATFE is putting an eye on the dealer that sold me the gun so it'll be a while yet until I can get a copy of the police report(s) & go stake my claim for a refund.