My latest fugitive captured with a Hi-Power

[Zundfolge]

Yes, we run checks through NCIC on all guns taken to the property room out of arrests. Some of them are coming back stolen, but a lot of them were not

.

Interesting... What seems to be the source or sources for these other ones? Strawbuying, illegally imorted from out-of-state, or what?

Not all stolen guns get reported (I seem to recall reading that a large percentage of stolen guns never make it into NICS because they either go unreported, or the victims don't know the serial numbers ... I don't have the serial numbers of most of my guns memorized).

Lots of people buy guns when they are legally able to do so, and then sell them down the road for rock or whatever when they slip into drug addiction and start hanging with bad people.

I almost sold a gun to a convicted felon once ... was a guy I worked with. He asked me if I had any extra guns because he was thinking of getting one for the house ... I had a pistol I considered selling to him when I flippantly asked him if he had any felonies ... he said he did (but since it was a non-violent felony he figured it didn't count). I told him its a good thing he didn't try to buy a gun from a gun shop or he'd have been in trouble when they did the background check. I found out years later that he'd gotten into the drugs again and had gone downhill. He was a decent fellow when I worked with him but he turned into street trash. Now he has some violent felony convictions and last I heard was sitting in jail after he robbed someone.

(no, I didn't sell him the gun)

 

[Quinch]

Not all stolen guns get reported (I seem to recall reading that a large percentage of stolen guns never make it into NICS because they either go unreported, or the victims don't know the serial numbers ... I don't have the serial numbers of most of my guns memorized).

I print out a simple word document listing make, model, serial #, place of puchase, general condition, # of mags, accessories, and whatever else I can think of whenever I buy another gun.

Then it goes in the folder, that goes in the safe. Easy to do!
I'm assuming of course, everyone here has a computer.

 

[BluesBear]

I print out a simple word document

I do that as well.
I also have a spreadsheet showing make, model, barrel length, price, value, date bought etc.
I also have photos of each gun showing condition and any identifying characteristics.
I am just as worried about fire or disaster as I am about theft.

All of this is stored on floppy disk and CD-ROM and I have several copies in several places. Once or twice a year I send an updated set to my brother and a friend.

I figure new photos every six months gives me a good reason to fluff and buff and fire up the camera. And it would satisfy the insurance companies that everything was as it should be.
Like I said, I'm just as worried about damage as theft.



I see the trend in scumbag armament hasn't really changed much in the aloist 20 years since I wore a badge. Back then is was cheap revolvers and old pocket autos.

I recall pulling a Colt Model M .32acp out of a guys pocket one night.
And I got a Browning Pocket 25 from a prowler in my next door neighbors front yard.
There were a lot of WWII vintage cheap .25 & .32 bringbacks floating around at bargain basement prices back then.
If I found someone with a Colt, S&W or Ruger revolver chances are it had been stolen.

I did see a nice Colt National Match get confiscated after the guy beat the snot out of his wife. But that's a different sort of crime/criminal.

 

[Coronach]

Stolen vs "illegally purchased" vs...

As a patrol officer, I have no idea how the arrestees came into possession of the gun. All I know is that NCIC says it is not stolen. (And we try not to ask questions that we know will make the detectives angry with us...that whole Miranda thing. They're so touchy.) That leaves:

Stolen, but unreported

Straw purchases, aka "Baby's Mama"

Quasi-legally purchased (meaning, purchased from a private individual and in every way a legal transaction, except for that whole "felon in possession of a firearm" thing)

Legally purchased (Hey, it happens)

Gun-running

The very real downside of freedom to purchase firearms more-or-less unregulated is that bad guys can come by weapons on the grey market, as opposed to merely the black market, and the poh-leece will have no idea how they got the weapon in question.

Of course, my personal opinion (and probably the opinion of most people here) is that even if you managed to regulate that away, the black market would just take up the slack. End result: bad guys with guns (still), good guys drowning in red tape.

Mike

 

[pete f]

I was in the MPLS property room one time, actually a fairly secure warehouse, accompaning a Cop who was showing me some of my property that had been seized when they seized some crack heads truck.

I was amazed at the number of guns, almost all junk, sitting on racks, but there was some good stuff there. I saw a few nice shotguns, engraved etc, He showed me one Diana grade superposed that had 14 inch barrels on it.

The pistol racks were a lot of junk, pot metal guns, etc, with some glocks, some colts, some Smiths, and a few other quality guns, but 90 % were junk. Only saw one really really nice pistol and that was an engraved 29 S&W. He said then chief of police was fighting with the owners over that gun, he said they would not release as they were sure it was used in a felony, but owners said it was theirs and law said it had to be returned.

 

[HMMurdock]

About two years ago someone had the balls to kick in my garage back door, smash the door into my house, rummage through my house and closets to find my arsenal (if you knew me you know why I say that takes balls).

I didn't have a gun safe at the time, hoping to save up for one and use my HOUSE as concealment-- silly me.

They got a tricked out Arsenal SA98 (AK47) with a 75rd drum, a 37mm "flare" launcher, Glock 21 .45, and an old 1950's Springfield 1911-A1 .45.

Ballsy bastards. Ya know, I'm all about arming America, but that's not what I had in mind...

As a side note, there was an Armalite AR-10 .308, a Savage 10 .308 in a McMillan Stock, and a few other very, very nice pieces and they passed them right up. Obviously they didn't know much about firearms... or had no interest in high dollar distance weapons... And I only had gotten around to copying the serial numbers on about half of em. Damn the luck. 2 years and none of them have been found (yet).

TRL

 

[.45&TKD]

engraved 29 S&W. He said then chief of police was fighting with the owners over that gun

I bet he was! It was probably earmarked for his private collection.

 

[blackpanther]

Not all cops are honest.I know an ex cop from Black Mountain,NC.They made a stop and the man bailed out and they were chasing him thru the woods but never caught him.The man had dropped a large grocery bag full of money.He still got upset talkling about it because his young pardner would not go along with keeping it.It must be tempting after all it was just drug money.

Ed