Please Help, It's Not My Gun !!

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I would just contact an FFL and ship it back to the seller. Eventually the person that bought it is going to start harping on this guy like you did when you didn't get your merchandise. He is either going to have to ship this buyer another gun at his expense or beg you to send it back. Not that it would break my heart to have this lousy dealer be taught a lesson to be more careful. And from what you said about the gun being easy to identify I have to assume it's custom and probably would make that lesson rather expensive.
 
I agree with the above. Use your own FFL and return the gun to the seller; include a note requesting reimbursement of shipping and transfer fees. Take TheHighRoad.

In addition, if you know the seller and can assume this may have been the result of an online auction, search the "closed auctions" on Gunbroker and AuctionArms to see if you can find the gun in question. If you can find the auction, you will at least know the real buyer's screen name. I'll bet either of the auction sites would provide contact information under these circumstances.

And do let us know the name of the seller ... if not here, in the "Rate Transactions" forum. Sounds like this is a guy to be avoided.
 
joab,

I am in the process of trying to find who the buyer is and have it shipped to directly to them.


KD5NRH,

That's exactly what I am doing today, i.e., contacting the detective I spoke with several weeks ago whom was helpful.


I want to emphasis the FFL holder I got the gun through did not give me the impression they would have made a real effort to get the gun back to the seller. They obviously don't know who the actual buyer is. I made a judgement call, good or bad, but I intent to make it good.

I have been screwed in a few deals in my lifetime and we all know how it feels. Imagine if you were the buyer.
 
Trying to get it to the rightful owner is the only ethical thing to do and you are to be complimented for putting the effort into trying to get it to them.

Notifying the Detective that another problem has occured with this seller is also the right thing to do. He may be sympathetic with the idea that someone's paid this idiot for the gun and is now out the money and can extract the information.
 
Ok, I don't understand why he picked up the gun fromt he FFL in the first place. I would've showed up, looked at the gun, said "Nope, not mine, never ordered it, send it back where it came from" and left the store. Now it's been officially transferred and there's a big mess to straighten out.

We actually had a version of this happen. We did place an order for a Ruger Mark III. What showed up was a Ruger Blackhawk .44 Magnum. A very nice gun, mind you, and hundereds of dollars more expensive than what we paid. We said, "Uh, that's a very nice gun, but it's not what we ordered and not what we paid for. It's gotta go back". No paperwork was signed. It WAS a bit of a hassle to get the seller to accept return shipment, etc. but in the end everything worked out ok.

Never take delivery of a firearm you didn't order. Bad juju.
 
Hey thanks for finding my gun

Hey thats my gun. I was wondering why it never came in. I will send you a PM with my address mail it to me promptly. Just kidding I wish more people were like you in trying to find its rightful owner. But yes if I were you I would have never accepted it, just sounds like trouble waiting to happen.
 
For all those that have stated I should have never signed for something I knew wasn't mine are correct. I should have never signed.
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Eh, shoulda coulda woulda, too late to worry about that. I'm sure none of those jumping on you have ever made a mistake either huh?

Seems like you are doing the best you can.

Let us know how it plays out.
 
Who was the seller? Let people know so they don't get taken in by this unscrupulous clown. Also talking with the Detective that helped you earlier may have a side benefit you aren't aware of. If he is like most law enforcement investigators he is going to keep a paper trail on this guy. This may help get a criminal investigation started. Who knows who he may be scamming? Who knows who his real customers are? Could they be gun trafficers from other states selling to gang members? Who knows. Whoever the seller is sounds to me that he/she simply does not care how they do business. This type of clown creates a cloud over good honest gun sellers.
 
I have contacted the Sherrifs office in the county the seller lives. I requested they contact the seller and get me the buyers contact information. The Sherrifs office promised to return my call.

The seller will not return my calls.:banghead:
 
Why is everyone giving his such a hard time about signing for a gun that he was told was his? I know it's on the outer edges of reason, but it IS possible that someone sent it as a gift or it's a prize from some contest/raffle....

Yes, I know that it was later established to not be a gift of prize, but at the moment, you can prove it's not how?
 
OK, we've established that he shouldn't have signed for it.

Now that he has it, yes, making an effort to return it is proper . . . but I see no reason that HE ought to pay for shipping.

Or, for that matter, his transfer fee.

Unless the person who shipped the gun to him fronts him the money for shipping - plus the transfer fee - I'd just inform the shipper that I was turning it over to the police, and he could deal with them for the return of the gun.
 
Something smells in Denmark.

I don't buy this story, it's just too silly to believe. Anyone with half a brain would not fill out all the paper work, and pay a fee for a gun that they did not order.
 
Hey - document all your attempts - then keep the thing. You tried. Guy won't return your calls.

1st, I would not have accepted the shipment. But now that you did, you more than did a good faith effort.
 
If this firearm is as unique as you say it is.
Google it. Maybe the the auction or the WTS posting on a gun board will come up. And you can contact the buyer that way. At this point you could get nicked for receiving stolen property.
 
Whatever you do

Document it and do it by certified mail. At some time in the future, someone will ask, and you'll need to prove it. Phone conversations and email are difficult to document!
 
Yeah, this whole thing doesn't make sense to me. Why did you pay the $20 and take the gun if you didn't think it was yours? Why ask on here if the gun belongs to one of us? You said you confirmed the gun was meant for someone else with the seller, if you had him on the phone, why not just have him give contact info? Or just keep the dam gun and let the buyer take legal action against the seller. He'll get either his money back or another gun, and the seller will get what he deserves in legal and restitution costs. You just came on here and say, I have a special gun by accident and I'll give it back, does it belong to one of you? Like a kid trying to play a tease game, no offense.
 
I'm far from being in my right mind and I wouldn't have gone to look at the thing. This isn't as bad a reflection on schmeky as it is the FFL who twisted his arm to come down and get the gun. He apparently doesn't think much of you schmeky since he was not willing to take your word. I wouldn't use him anymore if I were you. He's likely to be further trouble in the future.
 
It's not stolen - it has a legal paper trail from FFL to FFL to 4473 - it's not stolen. It is totally, according to the law, as I understand it, (having worked on a gunshop before), legally and clearly HIS firearm. The extraordinary efforts he is going through to send this firearm to the one who sent a payment to the original owner is highly commendable, but legally, he has done NOTHING wrong. The original owner is the one legally liable to the other purchaser of the item, to either request it's return from schmecky, provide a firearm identical to the one sold, or refund the original purchaser's money.
If my local FFL said I had a gun waiting, I would certainly try to find out where it came from, too, but there is a legal paper trail. He can't even be charged with recieving stolen goods - the gunshop legally recieved it from the original owner.
 
You legally own the gun. It's not like finding stolen property. Documented.
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Unless of course the guy who bought the gun and never received it has reported it stolen ... if thats the case schmeky could be in a precarious position (I believe possession of a stolen gun is a felony).

It's not stolen - it has a legal paper trail from FFL to FFL to 4473 - it's not stolen. It is totally, according to the law, as I understand it, (having worked on a gunshop before), legally and clearly HIS firearm.
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Maybe so ... but I certainly wouldn't want to be the test case here :p

I think paying the transfer and accepting the gun was a bad idea (I know, I know...too late now). You've involved yourself in a sticky situation (regardless of how good your intentions were).


Anyway, if you're able to unite this gun with it's proper owner than good for you!
 
Unless of course the guy who bought the gun and never received it has reported it stolen
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can someone who has never taken possession of an item claim theft of that item
 
Don't worry about the right thing to do. Don't worry about returning it. You've done all you can. Put it in a safe, never to use it ever again.
 
Put it in a safe, never to use it ever again.
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:confused:

By the way
A similar thing did happen to a friend of mine
He accepted delivery of a gun he never ordered
Turned out he won it in a lottery type drawing that he didn't know he entered with one of the buy site he does business with.
 
Unless of course the guy who bought the gun and never received it has reported it stolen
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He'll have to provide evidence of his ownership, i.e., the records of the gun shop where he did the transfer.
 
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