stolen gun questions

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jlr1962

jlr1962

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How do you know that a gun you are buying from AN INDIVIDUAL at a gun show is not stolen?

I assume that you can confirm if a gun is stolen with a single call to the local police after a purchase.

What if the gun checks out OK after your purchase, but is found to be stolen after you have it in your possession?

Federal and state (Texas) applicable laws???
 
jlr1962 said:
...What if the gun checks out OK after your purchase, but is found to be stolen after you have it in your possession?...
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First, you will have to explain how you wound up with it.

Second, it will be taken from you. You won't get your money back, unless you can find the guy you bought it from and can get it from him. You can not acquire legal ownership of stolen property. The property remains the property of the legal owner from whom it was stolen, and he is entitled to have it back.
 
The only way for a "good" check to be followed by a "bad" check would be if someone at the cop-shop goofed, the first time around. But if the first check was okay, why would there be a second go-round?
 
The owner might know the weapon was stolen. He would report it stolen later in the year, to find out it was now registered to someone else. That is a similar case that I delt with.
 
Art Eatman said:
The only way for a "good" check to be followed by a "bad" check would be if someone at the cop-shop goofed, the first time around. But if the first check was okay, why would there be a second go-round?
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Who knows? Stranger things have happened. Records are late being updated.

The question assumes that the gun was actually a stolen gun even though the first check came up kosher. And the answer was to the question asked. you might pay money for something that was stolen, but it never becomes legally yours.

The exact scenario actual upon which the question was based might be very unlikely to occur, but that doesn't change the answer to the question.
 
How do you know if the TV you buy at a garage sale is stolen? How about the table saw bought out of the classifieds? Sorry, I think it's a non-issue.
 
Doesn't have to just be through an individuals hands, do you think every used firearm ever sold by ffl's have been checked against the list of stolen ones?
How does the gun you just bought off Armslist or at the gunshow come to be checked anyway?
Don't we have enough to worry about?
 
The only way for a "good" check to be followed by a "bad" check would be if someone at the cop-shop goofed, the first time around. But if the first check was okay, why would there be a second go-round?
Click to expand...

Have seen people report gun thefts up to a couple years after the fact, and lots where thefts occurred weeks or months prior (lot of snow birds up here, with unattended and potentially burglarized residences sitting empty all winter). It's a lower probability scenario, but entirely possible to purchase a "clean" gun and find out it became hot afterwards when trying to resell, during a contact with LEOs, etc.
 
LocoGringo said:
Hey Frank, I think he was referring to the OP's 3rd sentence...not yours.
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Should have asked what if I call in the gun immediately after the purchase and all is good, 3 months pass, I go to sell the gun, and it is now reported stolen.
 
If you buy a gun from an FFL then there will be a paperwork trail involved. If the gun winds up being stolen then at least there will be a dealer transaction, receipt, etc. You will still lose the gun but you MIGHT be able to get your money back from the dealer.
If you buy it from an individual, with no paperwork at all, then it will vanish and probably wind up in a police locker. It may eventually get back to the actual owner.
I have an FFL friend that wound up with a gun that had been used in a murder. He lost the gun for several years but actually wound up getting the gun back.
 
I assume that you can confirm if a gun is stolen with a single call to the local police after a purchase.
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I don't believe that is a fair assumption. This has come up before and I don't believe one can just call up the local PD and have the numbers run on a gun as a private citizen with some curiosity.
The fact is that many guns trade hands many times and some may even have been stolen multiple times and possibly have been used in multiple crimes. The thought of all the guns I own and have owned falling under that scrutiny is not worth my time as it would lead to many sleepless nights I'm afraid and I've not been prone to buying guns from shady characters.
To add to your worries you might consider that the FTF transaction you are doing might be with a convicted felon or non resident both of which would be illegal even if the gun hadn't been stolen.
The point is that there are many pitfalls to buying guns, especially used ones in private sales but we need to decide if we want big brother more in our lives or less, I'll take less thank you.
 
One other minor point to remember about firearms....... Unlike most any other kind of property a firearm (at least if manufactured after 1968) will almost always have a serial number. That means that no matter how you acquired it -if a stolen message is entered on it you're going to lose the weapon and any money you spent on it if it ever comes under scrutiny. If you're an innocent buyer (and can show what business or individual you bought it from) - then that should be the end of it... If all you can say is that you bought it from someone out behind the local bar.... then you are likely to need a lawyer.
I actually recovered stolen weapons that had been in the system for thirty years or so. Any agency that recovers a stolen firearm is supposed to contact the agency that listed it stolen so that they can contact the original owner (or reporter) to tell them of the recovery. The problem we found quite often is that folks move around a lot over time. The longer a gun has remained in the system the less likely the owner will ever be found...

Are there outfits that do their best NOT to return firearms -I'm sure there are, but they won't have a leg to stand on if a lawyer takes them to court over it.
 
jlr1962 said:
How do you know that a gun you are buying from AN INDIVIDUAL at a gun show is not stolen?
Click to expand...

You don't, nor can you find out. Same goes for a gun you buy from a gun shop. They don't have any more way of checking if a gun is stolen than you do.

I assume that you can confirm if a gun is stolen with a single call to the local police after a purchase.
Click to expand...

You assume wrong.

What if the gun checks out OK after your purchase, but is found to be stolen after you have it in your possession?
Click to expand...

Then it will be taken from you and (maybe) returned to its rightful owner.
 
A single call to the local police after a purchase is too late for you. Very much doubt criminals are selling stolen firearms at gun shows though. Kind of suspect the quickest way to tell is the seller refusing to give you proof of ownership or a receipt with his name and contact info on it. Not that that'd guarantee anything.
 
I've checked afs for people before, but only if they had the gun with them. I also would give them a information that on that date the gun was clear and had no criminal history. If the gun returned stolen, I'd take the weapon and give them a report number.
 
The FBI maintains a stolen gun data base, but it includes only guns reported to them as stolen. I don't think there is any legal requirement for an owner or a police department to report stolen guns. There are also some private lists, but they are solely on a private, voluntary basis and rarely include reports from police.

Nor are dealers required to check any of those lists for stolen guns, though some local laws require a check with the police. The NICS check cannot do that because the gun model or serial number is not provided to the NICS by the dealer; it is primarily a check of the buyer, not the gun.

In short, there is no single, all encompassing database of stolen guns. That being so, a gun could pass a check (if any) made at the time of purchase, yet later appear on a stolen gun data base and possibly be traced to the buyer through a dealer's books. But it would be very unlikely and (pun alert!) a very long shot.

Jim
 
Jim K said:
I don't think there is any legal requirement for an owner or a police department to report stolen guns.
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It is a criminal offense in several states for failing to report a stolen gun. That list (compiled in early 2007) doesn't include Connecticut's own Reporting of Lost or Stolen Firearms, which became law in June 2007.

Connecticut's law requires an owner to report a missing firearm within 72 hours of the time of discovery, or when it should have been discovered. First offense is an infraction, repeated offenses are felonies (class D if accidental, C if intentional).
 
newfalguy101 said:
Would the OP be able to keep the gun IF the original owner had been paid by insurance?? Or would it become the property of the ins co. at that point??
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The insurance company would be entitled to it. When an insurer pays off on a property loss it acquires the rights to the salvage value of the property.
 
I don't know how other states handle this, but in Arizona, LEA's won't run a serial number unless a crime has been committed, or other conditions exist that warrant running the serial number. I know, I went through every possible LE channel a couple years back trying to do just that. I only succeeded after a friend who is an LEO ran it as a favor for me, though he stated he was breaking protocol and could potentially get into hot water for doing so.

GS
 
As TheVision stated many states do require reporting of stolen Firearms and the NCIC is the "all encompassing: data base fro stolen firearms. Ploice Departments are required to enter stolen firearms into NCIC when they have the Make, Model & serial number. The problem is many gun owners do not even know the make much less the serial number when their guns are stolen.

Also, and this happened to me, Insurance companies will allow you to reimburse them whatever they paid you, if your gun is recovered.
 
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