stolen gun questions

[HorseSoldier]

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.

What Mr Ettin said. The insurance companies become the owner of stolen property once they've compensated the insured victim for it. I don't know exact numbers, but my sense is an insurance company is the owner of probably at least half the stolen firearms I've seen recovered. I don't know for sure, but have been told that at least some of the insurance companies out there just have any recovered guns belonging to them destroyed.

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.

My guess is it will vary both by state laws and agency policies. Where I work a simple yes/no on stolen status can be provided to the public, though as was noted up thread, if the caller has stolen property in their possession, arrangements will then be made to get it seized as evidence.