I've done some stupid things in my time....this is one of them.
I've lived in apartments for the past few years. Being located in the central parking lot and shooting something nearly every day, I really hated dragging guns back and forth from my car to my home every morning and night. I really didn't want to advertise that I owned firearms.
Now you have to understand...the complex I'm in is pretty decent..but there's some less desireable homes around me. There is also a Quik-Stop on the other side of me...lots of seedy characters cut through my complex to go to the Quik-Stop. I left a Kimber Stainless Pro, Ruger Vaquero, Mossberg 835 and a Ruger Mini-14 in my pseudo trunk (it was a sports car).
I *believe* punk kids cut through my complex towards the Quik-Stop and were looking for targets of opportunity. The guns were hidden away, but a holster was left out and visible. My car was parked no more than 15 feet from where I was sleeping and I never heard a thing. They took all four guns, but left ammo, holster, checkbook and stereo behind.
Anyway...the police showed up and took all the pertinent information and told me not to hold my breath. Within a week, I met a bail bondsman who said he could probably track them down. I passed serial numbers and my contact info to him...I called him weekly for a month or two and no leads were established.
Out of the blue one afternoon, he called me and said he had my Mini-14 in his hands the night previous. He told me that the gentleman who had it was a client of his (felon) and that he had paid a sum of money for it. The story goes that he was a criminal and couldn't own guns legally so he bought the Mini-14 illegally to protect himself as people were threatening to perform a drive-by on his residence.
The bondsman told the criminal that the gun was stolen and that I wanted it back...the "kind gentleman" offered the gun back to me, but wanted to be compensated because he paid for it. I told the bail bondsman in no uncertain terms that I was going to pay to get a stolen firearm back.
I called the police. Long story short, they told me, "Honestly, if you ever want to see them again, you'll pay for it." Ohhhh no....H*ll no....I called the bail bondsman back and told him to keep the gun...they'll get caught with it sooner or later and I'll get them back the right way.
Well....within a week the Vaquero, Mini-14 and Mossberg shotgun were returned to me via a local gun store that I'm a regular at. A woman, an obvious drug user, came into the store and laid the guns on the counter and said "These are for Ed *****," and turned around and walked out.
I don't know who it is and I don't care to. I'm still missing the Kimber, but it'll come back to me someday. Needless to say, I don't associate with the bail bondsman anymore either...They walk a very fine line between respectable part of society and criminal as far as I'm concerned.
I do feel bad that I let guns get into the hands of criminals...but I definitely learned my lesson. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING is left in my vehicle anymore.
I've done one other dumb firearm related thing, but I'll save that for another thread.
Ed
