Suicide gun...would you want one?

[BemidjiDweller]

I have a 311 I bought from an old timer through consignment. I ran into him when I was there picking it up and he told me about its history. The man's uncle used it to commit suicide a while back. He asked me if I still wanted it with all the history and such. I told him, hopefully it will only be taking the life of game from here on out.

I would not want to keep a firearm that a family member used to kill themselves. Not because of any ill feelings toward the firearm it's self, but because of the constant reminder. That that family member was in such a unhappy place.

 

[Quat]

Close family member had melanoma metastize into his brain and lungs. Got to the point he was having trouble just standing.
Have what they used sitting the back of the safe, cleaned it up after the cops released it, haven't decided what, if anything, to do with it. I don't think I want it in some strangers hands. I don't really want to use it for anything. So its sat there for about two years.

 

[Sam1911]

There have been a number of these threads here. Would you want a gun that had killed? Would you own a murder weapon? Would you own a Nazi/V.C./Japanese weapon of war? Would you own a gun with which someone had killed themselves?

Here's a couple of them:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=454340
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=335739

IMHO: Yup. Wouldn't bother me in the least.

 

[cleardiddion]

One that involves close family and friends?
No, I couldn't keep it.

Same thing with a home where someone died of something other than natural causes.

If I knew about it it'd just hang in the back of my head and would bother me sometime down the road. Plus, I'd be worried about it being haunted or something. Maybe it's just the way I was raised but you don't try to bring in things to your life which have a bad 'vibe' to them. My family walked out on a great deal on a house which someone had commited suicide in years back as soon as my Mom heard what had occurred there.

Heck, to be honest I'm not exactly sure if I really believe in the stuff but the way I see it better safe than sorry.

 

[JohnBT]

I would have taken the S&W .38 my cousin used to kill himself in 1974. We were close - born months apart to twin sisters. It was his grandfather's gun (he had his own, it just happened to be the one he used) and I would have kept it, but his father disposed of it. That was fine with me when I learned of it and I never even asked my uncle where he dumped it.

John

 

[homatok]

I have the old .22 pump my cousin used to kill himself in 1988! I don't use it but I keep it to remind me of the way our health care system let him down! He was aflicted with manic depression and he checked himself in to hospital where he was kept overnight and sent on his way the next morning without proper investigation/treatment thanks to overcrowdiing and a one size fits all health care sysyem!

 

[firesky101]

Would not bother me one bit. I also put no weight into human spirits, ghosts, monsters, etc. I know some people who do and I could see that bothering them.

 

[FROGO207]

Nope would not bother me in the least. So would you buy parts off a car that had someone killed in it or by it? Just about the same thing IMHO. I would probably show it to friends and tell the story behind it just because it would be such an oddity.

 

[solvability]

From time to time I pickup a Luger or P38 from WWII and wonder if it was used in an atrocity but since I do not know I can get past it and admire the weapon as a machine. It is the man not the machine that is the evil component.

 

[barnbwt]

I wouldn't own any gun that made me feel miserable for owning it. Since the gun is an object, it has no inherent bias, but objects are fully capable of evoking a response in us humans. I would think it worse to feel a duty to hold onto a tragic firearm (or other object) out of guilt or nostalgia for past events.

TCB

 

[GBExpat]

Would a gun's history "spook" you?

Absolutely not.

 

[Redlg155]

I agree that objects such as guns are inanimate, and yes, we assign sentimentality and nostalgic value to these items. That being said, who hasn't felt a bond with his rifle or handgun?

Knowing that a family member, loved one, unknown soldier or other significant figure used the very same weapon you are now using somehow evokes a psychological bond to the weapon. At the same time I am prone to superstitions and believe that said inanimate object can hold negative energy.

Especially Clown Dolls....

 

[Mauserguy]

I have a buddy whose father took his life with a revolver. He had terminal cancer. The police asked my friend to sign a release form for the gun. He said, "'ell no! I want that gun back." Today he cherishes it. His dad was a gun guy and that was his choice. I think it gives him a connection to dad. No, I don't think I would be bothered by it.
Mauserguy

 

[wannabeagunsmith]

Personally, I would own and cherish a suicide gun just like any other because I think guns are cool. Now, I think that people (including me) feel differently about suicide guns because someone Ina desperate situation looked at it as a means to escape from life permanantly. I think it is more about the person than the gun itself.

 

[Inebriated]

I'm not a big fan of used guns... the suicide bit doesn't bother me much, but the sitting in evidence for 5 years caked in blood bit does.

 

[One_Jackal]

If I didn't know anyone involved with the fatal moment I would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have one. Because of it's history the owner sold it to me for about 25k% of it's value.

 

[WardenWolf]

It wouldn't bother me. At least I'd know it could survive being dropped. . .

But dark humor aside, having dealt with severe depression myself and friends' near suicide, I do understand that people can get to the point where even death can be a release. It's tragic, but it's not the fault of the gun. I don't think I would be bothered by it.

I have several military firearms that may well have been used to kill. I'll just never know. Most likely would be my Arisaka 99. It was an early model, produced in 1941, and wasn't recovered until 1945 on Okinawa. That gun saw the whole war in the Pacific, and there's no telling what it might have been used for. There's also my K98 and Mosin Nagant. Between the three, odds are good that at least one of them was used to take a life.

 

[Inebriated]

It wouldn't bother me. At least I'd know it could survive being dropped. . .

I hate to laugh at that, but I did.

Reminds me of the whole French rifle thing...Never shot, and only dropped once.

 

[Sleasys14]

Wouldn't stop me from buying it. I would probably use the history to my advantage to get the price lower.


Sent from my MiPhone !

 

[CmdrSlander]

Absolutely not. I don't believe in the paranormal or anything but I wouldn't want to be reminded of such a dark act every time I shot it or looked at it. Its not the gun's fault but the gun was the tool used and it is, therefore (IMHO), connected to the incident.

Would I own a gun used by a military to kill people? Yes, if it was used by a power which has a fairly clean record with regard to atrocities, meaning the kill was most likely made in fair combat (as opposed to massacres, genocide, etc. which numerous armies have committed throughout history). I would not want a Nazi firearm.

 

[leadcounsel]

I wouldn't care at all.

 

[General Geoff]

I would have no problem owning such a gun. To me, that just means the gun did what it was supposed to, when the trigger was pulled. Can't ask much more of a gun than that.

 

[Kingofthehill]

If it was a model I wanted and was priced fair then who cares?

I had brain surgery in a room that surely had eople die I there and it didn't bother me.

 

[horsemen61]

gun

wouldn't bother me at all