Suicide weapon

[jefnvk]

I collect milsurp rifles - including Russian and Japanese and Nazi arms that were probably involved in terrible things.

A big +1 on that. I got an Arisaka that was taken from a cave in Okinawa, and an Enfield that came back from France. Knowing that the Japs usually fought to the death, and that the Enfields were used by our allies, them being picked up on the field means that their owners were probably both KIA.

 

[Pilgrim]

In the town of Avenal, CA where I worked, the village idiot's father killed himself with a Ruger pistol. The idiot wanted his father's pistol and went so far as to get a court order requiring the Sheriff to give the pistol to him.

The village idiot was later observed showing the pistol off to his friends saying, "It's almost brand new, only been fired once."

Pilgrim

 

[Selfdfenz]

Lot of mention being made of mil surps which to my mind is not what the original post was about.

I would have no personal issue owning a dozen battle rifles or handguns used in actual combat and for the same reason I would not be bothered in the least living in a house where a civil war battle was fought, people died etc. Heck for all I know any number of the ex-military weapons I've owned killed somebody.

I knew/was close to an individual that committed suicide. Don't want anything to do with a place or thing touched by that level of tragedy. Wouldn't care to try making an extra buck on such an item and sure would not want someone to sell me one. Just me, just the kind of shadow that sort of thing casts.

And yeah..I know....it's just a hunk of steel.

S-

 

[Gunwalker.44]

Poe 9999,
I feel that if you feel strongly enough to post here you probably
should not keep the gun. Trade or sell. I have several milsurp rifles
and have no problems either, but that's me, follow your feelings.

 

[Hardware]

An ex-roommate and good friend of mine committed suicide in his car with a shotgun. We had the police destroy the shotgun and let the car go to the impound lot for eventual disposal. He had no relatives and I just didn't have it in me to clean my friend's blood and brains out of the car and off the shotgun. I've still got his mortuary toe tag on my keyring as a memento, so it's not the state of death that bothers me. I'd just get bad karma from the last item he held/sat in when he decided to end it all.

Just my $0.02.

 

[GRB]

How good is the price on this one? If good enough and you do not want it, send me the seller's number.

 

[Matthew748]

I thought about this for a while and think I would pass on buying the gun. Chalk it up to superstition on my part.

 

[OF]

I would pass. It would just creep me out. Plenty of 1911's out there, no need to grab one up that you feel uncomfortable about, for whatever reason.

 

[Onmilo]

The gun didn't kill the guy, he killed himself.
Why feel creepy about an inanimate object.
I own a couple 'blooded guns' and they don't creep me out but then I have never feared the ghosts of my own conscience either.

 

[logical]

We can't all talk about special feelings we have for our first guns or ones we got from relatives or ones we used to bag a prized animal...and then turn around and say the suicide gun is just a hunk of metal. The gun has baggage and I just don't need that to think about. There are too many other guns in the world to buy one where the seller spoiled it for me by disclosing something I really didn't need to know. It's like the toothbrush that fell in the toilet...you can boil and radiate it all you want but I ain't sticking it in my mouth ever again.

 

[Taurus 66]

Would anyone here turn in their pistol if the weapon was involved in a justifiable homicide? So why should one involved in a suicide be looked at any different?

 

[duckslayer]

Have you ever bought a used gun before? If so, how do you know any of them weren't used in a similar circumstance?

I am sure someone has choked to death by swallowing a coin...how do you know of of those coins aren't in your pocket right now?

Ever wrecked your truck and gone to the junk yard to get a bumper off of one for your truck...how do you know that bumper wasn't used to run over someone?

My point is, I don't buy the superstition that just because someone used that gun to do something like that, that kharma or whatever will haunt you. It is sad that someone would kill themself, but their method doesn't really matter. The gun didn't kill him...he did.

 

[gulogulo1970]

What I don't know won't bother me. I may own a gun that may or may not have been ever used in a suicide, murder. I own quite a few used guns, so it is a possiblity. But I don't know it for a fact, so I have nothing to worry about. If I knew it would be a different story.

A Marine awarded a medal for bravery knows it is made of metal and cloth. But, I would bet you it means more to him than the sum of its parts. Perception is what it is all about.

 

[logical]

Have you ever bought a used gun before? If so, how do you know any of them weren't used in a similar circumstance?

I am sure someone has choked to death by swallowing a coin...how do you know of of those coins aren't in your pocket right now?

Ever wrecked your truck and gone to the junk yard to get a bumper off of one for your truck...how do you know that bumper wasn't used to run over someone?

My point is, I don't buy the superstition that just because someone used that gun to do something like that, that kharma or whatever will haunt you. It is sad that someone would kill themself, but their method doesn't really matter. The gun didn't kill him...he did.

The differance with all of that is the "you don't know" part. I agree it's not the gun that's eveil but i just plain don't want a gun that I specifically know was involved in something untidy. I'm not afraid it is "haunted" or anything but I just plain don't want to be reminded.

 

[torpid]

Would anyone here turn in their pistol if the weapon was involved in a justifiable homicide? So why should one involved in a suicide be looked at any different?

Some folks here may draw a distinction between justifiable homicide and suicide.

(One was used to protect life, the other to self-destruct.)




.

 

[dev_null]

That's kinda creepy. Not Stephen King scary, but ...creepy. I think I'd have to heft it and see if I got a wierd feeling from it or not.

 

[duckslayer]

Maybe I'm just a jerk or something (I've been called worse) but if it wasn't a family member or close friend I don't think it would bother me, but everyone is different.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Would it make any difference if you didn't know the history? It's just an inanimate object with no volition of its own, if you've ever bought a used gun from a dealer etc. and didn't know its history, how do you know what it was ever used for? Can't see that it makes any diference personally, all it takes to divorce the object from its history is to not tell the next owner. But if it bothers you, leave it be.

 

[centac]

I would at least field strip it first and check the condition internally. Guns used in close-range shootings pick up a lot of, um, debris. As the gun cycles material can get in side. Blood and gray matter are very corrosive and will cause pitting if left uncleaned.

If it was my decision the background of the gun wouldnt matter. I doubt that it is the one that'll collect on Cooper's offer to pay for a gun that could fire itself.

 

[joab]

We can't all talk about special feelings we have for our first guns or ones we got from relatives or ones we used to bag a prized animal...and then turn around and say the suicide gun is just a hunk of metal.

We also can't preach "Guns don't kill people blah blah blah" and then turn around and say that a gun is tainted because a person killed someone with it

 

[BlackCat]

So, umm...

Is it weird for my great uncle to have the rifle his dad (my great-grandfather) killed himself with?

I'd buy the 1911, unless I was close to the person who killed themself, even then I'd consider it.

 

[SnWnMe]

Guns don't kill people.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

Seems to be a 'personal choice' sort of thing.

How about those guns you own now that you bought used - they could very well have some sort of dark past also - are you going to get rid of those too?.

I don't think it would bother me much, but, if it did, I would buy the gun cheap, re-sell it, and use the proceeds to buy a different gun.

 

[woerm]

personal thread for me...

A good friend passed away last May, and as executor of the estate I got the revolver he used to depart this veil.

I cleaned it, and hefted it and very promptly sold it to help pay the estate costs.

It didn't feel any different from any one of about 1000 or so guns I have handled over the years but

It was a revolver and I use autos (.32 1903 thankee Lord for JMB)

It was and is just a hunk of steel.

the 1903 is verrry old and looks like it spent most of the last 90 years in toolboxes and leather holsters.
it looks very used.

but in my paw it feels like a part of my hand

I haven't found any revolver that does that (yet)

given the age of the 1903 I don't doubt it has a 'past' but it is a

hunk of steel

that being said it is a personal choice. I wouldn't randomly buy a revolver and I didn't desire to aquire that specific one. My Wife who shoots only revolvers hefted the thing and passed (rotten egromonics for her) :banghead: (I was hoping she would upgrade from the .38 she uses, his was a .357) So poof it went.

r

 

[gbran]

Murder gun?

My ex wife used one of my handguns to kill her boyfriend (in my kitchen). She got off on justifiable homocide (which I disagreed with). Anyway, after several months the sheriff's dept released the gun back to me. I kept it another few years and sold it because it was a piece of crap. This was in 1991 and the gun was an older Taurus 357.