Ted Bundy's boot gun is for sale on Gunbroker.com. Would you want this?

[Potatohead]

Depends what it is and how much they want for it lol. Totally kidding, I'll have to pass.

 

[stoky]

If I had serious coin, heck yeah I'd want it.
I'd put it in the Noir wing of my museum, with Oswald's Carcano and Ruby's belly gun and der Furher's PPK and Charles Whitman's Remmy and...........................

 

[Kiln]

Why not make a spectacle of this crime gun thing and give these guys the celebrity status they always dreamed of? How about Adam Lanza's AR15? The gun that was used to shoot Reagan? How about we auction off the authentic Jim Jones Kool Aid pitcher?

 

[Swing]

Nope, I'm not interested in that in general, but particularly at that price point. $21K can buy a heck of a lot more fun, shooting wise, than a POS derringer owned by a sicko serial killer. That kind of money is in the realm of transferable machine-guns, some nice double guns, rare pieces, and/or a crapton of ammo.

While I am not necessarily weirded out by an inanimate object that was once owned by an evil person, I don't know why someone would drop the kind of coin on such an article. But that's their business, not mine.

 

[Ed Ames]

So to start with the gun is almost certainly misrepresented as C&B when it is actually a modern cartridge (.22lr) gun. Specifically, it is a Rossi Garrucha double barrel .22lr.



They apparently have a market value of $150-$200 in decent shape.


So...first, would I buy one for $150? No. At $50 I would, because gun. At $100...I have walked past some far more interesting guns with $100 price tags.

Second, would I pay more (or less) because of this specific gun's province? Personally, no. I understand that some people are into that and I might gamble on flipping it but that isn't really the same as buying it in my mind.

 

[Shaq]

If I had serious coin, heck yeah I'd want it.
I'd put it in the Noir wing of my museum, with Oswald's Carcano and Ruby's belly gun and der Furher's PPK and Charles Whitman's Remmy and...........................

And Loreena Bobbitt's scissors.....

 

[tipoc]

Oh not a blackpowder Rossi? Well then ...no.Still a double barreled .22.

This stuff, of trying to sell off some murder gun at an inflated price, is not new. It's been going on for at least a century. A drawing by Charlie Manson, the one true hatchet of Lizzie Borden, etc. The more sensational the killing the higher the price. This is capitalism.

Also not new is folks being shocked and angered by it. So shocked and irate that they have to miss their afternoon tea and talk about it in angry tones for a week or so.

tipoc

 

[Kiln]

Oh not a blackpowder Rossi? Well then ...no.Still a double barreled .22.

This stuff, of trying to sell off some murder gun at an inflated price, is not new. It's been going on for at least a century. A drawing by Charlie Manson, the one true hatchet of Lizzie Borden, etc. The more sensational the killing the higher the price. This is capitalism.

Also not new is folks being shocked and angered by it. So shocked and irate that they have to miss their afternoon tea and talk about it in angry tones for a week or so.

tipoc

Hitler's art goes for insane amounts despite being crap painting but whatever people want I guess.

 

[Delford]

Guns are tools and shooting them to become proficient with them is enough. The relaxation I get from expending 100 rounds of .45 ACP on the farm/range is remarkable. Just because a demented man used to own it doesn't justify that price. I own two .22lr guns because of the fun factor. One cost ~$250 and the other ~$160. This one on Gunbroker is a pass.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I get wanting guns that have a historical significance or that are tied to important historical figures.

So even Hitler's gun I could see wanting just because of the historical significance to entire nations and really the entire world.
I could see JWB's Derringer for the same reason.

But something that a serial killer just happened to own doesn't do anything for me. He had no significance other than bringing pain and heartache to a lot of people and something he happened to own wouldn't do a thing for me.

 

[kBob]

I do wish I could read that letter. I tried blowing it up but it became to fuzzy to read.

I am wondering how a Florida Cop not from the Tallahassee area got such a thing and how he linked it to Bundy.

During his Murders at FSU and Lake City and at the time of his arrest he was living in Tallahassee. Actually about five blocks from the state capitol in an area full of students.

The weapon he used during his arrest after a traffic stop was his key ring.

At FSU his weapons of choice were dog leg shaped bit of heavy Live Oak limb and his teeth.

-kBob

 

[Double Naught Spy]

It is a bit of dark history, but not all that significant. I know folks think it is sick and terrible, but a lot of the general public has interest in that sort of thing. European museums with torture implements of the Spanish Inquisition seem to do quite well dwelling on dark history.

We tend to pick and choose those parts of dark history that we think are acceptable to us.

 

[1911 guy]

If it were a gun I was interested in for the sake of the gun itself and i was not aware at the time of purchase it was a serial killers gun, I'd buy it.

But to buy it just because it belonged to a serial killer? No thanks. I have better uses for money.

 

[jmorris]

But to buy it just because it belonged to a serial killer? No thanks. I have better uses for money.

Yep, I would just as soon buy silverware Jeffrey Dahmer had, count me out.

 

[Acera]

Rock Island is auctioning off this beauty in September.

A nice example of a liberated piece of art

 

[Jack19]

Only if it could talk and tell us where the rest of the girls are buried.

 

[Sebring Pop]

Are you serious. Guns like that have bad MOJO.

 

[barnbwt]

Forget Dillinger's 1911 SMG, I want his Kolt he escaped from prison with

 

[Dr.Rob]

Guns of infamy are a touchy subject for many. That is a seriously overpriced and strange pistol and for the murder buffs out there, Bundy never used a gun. In fact that's the first I have ever heard of Bundy being associated with a gun. You'd better be darn sure of the provenance before shelling out a chunk of change like that.

I know someone that owns a John Wayne Gacy painting and that thing creeps me right out, but he's a very eccentric collector himself. He's got some other really cool stuff.

We have millions of true crime books (I read them), we have crime museums, we have people that collect all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons.

To some Billy the Kid was a folk hero, to others he's an old west serial killer. Both groups might find a reason to want to own one of his guns.

 

[Schwing]

It doesn't creep me out nor do I find it offensive but I don't understand why you would pay that much for something that has so little actual intrinsic value. I have never really collected anything though just for the sake of having a collection. If I can't actually use it, I won't buy it. If I buy it, I pay what I think the intrinsic value is.

As of the time I am writing this there are 2 votes for the "I'm going to go bid right now! Thanks for the heads up!" They must not be that serious since there are still currently 0 bids

 

[Zaydok Allen]

It didn't sell on the first pass. I'm tracking it just because I'm curious now. It was relisted at the same price.

 

[Mosbyranger]

Serial killer memorabilia. I would not want anything to do with it. About the best story regarding such memorabilia I have read was regarding John Wayne Gacys "artwork" that came up for sale after they finally (finally!) flushed that pos for good. Anyway, much handwringing was evidenced regarding the sale. The purchaser of the entire lot invited most of the relatives of Gacys identified victims to a gathering. The "artwork" was then burned to ashes. To my way of thinking, this is the best way to deal with any "legacy" items of sociopathic serial killers.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

It is a bit of dark history, but not all that significant. I know folks think it is sick and terrible, but a lot of the general public has interest in that sort of thing. European museums with torture implements of the Spanish Inquisition seem to do quite well dwelling on dark history.

We tend to pick and choose those parts of dark history that we think are acceptable to us.

If they are attributed to the Spanish Inquisition that is probably La Leyenda Negra--because of the Hundred Years Was and other conflicts, most of the contemporary English language history is pure propaganda. Torture was widespread in both religious and secular law (and before the Inquisition always carried out by the civil authorities--Heresy being a threat to the legitimacy of the Monarchy). The Inquisition placed severe restrictions on torture (and lowered conviction rates from about 95% to 1-2%). That and much better prison conditions often caused petty criminals to deliberately blaspheme to get their cases transferred. Very few people appreciate how bad it was to be a defendant of any kind back then.

The SI was the first institution to conclude that most Witch accusations were false and took the step of decriminalizing witchcraft some 3 1/2 generations before the Salem Witch Trials. There was also never mass witch killings in any country under Inquisition.

Back to the OP's question objects associated with imfamy as well as fame are values by collectors.

Mike

 

[mrdeltoid]

I was more interested until I saw what it was. Neat gun, but not anything I'd use for anything other than an occasional range toy. Wouldn't spend more than $200 on it.

 

[Dragon breath]

George Zimmerman sold the Treyvon Martin gun (Keltec pf9) for $250,000.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/george-zimmerman-gun-auction_us_573fb7abe4b00e09e89f2834