What to do if you find a gun?

[ThrottleJockey72]

Why not do what they tell kids to do when they find a gun? Leave it alone and tell the police.

First off, this is NOT what they teach children. We teach children to tell "an adult".

Even if it were used in a crime, it is a shotgun. VERY unlikely it could actually be linked to a crime and would likely be kept by police with the excuse "just in case we hear something". It was most likely, as previously stated, the object of a crime, stolen and dumped in fear. If this is the case, it probably wouldn't be the original owners property anyways. It would belong to the insurance company that paid the claim. If this is the case, returning it to the original owner would cause a crime since it is no longer theirs, they would be in possession of stolen property. I'm not a lawyer, and this IS the internet (as invented by Al Gore), but this is usually the case regarding stolen property and I stayed at a Holiday Inn once.....

 

[Frank Ettin]

In some ways a gun is a little different from many other objects. First, it's a very commonly stolen item. Second, it's an object that is often used to commit a crime, especially if it is stolen.

But whatever kind of an object it is, it isn't mine. I don't like to be holding on to an object that is not mine. And I especially don't want to hold on to an object that may have been stolen and/or used to commit a crime.

So I would immediately contact the police and arrange for them to take possession of it. In fact the best thing would have been to have left it where it was, immediately called the police, and waited until they got there and picked it up. Now of course, the only thing to do would be to call the police, tell the story and let them take it from there.

If something isn't mine, it isn't mine -- end of story.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

I would check its legallity with the cops and if its good than keep it. from what I heard my aunt and uncle (both anti-gun) found a luger at my grandparents house and called the cops and that annoying me cause I would love to have one.

 

[CoRoMo]

Wow for all you guys who said keep it clean it and shoot it I hope none of my guns never get stolen and dumped somewhere.

Nobody would hope otherwise, right?

 

[RP88]

if the serial number is there, and the barrel is of legal length and whatnot, then I'd keep it.

 

[Kindrox]

With all the guns on the street I keep hearing about I always expect to see some when I am out and about. I must be using the wrong streets.

To answer your specific question, it sounds like you came across an abandoned firearm that frankly is of little current value. I believe in this case you are clear to keep it. By the same token if someone finds something of mine I abandoned and is of no value, keep it!

 

[tube_ee]

The "finders keepers" rule

is of zero legal validity.

If you are in possession of something that it can be shown belongs to someone else who didn't tell you you could have it, and (depending on the age of it and where you live) a firearm is clearly one of those things, you are guilty of theft.

Even if you picked it up off the ground.

If I leave my car on a deserted street with the door unlocked and the keys on the seat, and somebody finds it and drives off with it, guess what the cops are gonna call that?

If you said any variation of "Grand Theft Auto", you win. If you had any other answer, you go to jail.

Failing to secure one's property does not make it not one's property, nor does it make the appropriation of said property by anyone not either (a) you or (b) authorized by you anything other than simple theft... in both the legal and the moral senses.

--Shannon

 

[PT1911]

simply take it to the police... backround check gets run..... you leave with the gun or without the gun... NOTHING LOST NOTHING GAINED.

 

[Deus Machina]

another +1.

At least run it by the local police/sheriff, so forth.

It may be part of a case. At which point you're a good citizen for helping out.

It may have been reported as lost/stolen. The police would be a lot happier if you came in with it still sandy and rusted up and said "I found this half buried in the road" the next morning, than if you got it working again and they for some reason saw it during a traffic stop or something.

CYA.

 

[conw]

tube_ee wrote:

If I leave my car on a deserted street with the door unlocked and the keys on the seat, and somebody finds it and drives off with it, guess what the cops are gonna call that?

If you said any variation of "Grand Theft Auto", you win. If you had any other answer, you go to jail.

Actually if property is clearly abandoned, even a car, you have a lot of leeway. There is a way at least in my state to take possession of a car legally by having the title switched over to you. As usual though, the car:firearm comparison is hardly 1:1.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

If you have to leave a vehicle on the highway to go call/get a mechanic, you place a white flag in the window to signalize that it is not abandoned and that someone will be back for it (otherwise, it could end up towed to an impoundment). But there are abandoned vehicles which may be stolen or just left because they are not economical to repair or recover and one should be circumspect about claiming abandoned property.

I would be very wary about an "abandoned" gun. BTW a lot of stolen guns are posted on the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and it is not uncommon for FFL dealers to run used guns against the NCIC before taking them on trade, just as they are required to run buyer's ID against the NICS. It would not be good to have your "finders keepers" gun show up on an NCIC check.

 

[nalioth]

<snip>and it is not uncommon for FFL dealers to run used guns against the NCIC before taking them on trade,

REALLY?

No FFL holder I'm familiar with does this.

Maybe you deal with FFL holders who are also law enforcement officers who work for an agency that allows NCIC checks for personal use?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) provides forms to FFL dealers to submit to TBI make,model,sernum for the TBI to request the NCIC check and get back to the dealer OK or we're sending the police to pick up the gun and any info on the seller; it is NCIC check for official business use only.

Whether Texas FFLs can have guns checked against NCIC through the Texas Department of Public Safety (TDPS), I don't know.

 

[scotthsi]

[quote="nalioth']What do you do when you find a golf club?

What do you do when you find a hand saw?

What do you do when you find a dvd?



A gun is just another object.

Good grief, how far the demonization of "guns" has gotten . . [/quote]

Um, yeah, right... A gun is so much like a golf club or a hand saw or a DVD...

Are any of those other objects complete with a SERIAL NUMBER that may be "on record" somewhere for something? NO. Are those objects considered DEADLY WEAPONS (not talking about whether they could be used as one), by and large, by the police, law, public, etc? NO.