Would you buy a gun that has taken someone's life?

[redfireftr]

These sort of things usually wouldn't bother me but this time I started to question it.

I found a guy trying to sell a Ruger Security Six and was asking him about it when he informs me that he is the second owner and the previous owner took his own life with it.

I don't see anything wrong with it as there are plendy of old rifles that have taken many lives that people own. It threw me off knowing what it has done.

What do you guys think?

 

[akodo]

YOUR TITLE IS WRONG

the gun was the tool used to take the life, it did not take anyone's life.

Would you buy a car on a salvaged frame? I have, for the right price. Who can say if someone was seriously injured or even killed in that car.

 

[HeavenlySword]

I'd buy it, as long as its all been cleared up

 

[highorder]

My shop had one of the Lew Horton S&W 3" 29's that has some pretty good freckling and pitting.

It sat for a long time in the case because every sales guy told the truth when asked about the price. ($249.99)

 

[Duke of Doubt]

I'd be a little surprised to find that certain among my current collection did not take any life in military action. I'm thinking of certain Russian, German, American and Canadian arms. Most such rifles probably sat out the war in arsenals, but a few were refurbed and a few show shrapnel and pitting. A couple even have hatch marks. Not a big deal to me.

If you don't know who it was, it doesn't really matter unless you believe in supernatural stuff, and even then, it's likely not much of a worry to you.

But I wouldn't enjoy possessing a weapon used to take the life of a friend or family member. Nor is it all that enjoyable to possess a firarm closely associated with various unpleasant personal experiences. I just traded a perfectly good Taurus I had owned for fifteen years for just that reason.

 

[SoCalShooter]

Would you use a power drill that drilled to far into the dry wall and got a water pipe?

 

[Kleanbore]

I have know way of knowing whether the Model 1898 Krag, Norwegian Krag, German Model 98K, U. S. Rifle, Model 1903, or M1 Garand I once owned were ever used to take lives.

 

[Eightball]

I'd be a little surprised to find that certain among my current collection did not take any life in military action.....Not a big deal to me.
If you don't know who it was, it doesn't really matter...
But I wouldn't enjoy possessing a weapon used to take the life of a friend or family member. Nor is it all that enjoyable to possess a firearm closely associated with various unpleasant personal experiences.

Duke, I hope you don't mind that I "stole" your post, but you hit the nail on the head for my sentiments exactly.

If it was a firearm that a relative used to end their life, I would not relish the thought of owning the weapon. If it was used by someone I didn't know in a circumstance I was unfamiliar with, as long as it was "in the clear" as far as the police go and was in good mechanical condition, it wouldn't bother me in the least.

In fact, with mil-surps, it kinda makes me revere the firearms more highly. My Garand, due to its production date and condition (obvious refurb), I can't help but think that it was used to help win the war--or was at least fired in anger. My Inland M1 Carbine? Not so much, it was in too good of a condition.

 

[yokel]

I dislike sentimentality where it doesn't belong.

It always ends up drivel.

 

[MMCSRET]

I have a number of milsurps that were obviously intended for that purpose and the assumption has to be made that the intention was successful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JH225]

Guns don't take lives, people do.

I can pretty much guarantee that I have numerous guns that have taken lives, as I have quite a few military weapons.

As far as a handgun used in a stupidcide, sure why not? Then again, I am into creepy things.

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

For a good many years...before turning it over to his oldest son...I owned the pre-war Smith & Wesson revolver that my uncle used to kill himself. I never got the willies from it...nor did my mother...nor does my cousin. It's a little silly to assign culpability to a mindless machine.

"I have carried a revolver on occasion, as many have. They are the most innocent things in the world."

--Mark Twain--

 

[JWF III]

Why not? After all, I already have enough to use both hands for counting, that have a good chance of having done so. What's one more?

Wyman

 

[azhunter122]

I don't see why not as long as it's in good condition all cleared and was not used on someone I know it's fine.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

I wouldn't want anything that someone commited suicide with.

For some reason, I don't think I'd feel as uneasy about, say, an m1 Garand that had been used in WW2. Probably because I consider those to have saved lives. Same thing with a Vietnam 1911, Iraq war m9, etc.

I don't feel too uneasy about other nation's military surplus in general, but I certainly wouldn't want something that belonged to Soviet death squads.

 

[Javelin]

I would only pay extra if it were haunted.

 

[SaxonPig]

Guns are just tools, remember?

I have one gun that I know for certain was used in a fatal shooting and numerous other police and military guns that may have been.

I also have a collection of Japanese swords and some of them may have been used in fatal duels. So what?

No, it doesn't mean anything to me.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Jimbo: "I don't feel too uneasy about other nation's military surplus in general, but I certainly wouldn't want something that belonged to Soviet death squads."

Then stay away from M44s and other Mosins, early SKS carbines, Tokarevs and Nagant revolvers. Particularly the M44s. Fighting continued in Soviet Russia long after 1945. Gehlen's Organization kept up partisan warfare in Ukraine until the mid 1950s, and some partisans held out in Lithuania until 1980.

 

[alaskanativeson]

I have a pre-64 Winchester 30-30 which was owned by a somewhat well-known felon. He (allegedly) used this particular rifle to kill at least one Idaho deputy sherriff. Since I acquired it legally, it makes no difference to me.

I will, however, agree with Duke of Doubt about negative personal sentiment going along with a weapon. I know a couple that exchanged pistols when they got married. After the marriage ended in a horrible break-up neither wanted the guns. I understand that.

 

[B yond]

I'd buy it as long as it still works.

Part of the appeal of old mil-surps for me is that they've been through some heavy use. My mauser has several tick marks in it that I can only assume are confirmed kills. It also has a gouge in the side of it that fits perfectly with the bayonet of my mosin m44.

Knowing someone killed with it, or was killed while holding it gives me a kind of eerie feeling when I hold these weapons, like they've been used to change the course of history before I got ahold of them. It's also a great way to start a conversation about history, guns, politics, and warfare when showing off your collection.

For me it's a plus.

 

[WardenWolf]

I own an Arisaka 99 that my grandfather picked up on Okinawa in 1945. This was an early-production model, produced around 1941. The stock shows the marks of hard service. I realize that untold atrocities were likely committed with that gun, and yet it does not bother me in the least. The same goes for my 1943 Izhevsk M91/30.

I would not have a problem knowing a gun was used to kill someone. If it was a close relative, it would carry a tinge of sadness, but I would try to honor their memory with it. The gun is merely the tool they chose, not the cause.

 

[DAN LESTER]

Recieved a call 8-9yrs ago
said hello - got you !@#$%^^%$#@! Willy shot himself w/357 I
sold him 5yrs before
I still have that 686
So some official didn't get it
The gun is innocent of all wrong doing

 

[rondog]

A gun used for a suicide wouldn't bother me. But a gun that malfunctioned and killed the owner/shooter? Naw, wouldn't want that one.

 

[waverace]

I agree with the whole gun is a tool thing , I had a contender with a history or so I was told , the guy I bought it off originally bought it as just a frame , the guy that sold it to him said that he DID NOT want the .357 barrel that was on it , to which the guy said of course I do so the the other guy said NO you DONT and that the barrel was going to be destroyed , read your own thoughts into that one , my best guess is that the rifling on that barrel could probably have been matched up to some crime scene , I got the gun anyway and did a lot of fun legal shooting with it before I traded it in .

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Might just have been a bulged barrel.

If he tagged someone and knew enough to concern himself with rifle groove matching, he'd have switched out the barrel (and firing pin) of a semiauto like a Beretta 92FS or Colt 1911 for a spare barrel and pin he paid cash for at a show, used the spare barrel and pin on the hit, destroyed or Deep Sixed the spare barrel and pin, and put the original matching barrel (and firing pin) back into the firearm to hand over to investigators in order to rule himself out.