Dear Smith and Wesson Forum i have a gun question. is it legal to bury a favorite gun with its owner when the owner dies if the deceased had no family or friends to leave the gun with? any and all help in answering this question would be greatly appreciated sincerely and respectfully mg357 a proud member of the Smith and Wesson Forum.

I don't know of any reason why not unless your state has some weird law that would prevent it. Personally I would just put it in the coffin out of view and keep quiet about it.

My great uncle asked me and my brother to put 100 dollars each in his coffin when he died...my brother put in a hundred dollar bull and I put in a check for 200 and took the c-note.

__________________
Thirty characters. Exactly...

sipowicz----seems like i've heard that story before--told as a sort of joke--however-----have you checked your bank statement to see if that $200.00 check ever cleared????

__________________
"Class Tells"

If the check was cashed, he should be very careful where he sleeps at night...

I would think, "outa sight, outa mind" or don't ask, don't tell.

But I see you are in Ill a nose, so there are probably many laws and restrictions on this very topic.

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

Silly, Zombies don't have bank accounts. They don't? Right? Maybe I better check my door locks.

I would not be surprised if someone at the funeral home would make off with a gun left in a coffin. Don't put it in the coffin until the last possible moment.

Serious answer: Agreed, the problem is both somebody lifting it at the funeral home/church and also the potential for somebody digging it up later (especially if it's a "nice" gun).

I've seen where people are laid out with their finest jewelry, etc. and then at the casket sealing, the funeral home manager removes it all discretely and gives it to the family. Perhaps that's an idea?

If he really wanted to be literally buried with it, then maybe you could at least disable it? I'd hate for it to be stolen/dug up and later used in a crime?

It needs to be cut into pieces, otherwise the "thief" would just fix it by replacing the missing part(s).

Pete

Why would someone want to do that? Why just throw a good gun away like that? A favorite family member or close friend would be a better option.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, but a good gun can go on forever...

I had a friend that used to ride funeral escourts. He told me of doing a funneral where a gypsey king or head guru died. He was interested in how gypseys hold a funneral so watched. He said people filed past the casket and dropped money in the casket while the crying old widow watched. At the end of the funneral she asked the director could she have a few moments alone with her husband. My buddy got real curious to watch and kind of hid in a room to one side out of sight around a curtin. He said she walked up to the casket and picked out the money and spit on the corpse!

Hello?, Steven? , did you know ?...........

__________________
Sure you did

Sorry, by "disable", I meant literally to disable it permanently in a proper manner chosen for the specific weapon. Hopefully there is a more graceful method than just hacking it into pieces.

I'd still go with my first suggestion of laying him out with the weapon artfully and then removing it before sealing the casket and giving it to the family. Of course, then you better have somebody stand guard during the visitation, etc.

With all due respect to the question that makes as much sense as burying me with my Rolex. No laws against either-but do you REALLY want to do it?

__________________
Forum consigliere

Rumor has it that a relative was buried with his Thompson SMG. He had picked it up during the Solomon campaign and saw no reason not to bring it home when the war ended. As it had never been properly registered I really don't think any of the surviving relatives wanted to be associated with that firearm, so I suspect his wishes were granted.

Besides, as his Grandmother was Cherokee the idea of sending him off with his favorite weapon may have played well with other family members anyway.

My Wife said she's not burying me in my Chevy SS and with my favorite guns until after she's done playing with them....

I heard about this old black man that wanted to be buried in his cadillac. They granted his wish. He was slowly being lowered in the grave with a crane. He was sitting in the cad wearing a derby hat with a stoggey in his mouth and a bottle of his favorite booze on the seat by him. A couple of his best friends were watching in awe. One turned to the other and said, "Man! Now dats liveing!"

My wife says if I buy another gun it'll be the death of me.

I told my wife "Nothin fancy, I don't wear a suit in real life, don't catch me dead in one..." do it cheap as can be, have a BBQ after, keep my ashes till she goes (and vice versa) then have the kids dig a lil hole, toss our ashes in and plant an oak tree there... we always was a little nuts, might as well stay that way!

" I'd hate for it to be stolen/dug up and later used in a crime?"

Do you really think this is realistic?? Digging a hole 6' down and then opening a coffin. Thats a lot of energy to expend. It would be a lot less effort to just steal one!!

Ya don't have to dig down 6' to get to a coffin...

I really believe that the dead guy's family is just giving the good folks down at the funeral home a nice gift.
I (being a true skeptic) even wonder if they actually bury that high $$$ casket that they sold the dearly departed's family. I've told my wife and some good friends that if I go first I want someone to take a ball-peen hammer to my new home! Resell that~!~

__________________
In dog years I'm dead.

"Ya don't have to dig down 6' to get to a coffin..."


I grew up living next to a graveyard in the N.E. Maybe its different in other parts of the country but where I grew up the holes were in excess of 6'.

In my somewhat distant past I had a very good friend, you might say, a brother, die because he was coughing and busted a vein in his neck or throat, and bled to death.
He was a pot smoker and beer drinking machine. He was around 45 years old at the time.
His wife asked the funeral home director if it would be ok to bury him with a joint and a beer. He was also dressed like he always dressed, with a Harley T shirt an blue jeans with suspenders, and of course the ever present handkerchief head band.
At viewing he just looked like normal, a joint in one hand and a can of bush in the other, kicked back asleep........forever.
This isn't meant to be a joke or make fun of my dear friend, "Hippie John", because I think about him nearly every day and miss hell outta him.
Peace,
gordon

__________________
better have that checked

when your dead you wont be needing a gun a beer or money or anything else! thats how i see it, but i could be wrong?

__________________
WILL WORK FOR AMMO!

How do you know??? I'd rather be prepared

had a cousin buried with a can of copenhagen snuff in his hand i would bet he hasnt dipped a single dip

__________________
WILL WORK FOR AMMO!

There was a gentleman that died a couple years ago in one of the southwestern states. He had an old Plymouths I believe and he wanted to be buried in the car he had for years and wanted his guns in the car with him. Arrangements were made and it went as he wanted.

The tires were removed from the car and it was lowered in a vault at the cemetary. His guns were placed in the car at the grave site and his body was placed upright in the drivers seat. A cement truck began filling the grave with cement to permanently seal the car into the grave site.

I am sure the info can be googled but he was buried with his guns and in his car.

http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=78135

I've watched the OP and his most curious posts and queries for a while now. Sir or madame, why all these specific/bizarre questions? Writing a book? Hope you'll give credit for all the info gleaned here. Seriously, nobody else is curious?

Maybe it's just me but I feel my leg being pulled on sometimes.

If I thought the kiddos would sell the family guns after I died, I'd rather be buried with them. My personal guns, I don't care, but if they're just going to sell their great-great-grandfather's Colts', I'd rather take them to the happy hunting ground in the sky. He and I can go shootin'.

__________________
Insert short witty words here

Some of you guys need to get real. At a funneral you can or should watch the casket lowered into the cement vault at the grave site. Not saying it was never done, actualy there has been at least a case or two of the casket being reused, but I think its pretty remote if you watch the casket buried in the vault. I have seen a lot of these comments elsewhere, you know, the chest beating and braze talk about how you dont care what happens to remains after ya croke etc, just as long as its done cheap as possible. Usualy that talk comes from young people. The older and more mature you get the less you hear it from your contemperarys. Respect usualy comes more with age. Think about this. We have the grave of the unknown solider, where the taxpayers pay for a group of soliders to guard the tomb around the clock in the elements even if a hurricane is going on! Why? Its called respect. And that is for someone nobody knows, much less a loved father or brother. Personaly, I dont care if they put me in a cardboard box, however I dont want to be creamated, and I do want a fair headstone describeing at least my name, age and christian belief.
Years ago I have seen a couple graves with the peoples photograph under thick glass or plastic. I think that is a nice touch. I just thought of a war story I want to tell. I had a uncle that was a batchlor all his life. He also was probley the highest decorated solider from our area. I have wrote of him before. 82nd AB, and assigned to the gliders. He and I were very close as I was all he had. We lived together various times, he stayed with me the winter before he died. (Really he committed suicide). He had medical problems and wasnt thinking right. Anyway my dad had told me this story, and finaly my uncle told me the same story shortly before he died.
My uncle and a close friend that was from the same village both went to training when the war broke out. The other guy actualy had already been in and out of the navy before the war and reuped. Uncle was drafted early. They both came home and partyied together before going OS. The other guy was already married. He left 1st and uncle had a little time left. Uncle got to playing with the guys wife. Uncle jilited a GF. She knew what happened and out of spite wrote the other guy, and same time wrote uncle what she done. Uncles outfit was pushed back into the ocean same time of that volcanno went off in italy. Guess who helped uncle over the net as he boarded the ship!
They had words etc. The other guy and wife also was a close friend to my folks. Sometimes their paths crossed at my folks house. I was young but still noticed some awkardness on my uncles part.
I went home when I got word of uncles death. The other guy came up to my mother and me and offered to do the military part of the funneral as he was a past vfw commander. Uncle had a very rough repitation in the area. He always fueded with many people. I didnt expect many at his funeral, but was amazed as it turned out to be one of the most attended that I ever been to. I got a real knott in my throat when the other guy lead the military part and then handed me the flag! That night he asked me did I ever hear about him and uncle meeting OS. I played dumb and said yeah, I thought I heard something about it. He proceeded to tell me the same story my dad and uncle told me, of course leaveing his wife out of it.
My reason for telling this again is to try to show or illistrate to some of you there is more to life and death and the respect of the body than just beating our chests and makeing light of it! The other man was probley the best example of a christian as I ever knew!

Won't need a gun where I'm goin'. My son has instructions to mix my wife's ashes, those of 5 or 6 dogs and mine in a bucket and scatter them to the winds on the ranch.

I spent my life in the wind out there on the "High Lonesome" and I don't see any reason to go out any different.

Iggy's Last Ride:

http://home.bresnan.net/~buflerchip/iggyslastride.htm

DISABLE it?!?!?!

I should think you would want it fully functional, and LOADED.
What good is a disabled, empty gun going to be to the poor guy?

__________________
Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Here in Ohio Ive buried a few firearms with individuals. Dont know about other states however.

For centuries cultures have laid their dead to rest with symbolic provisions for the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians did it, American Indians did it and the tradition continue today. An old friend known as "Cadillac Dave" went sporting his favorite silk shirt with a bottle of Brandy in one arm and a carton of Marlboro 100's in the other...

If you think it's fitting to bury your friend with his favorite gun, by all means do it. Just don't tell anyone until he's in the ground.

__________________
"Shall not be infringed"

Why not just take a nice 8" x 10" glossy photo of the gun. Place that in the coffin to honor his request to be buried with his gun.
It will do him just as much good and honor the request.
Sell the gun and donate the money to a worthy cause such as the NRA or a charity that he may have been partial too.
At least that way someone gets the gun, a charity gets a donation and no one steals anything.

Bruce

Hey, Zombies are bad enough, well armed Zombies would really ruin my day.

Oh yeah......

__________________
Regards,
Lee Jarrett

A while back a local newspaper reported that a recently departed avid trap shooter's request was carried out thus: his family held a service at his favorite trap range ended by firing his ashes out of a reloaded shell through his favorite trap gun.

I think he would have wanted his kids to keep returning to fire his favorite gun and remember him, but the paper didn't report what became of his gun.

That makes more sense than burying a gun in a grave that will rarely be visited, if ever.

Incidentally, speaking of the recently departed, was the gorilla buried with his favorite gun?

Gil

Bitstream, when the dead start shooting back, I think ill find another profession

Is it a BLOODWORK REVOLVER?

To answer the question - you can do it one way or the other. I would not make it public. Just do it.
There are some good suggestions on this thread, however.

I get the impression that either the OP is writing a book or is fairly new to firearms and is just asking questions. However I don't think he's ever crossed the line into troll status so most of his questions run into a couple pages because as a rule we seem to be a tolerant and obliging group.

For what it's worth here's my burial plans. I spent 5 1/2 in a field artillery Battery that started out with 105mm towed howitzers and switched over to 155's. As a 105mm Battery we occasionally used our guns to fire back-up when orchestras performed the 1812 Overture.

After the last event that our Battery provided the back-up I kept one of the fired casings. 105mm blank casings are brass,around 110mm in diameter and around 200 mm tall. I polished the casing up, turned a walnut plug for the top, soldered my old Unit Crest to the side of it and had my name, DOB, Unit, and DOS engraved on it.

I told my wife that if I hit room temperature before her have me cremated, engrave the DOD on the casing,sell up the plug, and stick me on the piano until she joins me. At that point either slip me into her casket or or slip her ashes in with mine and plant us both in the cemetery with a suitable stone.

I told her that if she decides to remarry and does not want to be buried with me then give the shell casing to whichever of the kids she happens to be the most aggravated with as a Christmas Present.

I heard his favorite gun was a Hi-point, so I wouldn't worry about it being stolen.

__________________
Thirty characters. Exactly...

You crazy nut!!!!!!!!!LOLLOLLOL
Steve

__________________
Steve

I had a friend who was buried with his S&W Model 629 Lew Horton on his hip here in VA. He was a nice guy who never really made it back from 'Nam. We called him "Magnum Chuck" and I sure do miss him.
Steve

__________________
Steve

I would say yes he is doing a lot of research on this forum to write a book of some sort.

Choosing a long gun for a ww2 Army Ranger

It's amazing what you can infer about someone by reading all of their posts. (cat eye shift, lots of free time....)

__________________
Cheers -Jeff

I had a friend who was a Civil war reenactor,and he died at the ripe young age of 32 of cancer.
He requested his widow to have him buried in his full dress Confederate officers uniform, including his sabre and dress belt, didn't see his revolver, but It could have been on his belt, I just don't remember.
After the family and friends went to their cars, she and the funeral director removed the dress belt with the sabre before the closing of the casket, for I stepped back in as this was in progress. They never noticed me watching, and I made a hasty exit.

So, most of the deceased request are sometimes compromised at the time of the casket closing...especially with valuables and heirlooms.

-Bearman

__________________
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ..."ERIN GO BRAGH"

What good is it to have a gun for all of eternity if the darn thing won't shoot???!!! I had a relative buried with a pocket full of cigars... I sure hope somebody put a lighter in there, or he's gonna be mad!

BTW, I plan to be cremated and placed in Lake Michigan. (Think about THAT the next time you go for a swim!!!) I've contemplated just having my Model 65 dropped in the lake with me.

__________________
LEO since 1981.

I used to like smoked chubs out of lake michigan. Dont know if I will be hungry for them when you go!
Maybe I will be buried with my S&W model 27-2 5". I have my name engraved in gold on it. No one else would want it. (Unless I do something pretty spectacular soon with it. I am going on 70 now.)

I used to be in the Boss' camp. I have one revolver that means a lot to me and thought maybe being buried with it (loaded, of course) would be a good thing. These days, I am more in Iggy's camp. That may change as time goes on, but I doubt it.

Personally, I think if that is what the guy wants, who gives a hoot what the law does or does not say? Do it discretely. If you don't feel comfortable doing it - don't.