Got a call today about a found gun stolen from me 33 years ago

[MelvinWalker]

My house was broken into in 1991 and over ten guns were stolen. I sadly never got a single gun returned and I had the serial numbers to most of them... These included an M1 Carbine Underwood, a Trapdoor Springfield and several SKS's and a Marlin .22 "carbine" style rifle...I later went to work for an agency of the State of Tennessee and I retired from there.. I then went to work for a county sheriff's office after which I then moved to Florida.

Fast forward to today...I am at work and get a call on my cell phone from a Lieutenant at said sheriff's office, who I vaguely knew, (different department), stating that the .22 Marlin was in their evidence room and he was running serial numbers and got a hit on mine as stolen. Before I moved I made sure they were still all in NCIC and I left my cell phone number with dispatch just to be sure... At any rate, he said to bring my ID and sign for the gun and take it home with me... I thanked him and then I realized two things.

1) I am now in Florida 650 miles away from my old county and;

2) I now have a Florida DL, not a Tennessee DL

I'd like the gun back, but I want to avoid driving back to Tennessee just to get a $200 gun back, although I wouldn't mind having the thing back if there's anything left of it. I had recently spoke about these guns to my wife and I never thought I would ever see any of them back.

I'd like to get it back to me without spending a fortune in time or money doing so...I am not sure if the Florida DL would hamper that being as how it was stolen from me in Tennessee 33 years ago.

Anybody dealt with something like this?

 

[Buford57]

My house was broken into in 1991 and over ten guns were stolen. I sadly never got a single gun returned and I had the serial numbers to most of them... These included an M1 Carbine Underwood, a Trapdoor Springfield and several SKS's and a Marlin .22 "carbine" style rifle...I later went to work for an agency of the State of Tennessee and I retired from there.. I then went to work for a county sheriff's office after which I then moved to Florida.

Fast forward to today...I am at work and get a call on my cell phone from a Lieutenant at said sheriff's office, who I vaguely knew, (different department), stating that the .22 Marlin was in their evidence room and he was running serial numbers and got a hit on mine as stolen. Before I moved I made sure they were still all in NCIC and I left my cell phone number with dispatch just to be sure... At any rate, he said to bring my ID and sign for the gun and take it home with me... I thanked him and then I realized two things.

1) I am now in Florida 650 miles away from my old county and;

2) I now have a Florida DL, not a Tennessee DL

I'd like the gun back, but I want to avoid driving back to Tennessee just to get a $200 gun back, although I wouldn't mind having the thing back if there's anything left of it. I had recently spoke about these guns to my wife and I never thought I would ever see any of them back.

I'd like to get it back to me without spending a fortune in time or money doing so...I am not sure if the Florida DL would hamper that being as how it was stolen from me in Tennessee 33 years ago.

Anybody dealt with something like this?

I recovered several out of state NCIC firearms. I had them shipped to the LE agency for the owner's jurisdiction and they returned them.

 

[StrawHat]

I have not had to deal with this but, the best answer will come from the Sheriff's Deputy. Will the Dept release it to your representative? They know, I do not. Will your Florida Drivers License be sufficient? Again, they can answer that.

Good luck, but it sounds like you are in for a bit of a drive.

Kevin

 

[mrchick]

I had this happen to me years ago. The recovering law enforcement agency many states away was willing to ship it to my local, law-enforcement agency. The local, law-enforcement agency released it to me with my ID. I would imagine that would require some cooperation but it's worth asking.

 

[pantannojack]

Can you ask a local dealer to go pick it up, then ship it to your dealer of choice? 4473 included?

 

[Doug M.]

My stolen revolver was recovered in CA. It was a pain in the backside, but they did eventually send to my local agency AFTER I did a CA background. That was STUPID as I had to do another here before EPD would give it back.

 

[El Juero]

You are lucky they had kept it in NCIC. Most of the time agencies purge stolen items after x number of years.

 

[Tom S.]

If you had an insurance payout for the theft, the insurance company may have the first claim.

 

[MelvinWalker]

You are lucky they had kept it in NCIC. Most of the time agencies purge stolen items after x number of years.

They did keep contacting me about purging them, but i got with the chief at the time and he personally made sure they were in the system. The problem is the search method someone uses while doing a search will not garner a hit unless it's something common like the Marlin.

For example, if you put the hypothetical SKS serial number of 1234657 and listed the manufacturer as "CHINESE MILITARY" or "CHINA" or "CAI" (for Century Arms the importer), instead of Norinco, it won't get a hit to someone that doesn't know that an SKS is different than a blunderbuss.

That's probably why my Trapdoor Springfield was never found, because the serial number came up to dozens of makes and models and "MODEL OF 1873", wouldn't cross reference to "OLD ARMY RIFLE CALIBER UNKNOWN", depending on how the search was entered by Joe Blow pawnshop in Peoria.

 

[Truckman]

If you had an insurance payout for the theft, the insurance company may have the first claim.

Doubtful, insurances companies aren't usually interested in owning guns...My insurance company did a payout after a burglary at my store...Months later some of the guns were recovered and returned to the store...The insurance company was made aware, and never made a claim to return any money from the payout......Ben

 

[MelvinWalker]

If you had an insurance payout for the theft, the insurance company may have the first claim.

No payout to speak of, (or very little from memory)...Agent told me years ago it was all written off.

 

[raljr1]

PA state police shipped mine to my dealer in Florida since we had moved. Ironically it was the dealer where we originally purchased it. I dd not have to pay shipping, but did have to pay the dealer for transferring it.

 

[deadin]

Doug M.
Sounds like you hit a tri-fecta.... California + CA background check and Local PD.

 

[mike4sigs]

If you had an insurance payout for the theft, the insurance company may have the first claim.

I beleive you are correct.
However i had several stolen and insurance paid my claim .
When a couple where found My state farm Agent told me State farm doesnt want to deal with it come and get them . They are an inurance company not gun Dealers .
20 ish years ago.

 

[2152hq]

There's only one Search method in NCIC in the Gun File.
You fill in the blanks and 'enter'.

You can search the file either by GINQ or GTST
GINQ you are live on line and if a Hit is returned you have time restraints involved in contacting the reporting agency by computer (and phone) to verify.
GTST (test) gives the same return result but is an off line request and return and no contact is requires should a Hit return.


The system does only search by Ser#.
All the other data on the firearm is for sorting out the HITS recv'd back (if there are any) by the terminal op.

The 'Mfg' field is NCIC coded so you can't make up your own abreviation for the manufacturers name.
Colt is (was?) CLT,,Ruger is SR (Sturm Ruger) and so on.
They got pretty strange sometimes especially the fer'in ones.

If you don't know the correct name/code off hand when entering data or searching for data, you have to look it up..and there are thousands of them.

The fewer digits in the ser# you enter, the greater probability of getting a return Hit.. or multiple Hits.
Then you have to read through each Hit and sort the data to elliminate each by the Make, Model, Cal, Finish and other misc data that was entered when the gun was put into the system by the reporting agency.

Not every data entry person in every PD agency is a 'gunny', so some convoluted Misc data gets in there for sure.

There's an entire agency protocall for entering, updating, notify of recovery, cancel entry, etc. Some with time restraints.

It certainly ain't a perfect system..

 

[bwade]

I had this happen to me years ago. The recovering law enforcement agency many states away was willing to ship it to my local, law-enforcement agency. The local, law-enforcement agency released it to me with my ID. I would imagine that would require some cooperation but it's worth asking.

I agree that this is what you should do. Your local PD should have an evidence officer who can contact their officer and have it shipped. You might have to pay for shipping, but my PD did it in those type of situations.

 

[djohns6]

Unless it was a family heirloom I wouldn't drive 650 miles for a Marlin .22 . If you can't come up with some kind of shipping option at a reasonable price , I'd blow it off . Just my opinion .

 

[S&W Fan]

Wow, that's crazy! I lost a S&W 59 in a burglary in Tucson in 1979. I would bet anything that it ended up 60 miles south in Mexico. If it ever got recovered on this side I have no idea how the agency would find me lol (jk)

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

If they ever find my one missing pistol, I bought another one already. I'd still like to go visit the person where it was "found", though. Do my own serial number search, or something.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I recovered several out of state NCIC firearms. I had them shipped to the LE agency for the owner's jurisdiction and they returned them.

I also did the same thing several times. I also delivered one to Louisiana because I was going through there the next day to visit my brother. 33 years is a long time for one to pop up, especially on a long gun, and you leaving your number is probably the reason it did. Most long guns get sold to good ole boys wearing camo and driving a 4WD at the local gas station. The hand guns and AR types mostly pop up at crime scenes. Your 33 years beat my record for a recovered firearm by three years. I had a friend call me a few years ago wanting me to check a rifle he had bought 30 years ago from a stranger. It was hot, the real owner was still alive, and I got it back to him. I like to see them returned sooner than 30 years but I like to see them returned any time. Inventory your firearms. Hide your inventory list away from the firearms or they will steal that too. On most stolen firearms reports the owners do not have the make, model, and serial number. If that is so with you, you will never see your gun(s) again. Make sure you record the make, model,and barrel lengths along with the serial number because different makes and models can sometimes have the same serial number. Sometimes,especially on low serial numbers, you can get multiple hits. I know several folks who have been detained because of this.