I read this morning that a Pennsylvania coroner is auctioning off guns used in suicides and accidental shooting deaths. I don’t know what your reaction is but I’m not sure I would want to own a suicide gun.

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A gun has no brain.. use yours

Guns are tools, for better or worse.

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Be Well

Laying in a pool of blood can seriously tarnish a blued gun. Other than that, it would not bother me. I have had many old guns through the years that could have been used for most anything and I have no way of knowing. I did turn down buying a revolver used in a suicide once, but only because the finish was so damaged. The gun is inaminate.

I wouldn't care. Who cares what it was used for. People collect ww2 guns, I'm sure quite a few have blood on them figuratively speaking. I own a bunch of ww1 Russian Mosins with Austrian and Fin markings. There is only one way for that to happen

I'd probably pass if I knew it was used in a suicide. No good reason but would look for a different gun.
Then I have no idea what many of my guns were used for over the years either. I do wish though my Garand and M-1 carbine could talk and tell me where they've been. They're probably my most likely guns to have taken lives and that doesn't bother me either.
I just don't like the idea of a suicide gun.

As a kid, I have used a Browning design Rem 12 ga that was used in a suicide.
It didn't seem to make much difference to the quail.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

What about all the mil surplus firearms bought, think of how many they have probably killed. I don't have a problem with any from a coroners office. Heck I tried to get the one my SIL killed herself with and it was also used by he mother to off herself but we thought maybe her blood relatives may have wanted it. Besides she tried to kill my wife's brother with it so he didn't want it to star around. But like GatorFarmer said blood will corrode a firearm if left on it and I'm sure the corner hasn't cleaned them. Besides buying a used firearm you have no idea what it's history is, but I guess what you don't know won't hurt you.

"In PA state law requires local governments sell off unclaimed property" per the news story..

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Psalm 23:4

For what it is worth...Personal observation only....When I was in the plane crash in Chicago in 1986 while on a prisoner transport...My duty revolver was turn over to CPD. All though I was in in a live or die situation and in extreme care all my personal belongings were turned over to the CPD officers that actually saved my life...It took a visit from the district Presiding judge to retrieve my revolver...the coppers that saved my life had to go trough a lot of paper work to get my revolver released to the Judge...They commented to the judge that guns that were not evidence would eventually be destroyed as a matter of CPD policy.....Had it not been the District Judge requesting it, I think it would have been eventually destroyed.

a gun has no feelings and no thoughts, it is just a chunk of metal. cannot load itself and unless you watch the ghost hunter shows and buy into that garbage, inanimate objects cannot force their will on you. they have no will

Many of us own Mil-Surp guns that could very well have taken many lives. So common sense says it shouldn't matter.
But still, there's just something about a suicide gun makes me want to pass.
I don't know, I guess it would depend on what it was and how much I could get it for.

I'm guessing that most of them will be sold off to dealers who in turn will sell them without revealing their history. The end buyer will never know.

I'd have no problem with it. As stated above they're just tools!
How do you know that maybe the last used piece you picked up at your LGS wasn't one passed off by the family?

Most will probably be pitted from blood pitting since I don't think they clean them off when putting into the evidence rooms.

I own a large collection of military guns and the old saw was "If that gun could talk." Maybe if they could we wouldn't want to hear the story.

I have no problem with the guns, it just seems a bit tasteless.

Apart from any historical significance, it's of utterly no consequence to me.

A suicide gun would not bother me but the firearms I've purchased that did bother me a little were involuntarily abandoned. When I collected SXS shotguns I purchased a few that were coated in old, dried grease. The previous owners had prepped them for storage prior to deployment and for whatever reason never returned. After setting in a closet for 50 years or so the next generation would sell them off.

Once I found out the history behind the first shotgun it kinda bothered me. Then, at the risk of sounding like a potential nut job, I adopted the philosophy that cleaning up the shotguns and taking them for a hunt was kind of like giving the previous owner one last hunt. It's not like I ever came a cross a bunch of these, maybe half a dozen over the years.

A gun is a gun if the condition is decent, the price is decent and I want it I will get it.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Wouldn't bother me in the least. The gun didn't do it, the person whose finger is (was) on the trigger did.

We would occasionaly get a suicide gun in for a cleaning after it had been returned to the family when I was helping in the gunsmithing dept. of my local club. I also ended up cleaning the two rental pistols that were used in suicides on the range.
I was the only one who would handle these and they all went in to the ultrasonic bath as a 1st step. This never really bothered me.
Obviously this approach isn't shared by all and as a point the heirs of E. Hemingway's estate had his Boss shotgun that he used to commit suicide(value around $100k) destroyed.
Jim

I actually own a Boston Police gun that the officer used to shoot a suspect.

In what world does a gun used in a suicide belong to a coroner or medical examiner to sell in the first place? I would think after it is no longer considered evidence it would be the property of the next of Kin or the PD, to do with as they please, or is policy. +1, it is an innatimate object, unless I knew the person that offed themselves.

Don't see why it's tasteless. Imo one has nothing to do with the other. But then again what people do is completely irrelevant to me.

If you read the article you'd see within a couple of paragraphs the guns were never claimed by family members.

Most would never give it a second thought but because the local media made it a big deal some are second guessing the sale. Would not make a lot of difference to me one way or another.

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SWCA#2288
SWHF#407

My fathers 1917 Eddystone has a set of teeth marks in the stock near the but plate.
don't know about anyone else, but I fail to see the glory in the combat that put them there.
I don't have the specifics, but I well imagine the trench was a very dark place, flooded with despair to eclipse that of most suicides.
many think nothing of getting a mil surp firearm much past the great deal and historical value.
That M1 was there when iwo jima was invaded, and the Japanese fought to the last man.
that K98 may have been the last thing a family of Jews saw before the inside of a boxcar headed for Auschwitz.
These things aren't as pretty as they seem.

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it just needs more voltage

I have trouble with the Gov. getting a privately owned gun previous to a suicide and then auctioning it off. When did the ownership transfer?

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Front sight and squeeze

I would not hesitate to buy a gun from the coroner. I'm not sure that I'd want to keep or own a gun used in a suicide by a close friend or loved one.

I have a friend who bought a Remington 760 from the widow of a man who used it to end his life.

The coroner works for the county/whoever, and I still maintain, whether the guns were claimed or not, when did they become his property? Likely it was the county or PD selling them Not the coroner. A case of never let the truth get in the way of a good/better sounding story. If someone dies in a car crash, does the car belong to the coroner?

IMHO, it is irrational to give any blame to the tool for the deed. The English would have welcomed receiving all of those firearms blood splatter and all at the beginning of WW II. A fellow gunsmith had a contract with a local PD to destroy the serial numbered part of confiscated and abandoned firearms in turn for his keeping all the usable parts. I purchased many of those parts kits from him. It did not matter one bit to me the previous use. ........ Big Cholla

It's unclaimed property as stated in the article.

If the car remains unclaimed it probably belongs to the towing company or the junk man. Seems pretty straightfoward to me.

It wouldnt bother me at all, to own the Walther that Hitler shot himself with.

Over my career I've been hospitalized a few times. I never wondered or worried about who or how many folks had died in that hospital bed.

A tool is an inanimate object it's history wouldn't bother me either.

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NULLI SECUNDUS

When I worked in a gun store there were 2 cheap .38s, one was NIB the other had fired one shot, (to owners own head) and badly blood stained. Guy looked at both, took the used gun even though it was only $10. cheaper. He thought it was "cool".

I recently traded a mil-supl rifle worth about $400. for a nice Colt Det. Special. Gun was used by seller's mother to finish painful life.

Doesn't bother me at all. It's a tool.

I purchased a Star PD from a client's mother many years ago. This mother had obtained the pistol after her son had committed suicide with it. I saw no reason for her to have this pistol around her home to remind her of his deadly act, so I told her if she ever wanted to sell it I would buy it from her. She was experiencing some financial difficulties several years later and came to me for help.

All gave some. Some gave all.

UNCLAIMED PROPERTY WOULD BELONG TO THE COUNTY/state, pretty much anyone BUT the coroner, He is hired & paid to perform a medical service, NOT collect or dispose of property.

If it makes you feel any better, the gun wasn't the instrument that caused the fatal wound, it was the bullet.

As someone who once tried to commit suicide (not with a gun) I know the anguish and agony that someone goes through before committing the act. I've witnessed suicides in Iraq. It is a terrible thing and if nothing else I know to respect their pain. My feelings have nothing to do with the tool but empathy for the person.

A government entity profitting from the death of a person and the probable destruction of a family is what I find tasteless.

At least the gun went back in service. In the people’s republic of NY it would be destroyed most times just like any other confiscated gun... The way our leaders see it one less gun that people can own.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I wouldn't want to...

This is my 1943 Iwo Jima vet bringback (by a local vet). He was awarded a field promotion to an officer. It has blood pitting on the frontstrap and the top of the slide. Should I not have bought it?

In Pa a ME/ Coroner is a elected gov job not a private practice in which the doctor helps the agency in figuring out the death of an individual. It's like being a deputy in the Sheriff dpt.

In my understanding if the death is ruled a homicide the gun goes to the PD, probably after its been confirmed that that's the gun that was used. If it's suicide it stays with the person's belonging at the ME office until a family member picks it up. I'm sure there is a time limit and then things get sold or destroyed.

It doesn't become his personal property, just property of the ME office which in Pa is a gov agency. The gun stays with the ME office because there is no crime. Nothing for police to investigate and it stays with all the belongings that person had on them at time of death

Being sold by the ME's office, as an extension of the PD/local gov't rather than the coroner per se, seems less creepy. Anyone interested in any gold teeth?

The coroner never said that the guns in question were his private property. The AP article states that auction "proceeds will help fund county government."

A County Coroner is "paid to perform" whatever job duties the County says that he is supposed to perform. In this case, it's clear that the coroner's job duties includes collecting and auctioning "death guns".

One of our forum members son just did himself in PTSD USMC.
She will donate his gun for auction to her chosen charity.
Very sad and prayers sent.
May Bradley RIP

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BradleyCoy/

Bradley Coy, USMC - stetsonphotos

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Have a blessed day ,
Bull

I've often therorized that someone on Hitlers staff picked up the pistol after the suicide and pocketed it.
The actual Walther Hitler carried and used was as far as we know a plain unmarked example so it would be for all practical purposes impossible to identify today.
If it ever surfaced and could be positively identified it would bring a hefty price in the collectors market.
One of the documented engraved Walthers Hitler was presented with is pictured in J Rankin's book and,the last I knew, was in a private collection in Canada.
Jim

Sorry to hear. My condolences.

Link doesn't open anything

Thats true. Also, one of Hitlers Walthers--an engraved one--sold at uction about 2 years ago for a measley $15,000.

NOT AN AUCTIONEER. Yes maybe items were sold from his office/dept, likely by a lower payed, non medically trained expert. Some office employee I'd imagine.

Is there a list of guns being auctioned off?