To be clear. If you sell a gun, and in particular a handgun, get a receipt with the person’s name and address.
In NC prior to the purchase permit requirement being eliminated (which was in my opinion a bad idea, it needed to be more time limited, not eliminated) I required either a purchase permit or a copy of their concealed carry permit per NC state law, as both involved vetting consistent with state law, before I would sell a handgun to a private individual.
If they didn’t want to provide either that’s fine. The local gunshop would handle the transaction for a $5 fee, and would also require one or the other. Most LEOs in the area took advantage of that service anyway just to solidify the paper trail and make tracing it to the last owner of record easier.
Given the sun downing of the pistol permit or concealed carry permit process, the sale will now go through a local gunshop, unless they have a valid NC concealed carry permit and are willing to provide a copy. Period.
—-
The big risk of getting this kind of call from law enforcement would be being the last guy holding the ownership bag on a recovered handgun that was not reported stolen. In some jurisdictions not reporting a gun lost or stolen is itself a crime. Even if it’s not, it creates the suspicion that you may have sold the handgun to someone in violation of state or possibly federal law and or sold it to a prohibited individual. If you knowingly sold it to a prohibited individual, that is a crime.
Personally, I want to be able to show I legally sold it, i.e. to an instate resident who was not a non prohibited individual, with what ever documentation that requires.
I’m also just fine with universal background checks as long as it’s available as a quick and de minimus cost process.
—-
In this case, the OP sold the gun. It’s no longer his. Period. Full stop. He’s also advised law enforcement to that effect and provided the name and presumably contact information of the person he sold it to. As he should.
Law enforcement would then attempt to locate and contact that individual and continue down the chain to both try to locate the owner and or determine how it came into the hands of the prohibited individual at the scene of the arrest.
—-
If law enforcement is ok with literally giving or selling the OP the gun as:
- the last the registered and traceable owner; and
- as a still not prohibited individual;
as an alternative to destroying the firearm and or as an alternative to selling it at public auction, then that’s just fine. But obviously that’s subject to state and local laws and the department’s policies.
I’m really interested in why the last person in the chain, however long that chain is, didn’t report it stolen or have information on its disposition. Unless the dude is dead, it’s going to look suspicious.
