Beautiful and sad

[Buford57]

The local PD is holding a gun turn in event (they know better than to claim to "buy back" what was never theirs) today. It was advertised as a place to get rid of unwanted guns, including ones "left behind by someone who no longer lives at the residence". $60 for anything that was ever capable of shooting, no questions asked. I decided that was as good a price as I would ever receive for the remains of an Iver Johnson breaktop parts gun.

A young (aren't they all) officer outside the door was checking the incoming guns to insure they were unloaded and then sending the donors in to drop off the guns. While I was waiting he was lamenting that an old Mossberg .22 target rifle couldn't be cleaned up and put back to use. I liked him, even though I had to tell him how to open the IJ.

As I came back out a lady who was elderly even compared to me was showing him a blue-worn 4" Model 10 with some sort of DIY inlays in the grips. The snatch of conversation I heard on the way past made my heart sink. Officer: This was probably his duty gun. Lady: Yes, I think it was.

I got back in the truck mentally repeating "MYOB". Then I saw the lady walking back to her car, still holding an obviously heavy paper bag. I rolled down the widow and called to the officer "That was a good thing you did" with a big thumbs up. "What?" "Sending her home. Nobody's duty piece belongs at one of these things. Ever."

He smiled, I smiled and I'll bet some of you will, too.

 

[Rudi]

A great tale. Cops know it's not the guns that are the problem.

 

[Puller]

I agree ^^^ Rudi, we have a problem but guns aren't causing it.

 

[walkin jack]

"He smiled, I smiled and I'll bet some of you will, too." Yep!

 

[Golddollar]

You wonder how many historical and/or collectable guns end up getting destroyed through happenings like this. But occasionally things end up going right.

A few years ago I came across a listing for a target pistol that was in a configuration I didn't have. It was listed by a gun shop in Reading, PA, which was about a 2 hour drive from my house. I called the shop to see if the gun was still there and it was, so I drove up to take a look at it. It turned out to be in great shape, with Herrett grips that didn't want to let go of your hand, and I decided to buy it.

While doing the paperwork, the salesman gave me the story behind the gun. It had belonged to an old bullseye shooter, who had retired from competition and eventually died. His widow held onto his guns for something like 20 years, and then one day she decided to dispose of his guns. She took the guns to a police station and asked the police to destroy them. I don't know if it was the Reading city police or a suburban department. Whoever she talked to told her the guns were worth good money and that she should take them to a gun shop and sell them. And luckily she did, as now one of her late husband's guns, a fine old target pistol, is residing in my safe.

 

[ajgunner]

I have disposed of a few in exchange for $100 gift certificates. My favorite's were some of the old bolt action shotguns. I had a couple as wall hangers/thief bait that I had picked up cheap. Found out there was a very old recall still in place. After verifying the serial numbers were part of the recall, I was sent 2 small mailing boxes. All they wanted back were the bolts. I sent them off and if II remember correctly I got a check for $250---$125 each. I then took those 2 old useless shotguns to the "buy back" and got another $200. Think I paid less than $75 for each of them. Sorta gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
I later ran across another and bought it for $50---much rougher shape. By then the recall was down to only paying $75 for the bolt. I let it hang on the wall for a few years with no bolt, then turned it in also for a $100 gift certificate.

 

[Buford57]

Second Thoughts

As the weekend wore on I began to rethink this. I still don't think an officer's duty weapon should be sold for chump change and melted down as scrap, but there is more to this than the gun.

I admit I did not hear all of the conversation between the officer and the lady. I hope he asked why she was turning it in. She may have thought it was illegal to keep it. She may have simply had no use for it. She may also have been considering using it on herself.

I worked too many cases of widows who used their late husbands' gun to end the loneliness and responded to too many requests to remove their guns from those in terminal stages of illness to discount that possibility. That would also be an ignominious end for a duty piece.

Yes, anyone sufficiently motivated will find some way to end their life, but intervention can also be effective.

On Monday I learned that an old comrade of mine has gone permanently 10-9 and created one more police widow. This, too reminds me that the survivors can easily be forgotten. In the mid-80s I met a police widow whose husband had died 20 years earlier. She was receiving his $49 per month pension. Times have changed, but as Lincoln said, we have a duty "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan". Not only financially, but emotionally and socially.

Thoughts?

 

[VictorLouis]

Phoenix held one of those several years back, with mulitple 'receiving' locations throughout the city. It was a chance for many to pick-up some shooters for cash, instead of the gift-cards from the city.

 

[Golddollar]

On these gun "buy backs" where they say "no questions asked", is there any effort made to ascertain if any of the guns are stolen so they can returned to their rightful owner? Or is the underlying premise "It's a gun, it's evil, destroy it?" If somebody stole my Webley Mark VI or Finnish Lahti, got paid for it, and I'm out a quality piece because it got melted down for a manhole cover I'd be upset.