My stolen mod#12-2 returned to me after about 50 years

[Dino44]

I was a longtime customer at a gun shop and range in Tacoma, WA. This particular shop gained some unwanted notoriety in the early 2000's after a former employee stole some rifles and went on to become the "Beltway Snipers" John Muhammad and Lee Malvo. The shop survived the FBI, ATF, and media scrutiny but after several years of that, the then owner sold the business to two young guys that were employed there as range attendants. As a frequent visitor at the range, I became great friends with them and purchased many guns. One time I bought a beautiful nickel model 57 with presentation case and all the goodies. A few days later one of the guys called me back and asked me to return the gun. It turned out the women who brought it in on consignment was wanted and the gun was stolen. I did get reimbursed but felt really bad, because two really hard-working young men got screwed out of the deal.

 

[wrangler5]

A good friend has been working in gun shops for decades. He says virtually ALL of the calls they get FROM the ATF are tracking stolen guns that turn up during criminal arrests.

He had an ATF call a few years ago about a garden variety Win or Rem shotgun that traced to the store. Records showed it had been sold to a good customer of the store more than 50 years before. He was now deceased, but my friend knew that his son (also a store customer) had inherited all of the father's guns but the son, too, was deceased. And my friend knew that the grandson (also a store customer) had inherited all of HIS father's guns. (These guys were all avid bird hunters and my friend got to know them well over the years - he may have been invited to hunt with them on occasion, something that happened fairly regularly - so it wasn't surprising that he had this kind of family info.) I think the shotgun ended up being returned to the grandson. My tax dollars at work.