Stolen gun?

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jeffrefrig

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I don't know if I'm in the correct sub-forum, but I don't remember seeing anything about this. My friend and I were talking about his stolen Beretta and the subject came up: how do you find out if an old firearm has been reported stolen? For example, I know a guy that found two shotguns when cleaning out deceased father's house. One shotgun was made before serial numbers were required, because it doesn't have one. The second one has all three main parts numbered. It would be a nice bedside buddy double barrel with a few inches cut off. I don't want it if it's a rotten apple. Even if I don't want it I'm sure we'd like to know.
Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.
 
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There is no easy way other than having LE checking the number. I don't think even FFLs have access to a national database.

A guy near me sold a gun to somebody in another state and it turned out to be hot. After that his wife insisted he dump all guns that had not been through an FFL or that he could say something like his buddy's dad had that gun when he was in grade school. Seems like the local sheriff's office was reluctant to help, so I got a whole bunch of milsurps cheap because of her attitude.
 
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There are a couple websites that might worth checking (google is your friend). Can't say for how accurate but I have used 2 times. Both were okay.
 
Most of the databases, especially the federal one, are limited to official use only. Making such a check as a private citizen is difficult at best, and your cop buddy can get in a LOT of trouble for using the system that way; don't ask.

If you have a bad feeling that a transaction is sketchy, don't engage.
 
jeffrefrig said:
I'm going to tell him to use the next gun buy-back.
Click to expand...

Not sure why you'd assume it is tainted and have him turn it in. Depending on where you live a buy-back will either go into a smelter or else be auctioned next year.

Go thru an FFL instead of FTF. The FFL will submit the SN and you'll find out quickly if was stolen once upon a time. Pretty sure there'd be no blowback on you or the person who inherited it. Given its your buddy, I'm sure he'd be good with selling it to you pending it clearing. Just my 2 cents.
 
The chances of a gun having been stolen are slim, and even more so that it has been stolen and reported stolen. It does happen though. Even if you do end up with one reported stolen and it becomes known to LE (how would that happen unless you're transferring it via an FFL) the worst that happens is that the gun is forfeited as stolen property. I've had two instances where LE followed up with me after I bought guns from a FFL.

In one case the gun had been reported stolen but by the time the LEO called me, several weeks later, I had already traded it for something else at a gun show to someone who's name I didn't record. The LEO said "ok, well, we were following up on it, sounds like the end of the trail, thanks."

Another time the LEO caller asked me to bring one in that I had bought a week or two before. Turns out a gun with the SN recorded by the FFL had been used in the murder of an LEO in NY. They were pretty excited about it until I pointed out that the FFL who sold it to me had used the assembly number of the old S&W rather than the actual SN on the butt. The assembly number just happened to match the SN of the gun in NY. Once that confusion was cleared up they sent me on my way with apologies for the confusion.

I wouldn't worry about any legal gun acquired legally.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
 
22hipower said:
They were pretty excited about it until I pointed out that the FFL who sold it to me had used the assembly number of the old S&W rather than the actual SN on the butt. The assembly number just happened to match the SN of the gun in NY. Once that confusion was cleared up they sent me on my way with apologies for the confusion. Jeff SWCA #1457
Click to expand...

A similar experience for me. During the transfer process I watched as my FFL typed in the six digits into his computer without the 'K' in front of the numbers. I protested but he said that was FFL practice. 15 minutes later as we are waiting for the background check to clear - a knock on the door and the local PD was there to take custody of the revolver. Another SW with same last six digits was stolen two states away 40 years ago. A case of mistaken identity and an FFL with blinders on. How many SW revolvers share the last six digits? Probably more than a handful. The letter prefix makes a difference.

To the OP's original concerns - LE was not at all concerned with me nor the seller (who coincidently is a LEO in a third State who was an infant when the supposed theft occurred).
 
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Timothy2700 said:
A similar experience for me. During the transfer process I watched as my FFL typed in the six digits into his computer without the 'K' in front of the numbers. I protested but he said that was FFL practice. 15 minutes later as we are waiting for the background check to clear - a knock on the door and the local PD was there to take custody of the revolver. Another SW with same last six digits was stolen two states away 40 years ago. A case of mistaken identity and an FFL with blinders on. How many SW revolvers share the last six digits? Probably more than a handful. The letter prefix makes a difference.

To the OP's original concerns - LE was not at all concerned with me nor the seller (who coincidently is a LEO in a third State who was an infant when the supposed theft occurred).
Click to expand...

You should see the nightmare of milsurps in this respect. For example, it is likely that three different models of Enfield rifle have the same serial, No1 MkIII, No.4 Mk1 (early BSA production), and No5 Mk1, AKA the Jungle Carbine.

Then there is all the fun with Mausers. Most contract Mausers came out of Germany, but similar models going to different countries can have the same serials. BUT, because the ATF wants to know the manufacturer, most FFLs won't include the special detail that your Mauser went to Brazil, Argentina, or wherever.
 
"How many SW revolvers share the last six digits? Probably more than a handful. The letter prefix makes a difference."

Likely more of a problem with guns made before the 1968 GCA.
 
I bot a revolver at gun show and ran it thru my FFL when I got home and it turned out stolen. I stripped it for parts at the gun store before the police came and took it. Next gun show I confronted the seller with the papers I received and he reimbursed me for my cost.
 
Just being in possession of a gun that was stolen or used in a crime is a LONG way from being charged with a criminal offense. Especially if it was a long time ago. Being found in a dead fathers estate would qualfy for "how was I supposed to know" His dad wasn't mobbed up was he?

In fact the "it was used in a crime deal" is almost impossible to establish. How would that be known unless it was taken into custody after the crime? Shotguns have very little in the way of a ballistics foot print. The match the slug to the gun is mostly TV myth unless they have both in the same location. In 2000 New York tried having an inventory of casings and bullets from guns and after spending millions per year, then finally, in 2012, eliminated the Combined Ballistics Identification System (CoBIS), New York's ineffective ballistic identification database. In the words of the New York Post: "Trouble is, the program NEVER worked. Despite the hundreds of thousands of spent shells submitted, not one criminal was ever captured using the extensive and costly-to-maintain database, state officials concede."

In fact now there have been several rulings establishing that tool marks on bullets and casings can not be called matched to a particular gun, but Examiners can, however, testify "that patterns and markings on bullets are consistent or inconsistent with those on bullets fired from a particular known firearm,
 
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Gun range rules

My brother used to live in Temple TX and would go shoot at Fort Hoods range open to public. Being a government facility they would check the guns serial numbers against a stolen gun report. He got a 30-45 minute hold with an Army MP on a Ruger Semi auto 22 pistol that he bought new from gun dealer in Houston. Someone had reported the serial number of that gun as "stolen". It turned out that someone had a Ruger stolen and somewhere in the process of reporting a couple of numbers got transposed. After they did some more investigating, the caliber of gun reported stolen was not a 22, and may not have been a pistol. He never brought that gun back to that range, as he is not sure if they got the number mix up rectified at the source.
 
Problem with stolen guns is that they are not reported stolen for a variety of reasons and if reported stolen most owners have no idea of the serial number.. Y'all forget how tiny percentage wise our little group of people are in the universe of gun owners much less the universe of all citizens. How many average Joe's know or even written down the serial number of the firearms they use. Or if they did write it down, can they put their hands on it. I'm thinking that the chance of either of those guns showing up in a stolen gun data base are slim to none.
 
I'm just wondering why OP would think they may be stolen? A gun buy back is a horrible idea. Is there more to the story ???????
 
Your local Police department will run the numbers for free, if you blow some guy out of his shoes that isn't supposed to be in your bedroom in the middle of the night.:rolleyes:
 
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It may seem amazing to gun savvy folks on here but I have learned that if someone finds out that you like guns they may tell you that they have a gun. Ask them what it is and they will invariably answer by saying it's a .22 or.38 or whatever caliber it is. Ask them what brand and they don't even know. Yes true, they don't even know the brand of their own guns :eek:
 
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