Suicide guns

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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'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.
 
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..
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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????

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.
 
hangnoose said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
Nope, Doesn't Bother Me.

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.
 
I DID READ THE ARTICLE!

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
 
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