My father passed away in February, leaving his large collection of guns and ammo behind. Dad was a hunter, so most are for that purpose, but there are a few handguns as well.
Apparently, the rifles and guns are not registered; supposedly, they were not required to be at the time of purchase. (Nearly all of these guns are 20+ years old, with the exception of one rifle.)
No one in my family wants anything to do with the guns, including my widowed mother, but we do not know a dang thing about what to do with them. We know some of them are fairly valuable, but not how valuable, and more importantly we don’t know the legal way to go about selling them. Though Dad was a gun nut, none of us were–which means we all know precisely jack squat about the ins and outs of selling/buying/pricing/registering.
What’s the best approach for this that is both legal, safe (gah, don’t need people showing up randomly for a “guns for sale” ad) and assures fair price?
FTR: We’re in California, if that affects anything. I don’t know how many guns there are, and I don’t know specific models or types beyond “handgun(s) and rifles.”
ETA: Also, this should seem obvious, but…please don’t try soliciting info about the guns. Ick…not why I’m here.
My suggestion would be to take a couple of them to a gunshop in town. Generally, pawn shops deal in guns. Get them appraised. Usually, you will get a fair price if you have no interest in owning them. I don’t know about all states, but in North Carolina when I bought mine, the seller wrote down in a book the serial number of the guns I bought and who he sold them to. I registered them with the sheriff, only for the reason that if they were stolen, I wanted them back. When I got to Texas, I didn’t bother. For that matter, I never did get around to calling the sheriff in NC.
Don’t put an ad in the paper, you will only be inviting thieves to your house. Find someone in a gun shop who will give you a fair price.
You can see what what you have are going for by going to http://www.gunbroker.com/. There’s a search box where you can enter the make and model of a gun. It’s basically eBay for guns, but without the ‘sniping’ (heh). You’ll have to check the laws yourself, of course; but generally anyone can ‘mail’ a gun. Actually, it would have to go UPS or FedEx. You’ll have to check their policies too. Here’s the catch: You have to send it to a dealer. What happens at gunbroker is a buyer will bid on a gun. He wins the bidding, and then either sends you a copy of his Federal Firearms License, the number of the license so you can check him out online, or he contacts a local dealer to handle the transaction. He pays you, and you send the gun (insured, of course) to the FFL holder. Important note: You may not use PayPal. If you do and PayPal finds out about it they will cancel your account and freeze your funds. Putting the guns up for auction will probably get you the best price.
You could also take them to a dealer and put them on consignment. The dealer will charge you more than gunbroker, and it may take a very long time to sell them.
California has very strict laws; more than I can enumerate here. But a big one is the so-called ‘assault weapon’ ban. When I was in California, registered guns under the law could be inherited. I don’t know if they changed the law. If, by some chance, the banned guns were not registered, then a crime is being committed. I tried to follow the rules on three of my rifles, and then they passed a new law without telling anyone. I was in violation and didn’t even know it! Needless to say, I removed that rifle from the state as soon as I could.
In case any of the guns are on the banned list, you wouldn’t want to take them to a dealer or advertise them. Also, all private transfers of firearms in California must be conducted through a dealer. You can’t just sell them in a parking lot.
Personally, I think your best bet would be an auction site. (Gunbroker is one; there are others.) If you go that route, please email (or PM) me the auction numbers, as I might be interested. There are a couple of dealers up here that I can go through.
State and local rules certainly vary quite a lot (there’s no such thing as a requirement to “register” your gun(s) in most of the country, for example - Southern CA may very well be different!) I wouldn’t hesitate to stop by your local police department and ask them for clarification about any specific local regulations if you need to.
You’re in something of a tough spot…I fully understand your reservations about selling them privately. Probably the easiest thing is to sell them to a reputable gun store, which will certainly be handled legally - they’ll probably give you something like half the retail value, maybe that’s OK with you.
I read your post at the other forum, where you said you don’t know the manufacturer or model. This information will be found on the gun. The maker (Winchester, Remington, Colt, Ruger, or whatever), the model (Model 94, 700, Mini-14…), the caliber (.30-30, .243 Win, .22LR…) the serial number, and other markings will be found on the barrel, frame, receiver, or elsewhere. Once you see where it is, it will be obvious.
EDIT: Oh! PLEASE be careful! If you have any friends who know about firearms, have them check to make sure they are unloaded!
Here is a auction for a typical hunting rifle. Photo 11 shows the maker (Remington) and the model (Model 700). Photo 12 shows other barrel stampings, including the caliber (.222 Remington Mag).
On this page, if you look at photo 4 you can see (barely!) that it is a Winchester Model 94 in .30-30 WIN caliber.
Thanks, Johnny. My mom is about an hour and change away, so I don’t have immediate access to the guns. But next time we’re there, I’ll see about getting a list of what they are. The next door neighbor was one of Dad’s hunting buddies; I’ll see about asking him to ensure they aren’t loaded. “Remington” and “Weatherbee” sound familiar. I know one gun was freakin’ HUGE…he showed it to me when he bought it and said it was one step below an elephant gun. He used it on the elk hunts; pretty effectively, in fact. Essentially the only red meat we ate for a decade was elk.
Guns have always scared the crap out of me, and having a 3yro son and being 4mos preggo, I have a feeling hubby will be taking over this task. I just hope Mom, in her “just get rid of it” phase of grief, is not foolish with this. I know there is a lot of money wrapped up in those guns, and I want her to be able to benefit from it.
