Until I read the question in the thread above, I would have just kept a gun I found, “Hey, free gun!”
Assuming that the gun in question is clean, and I am legally able to own a gun in my jurisdiction. What happens if I find a gun and want to keep it?
Can I be charged with anything if I just keep it and don’t even report it? If I turn it into the cops, can I request it back as a finder? Does it matter if it is on my property or not? Type of gun, handgun vs shotgun? Lastly, if the gun was used for a crime, can I get it back after the court is done with it?
If you dropped your wallet with $500 in it, would you consider it reasonable that the guy who found it could yell “Finder’s Keepers” and head for the nearest bar?
Depending on where you live, if you take it and keep it you’re a criminal in possession of an illegal firearm if it isn’t properly registered to you. If you get caught you could be subject to criminal prosecution.
For example if you live in Washington, D.C. you may serve a year in jail.
I do understand that if I “find” a gun on Steve’s porch, it is probably Steve’s. I apologize if the question was too vague. If the gun had an identifier on it, I would try to contact the owner, but that wasn’t really what I had in mind. I guess what I’m asking is there anything different about finding a gun vs finding something else (legal).
For instance, I am walking down a hiking trail, and see a half buried 22. If it were a half buried camp stove, I wouldn’t be expected to call the cops and send out a search party for the owner, would I for a gun?
What do you think would happen if you found a brick of cocaine and kept it? Depending on where you live it’s equivalent; you now own something you’re not allowed to own by law. It doesn’t matter who you are or what the history of the gun is if you haven’t registered it. And you can’t register it without documentation showing you legally acquired it.
Another point is that the gun may well have been disposed of after a crime, maybe a murder. You really wouldn’t want to be found in possession of it, and surely you would want to hand it to the cops to help them track down the criminal.
A .22 half buried in dirt? Does it look old or does it look like it was hidden yesterday? What kind of trail and how far back in the woods are you? The bad guy went that far to hide it so poorly? Bottom of a no name muddy creek is 1000 times safer for disposal.
A .22? I would not use as a personal defense weapon, nor a hunting weapon so how would they find it, connect it to a crime or???
Why do you think that this would be a full on CSI search with 40 man hours of effort applied to find the dastardly bad guy that is less than .05% likely to exist? Add on the gun being used in a bad way are even a smaller %. Maybe you know a copper in the UK that you could talk into doing it as a personal favor while he is on vacation or at night instead of going home but even over there, I don’t see it happening. :rolleyes:
Possession of cocaine isn’t an equivalent comparison to possessing a firearm. The “found” aspect is immaterial to the legality in either situation. Possession of cocaine is illegal, period. Possession of a firearm (in most of the US) is perfectly legal, within the usual limits. Registration of a firearm (in most of the US) generally isn’t a requirement of those usual limits.
No No No. Are you in the USA? Where has that gun been?
Now you have your fingerprints all over it. How are you going to explain that when ballistics reports come back?
You should have just reported it and not touched it (Buy your you own damn gun, legally).
I am sure the LEO would appreciate it…
Exactly, there is a difference between legal obligations and moral obligations. I would suggest you should report it because it may help with solving a crime, or may help it be restored to its rightful owner (whether it was originally lost or stolen).
On a side note, some areas legally require you to also report a stolen firearm (though yes, most don’t).
Here in the UK the general rule is that if you turn the object in to the police - in the case of a gun they’d likely want you to stay with it and come and get it - and if no one claims it within a certain time (typically 6 weeks) then the object becomes yours. You don’t have to turn an object in to the police, but then there are steps you must go through. Cite.
The cite also covers stolen goods and other scenarios.
You will get busted eventually. Is all I am saying. Shoot a turkey or a rabbit for food, a Game Ward will visit you. Shoot an intruder, you are in a heap of shit after they find out you picked up this pistol thrown away in a ditch.
No, the law here in the US is clear. If not found in a commission of a crime possession is returned to owner or finder AFTER ANALYSIS. Your local jurisdiction may vary. May take a year or two.
Do you want to possess a gun that possibly harmed or killed somebody? Not me.
If the gun has a legible serial number, it is possible to return it to the owner if it was (reported) stolen. So the right thing to do is hand it over to the cops, and if they cannot locate the owner, it is likely yours after the locally mandated period of time.
If the serial number is defaced, you don’t want it, as possession of such is a crime.