I’m guessing it varies with state jurisdiction, but what are you supposed to do if while going about your business you see a pistol, rifle, shotgun or any other sort of firearm just lying around on the street?
Obviously the answer would be “call the fucking police!” but what are you meant to do while they arrive? Is there any expectation that you should pick it up, make it safe, or are you supposed to just leave it there, wait and hope nobody else picks it up?
I would imagine the authorities would rather you left it in situ.
In this marvelous cloud cuckoo land we now find ourselves living in though you have now (after reporting it) have made yourself a suspect (whereby you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent) in the beady little brains of the local constabulary if the gun was used in a crime.
I seriously doubt that you obliged legally to do anything (unles there is a statute spcifically to the contrary in your jurisdiction), but there are many things that you may NOT do, so ignoring it is probably the only safe course of action.
Heh - there was a guy in California whose son found a gun in their yard. The son picked it up by putting a pencil in the barrel and put it in a cardboard box. When the police came the office picked it up with his bare hands. It turned out the gun had been used in the Sharon Tate murders by Manson’s bunch of loonies.
If I found that someone had left a gun on my property, I’d use a paper towel or rag to pick it up by the barrel, secure it and call the cops. Any weapon disposed of in that way is likely to have been used for illicit purposes.
I would run like hell. Don’t want to be involved in any way. Maybe make an anonymous 911 call if I found a phone booth. Not from my cell phone, for sure.
I cannot believe how paranoid some posters in this thread are. Police are not in the habit of arresting people who call them, just to clear a case. Call the police, report the gun’s exact location, don’t touch it, wait until they arrive if at all possible. Very, very few criminals are in the habit of disposing of a gun by throwing it on the ground then telling the police where it is.
Yep. Call the cops and wait. It isn’t your gun and you didn’t do anything wrong, so just sit tight and wait. Unless you found the gun at a playground or the like. In that case you need to make sure kids don’t get to it.
smithsb - I had a paragraph stating that fact that I thought better of. I’m tired of Colibri giving me warnings for “political jabs in GQ.”
I guess you do nothing and hope it doesn’t come back to you. Since we don’t know the history of the gun it could be nothing or a world of problems for you.
Because it is a threat to public safety, which police are supposed to protect?
Glad it’s not just me that thought it’s a bit of a no-win situation, between leaving it in situ where some anyone could grab it while you wait for the po-po or picking it up and getting your stinking DNA all over it. Over here in the UK the local police often have ‘gun amnesties’ where you can hand in a firearm to a police station no questions asked, but I’ve got a feeling it would be a bad idea to walk into a police station with a gun which may be loaded and have been used in the commission of a felony.
Let’s refrain from political commentary in General Questions (especially if you already know it’s against the rules. I’m looking at you smithsb:dubious:). No warnings issued, but stick to the question in the OP.
Thank you. If only some other posters were as capable as you are of learning from experience.
