Ever get your stolen guns back??

[Petrol & Powder]

Never leave ANYTHING in a vehicle that you are not willing to lose.

[DKG]

My first 2 were stolen from my locked truck, they pried the window open and got my 2" nickel Colt Cobra and a New Mod Bkhawk. The other one was a S&W Model 15 that was in my wife's car they got the whole car. Police found it 2 weeks later without the swivel bucket seat and my gun was/is gone.

A friend of mine was on his way back from the range about 10 years ago, went in to pay for gas and grab a drink. Came back out someone smashed out his rear window and stolen the case with his AR in it, all in a matter of 2 minutes. Reported it stolen and he stumbled across it a month later in a gun shop on the used rack. Called the police and found out the guy who stole it had his girlfriend sell it to the shop because he had a record. She wound up going to jail.


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[Bookworm]

Just out of curiosity, how did many of these guns get stolen? Thankfully I've never had one stolen but a friend did get a S&W 686 stolen out of his truck while parked in his driveway in the middle of the night that he left unlocked.

My house was broken into and ransacked. I'm almost certain who did it. There was a perfect palm print on the window from which entry was gained.

Sheriff wasn't interested in investigating. I did the report by phone.

[Lloyd Smale]

had a stainless bdl 300 weatherby model 700 stolen from the house. I got a check from my insurance company to replace it and two years later got a call from the police that it was recovered. When I told them I had gotten an insurance pay out they told me by law I had to give it to the insurance company. So I did. I asked them what they did with them and he told me they are auctioned and as the original owner I had the right to buy it for one dollar more then the high bid if I was interested. I figured what the heck let me know how much and ill decide them. I forgot all about it and got a phone call about 6 months later from the insurance company. They said high bid was 300 bucks. The thing had a vari x III 2.5x8 leupold on it that was worth that!!! So I told them id surely go 301 and they said pick it up tomarrow. probably the best deal on a gun I ever got. I had replaced it with the same thing so had two but the original shot better so I kept that one and sold the other for 700 bucks and bought a Kimber with the money.

[KYCaster]

I have a friend who is a HUGE Glock fan boy. He's also a wannabe gunsmith. He can't resist working on his own guns.
He took all of his broken and Bubba'd parts, put them into two M17's and sent them to Glock for rebuilds. They disappeared in transit.

About 6 months later he got a call from Little Rock, AR PD telling him they recovered one of his guns involved in a car jacking. Car was stopped at a traffic light, perp jerks the door open, sticks the Glock in the driver's face and pulls the trigger! He got a CLICK instead of the BANG he was expecting.
Quick thinking driver pulls his own gun, sticks it in the perp's face, pulls the trigger and gets the expected BANG!

No charges were filed. My friend eventually got his gun back.

Don't you love a happy ending?
Jerry

[FLINTNFIRE]

I do love that story ,that is such a happy ending , what the perp deserved

[murf205]

Greg no hot line I am aware of. In CA. pawn shops are required to send a copy of all firearms taken in by their business to the local law enforcement agency, sheriff or city police. That law enforcement agency then will run the serial numbers for a stolen check state and federal wide. Speed of getting the stolen forearm into the state & federal computer systems is very important. If the victim fails to provide the needed information in time, the stolen gun taken in by a pawn shop will come back as not being stolen because the check was ran before the victim provided the needed information to the LEO that took the burglary report.

It sure would be a great service to normal people if you could, as an individual, call a phone number and ask if a gun was on the list of stolen guns. There is not always a LEO around when an chance to buy or trade a gun happens, like at a gun show. I am firmly convinced that the vast majority of gun guys do not want a stolen gun nor do they want to unintentionally trade or sell one.

[Idz]

I heard an interesting comment from the Albuquerque PD. They said because of the (dumb) laws in New Mexico people are forced to leave their firearms in vehicles when going into bars, some restaurants and businesses, and anywhere a No Guns sign is displayed. The criminals know that and target those areas for vehicle break-ins, gun theft, and armed robbery because the victims are likely unarmed.

[GregLaROCHE]

I have a friend who is a HUGE Glock fan boy. He's also a wannabe gunsmith. He can't resist working on his own guns.
He took all of his broken and Bubba'd parts, put them into two M17's and sent them to Glock for rebuilds. They disappeared in transit.


About 6 months later he got a call from Little Rock, AR PD telling him they recovered one of his guns involved in a car jacking. Car was stopped at a traffic light, perp jerks the door open, sticks the Glock in the driver's face and pulls the trigger! He got a CLICK instead of the BANG he was expecting.
Quick thinking driver pulls his own gun, sticks it in the perp's face, pulls the trigger and gets the expected BANG!

No charges were filed. My friend eventually got his gun back.

Don't you love a happy ending?
Jerry

I like stories like that with happy endings!

[Scrounge]

had a stainless bdl 300 weatherby model 700 stolen from the house. I got a check from my insurance company to replace it and two years later got a call from the police that it was recovered. When I told them I had gotten an insurance pay out they told me by law I had to give it to the insurance company. So I did. I asked them what they did with them and he told me they are auctioned and as the original owner I had the right to buy it for one dollar more then the high bid if I was interested. I figured what the heck let me know how much and ill decide them. I forgot all about it and got a phone call about 6 months later from the insurance company. They said high bid was 300 bucks. The thing had a vari x III 2.5x8 leupold on it that was worth that!!! So I told them id surely go 301 and they said pick it up tomarrow. probably the best deal on a gun I ever got. I had replaced it with the same thing so had two but the original shot better so I kept that one and sold the other for 700 bucks and bought a Kimber with the money.

That sounds like a happy ending, too. Wish I had one like that. While I'm digging though stuff to find what I can do without anymore, I'm looking for the moving paperwork that has the serial numbers for the guns I lost in 1991. Fortunately, my brother remembers the number off the Thompson Center Hawken .50 cal he gave me many years ago. 56571. It's sad, I don't even remember what all I had in there besides the Hawken, my 1903/a3, and the Agawam Arms .22 single-shot levergun that was my first rifle. Those are the ones I really want back. I'm thinking there should be one or two more, but can't remember. I've had two hip replacement since then, and a lot of narcotic pain meds before the surgeries, so my CRS has gotten really bad.

Bill

[Drm50]

In 1972 I sent a new S&W 29-2, 4” back to S&W for 6.5” barrel. HWD with FFL handled shipping etc for me. The gun was stolen from the HWD store when it came back from S&W. Employee put it in display case where it was shop lifted. Years went by, I got married and moved to another town in another county. It was over 10yrs later when PD from Texas called me to inform me they had my gun seized in felony arrest. There was an employee of the HWD that quit and moved to Texas in same town gun was found. That explained the funny story of the theft. This kind of thing just didn’t happen in small town Ohio in 72. Locals were the customers. Any way the policeman was a Dect Sgt who I was talking to. Seems the crooks redid the barrel to short with hacksaw and gun was beat up and grips taped together. Long story short gave it to the cop who said he was going to have it fixed up and refinished.

[HATCH]

I had two pistols stolen while I was in Fla. One of them turned up 11 years later. It was the more expensive one and besides needing a good cleaning it was exactly how it was when it was taken besides missing the ammo.

[murf205]

I do love that story ,that is such a happy ending , what the perp deserved

You will love this one too. The #$%& who stole my Colt Cobra and Ruger BLHWK went to Mobile and were robbing a convenience store with one of my guns but guess what--the clerk had a gun on his hip and shot the boyfriend in the noggin, ending his problems, pronto. The girlfriend froze after seeing her boyfriend loose that encounter and the cops arrested her and I got my guns back. Kinda' drives home the notion that armed robbery is a dangerous profession.

[megasupermagnum]

Around here in the unincorporated areas, people seem to leave their CCW in their vehicles and leave them unlocked. Then they don't have any serial numbers for follow up. Have to shake my head at the level of responsibility to own a firearm and to carelessly leave it unsecured. They even have garages to secure the vehicle in, but leave it outside.

Have you ever tried to break into the common car safes? I always had one until one day it reset the combo on it's own. I'm not kidding, it took me all of 3 seconds with a screw driver to get it open. I'm sure there is a super expensive safe out there that works, but anything that fits under a car seat is pointless. As far as I'm concerned, those lock boxes are not even a false security, they are wasted space. I'm guessing a glove box is the most common, however, they are even worse than a lock box.

I now have a secret hiding spot I built (although not locked), and a decoy case under the seat. Leaving firearms in a car is reality for carrying a weapon. I'd rather wear it, but sometimes you cant. Especially if you have a job that has you rolling on concrete, or soaked in oil all night.

[FLINTNFIRE]

You will love this one too. The #$%& who stole my Colt Cobra and Ruger BLHWK went to Mobile and were robbing a convenience store with one of my guns but guess what--the clerk had a gun on his hip and shot the boyfriend in the noggin, ending his problems, pronto. The girlfriend froze after seeing her boyfriend loose that encounter and the cops arrested her and I got my guns back. Kinda' drives home the notion that armed robbery is a dangerous profession.

I do think that is funny as the #$%& got exactly what he deserved , I am glad you got your guns back .

[Lloyd Smale]

there was some stupidity involved in my gun deal too. Come to find out the kid who stole it was a low life my daughter brought into the house to help her get some furniture I was giving her. He saw them sitting out and came back days later when I was at work and took them. He wasn't the brightest tack. come to find out he kept it for a year and was going to use it to hunt with and found out it kicked to much. So he tried to sell it to a bar owner for 250 bucks. Now I know this bar owner and hes kind of a gun guy himself and 250 bucks lit off all kinds of lights in his brain. he knew something was wrong. So he gave the kind 250 bucks and took it right to the police and they ran the number saw it was stolen. Picked the kind up two hours later and made him give back the money. Only sad thing is the procecuter let him plee it away because when they pulled him over he had a sack of weed and they busted him for that. Let him off from a felony theft to give him a 100 dollar fine and probation!!

That sounds like a happy ending, too. Wish I had one like that. While I'm digging though stuff to find what I can do without anymore, I'm looking for the moving paperwork that has the serial numbers for the guns I lost in 1991. Fortunately, my brother remembers the number off the Thompson Center Hawken .50 cal he gave me many years ago. 56571. It's sad, I don't even remember what all I had in there besides the Hawken, my 1903/a3, and the Agawam Arms .22 single-shot levergun that was my first rifle. Those are the ones I really want back. I'm thinking there should be one or two more, but can't remember. I've had two hip replacement since then, and a lot of narcotic pain meds before the surgeries, so my CRS has gotten really bad.

Bill

[lightman]

A friend had his entire pistol collection stolen 10 years ago and has not gotten any of them back. This was from his drug addicted step son! He had some really nice guns and he thinks the police dept may be keeping some of them. I'm not sure why he suspects that but he has some pretty good local knowledge.

[murf205]

there was some stupidity involved in my gun deal too. Come to find out the kid who stole it was a low life my daughter brought into the house to help her get some furniture I was giving her. He saw them sitting out and came back days later when I was at work and took them. He wasn't the brightest tack. come to find out he kept it for a year and was going to use it to hunt with and found out it kicked to much. So he tried to sell it to a bar owner for 250 bucks. Now I know this bar owner and hes kind of a gun guy himself and 250 bucks lit off all kinds of lights in his brain. he knew something was wrong. So he gave the kind 250 bucks and took it right to the police and they ran the number saw it was stolen. Picked the kind up two hours later and made him give back the money. Only sad thing is the procecuter let him plee it away because when they pulled him over he had a sack of weed and they busted him for that. Let him off from a felony theft to give him a 100 dollar fine and probation!!

Lloyd, next time you see that bar owner, buy him a beer for me and thank him for being a stand up guy. For the life of me, I cannot wrap my mind around why a prosecutor will let people like that plea a deal for the more serious crime and let them walk with a $100 fine. No wonder these clowns become career criminals.

[Petrol & Powder]

So we can see some common themes in this thread.

Guns are stolen from vehicles ....A LOT ! Sometimes the entire vehicle with the gun inside is stolen. There's a false perception that a vehicle is somehow an extension of your home; it is not. Never leave anything in a vehicle you are not willing to lose.

Guns stolen from residences are often stolen by family members or people known to the gun owner. Often those guns are displayed inside the home or left in unsecured locations in the home.

Stolen guns are far more likely to be recovered and returned to the rightful owner if the owner can accurately and quickly identify the stolen gun to law enforcement. Being able to provide the make, model and serial number of a stolen gun is critical not only to the possible recovery of the stolen gun but also to the prosecution of the thief.


Don't leave guns in vehicles.
Secure guns in the home.
Record the make, model and serial numbers of all guns.

[remy3424]

P&P has some very good information in his posts here. I keep my "insurance policy" current (vaults locks). No guns stole here.