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So, when you read this convoluted, twisted tale, please remember that times and laws change, are and always have been different jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Please don't start screaming, "You can't /couldn't do that", because I could. Then. Don't know about now.
Back in the early '80s I was a law enforcement officer working with a great partner, at night up in the costal mountains of California in an unincorporated town. We were there looking for drunk drivers, as there was a bad late night accident problem in that area. The smallish town had several bars, popular with those who thought they could drink themselves silly in a fairly remote small town, then drive home without detection.
The action was slow that night, and it was a bit early in the evening, so we decided to write some parking tickets. There was very little traffic moving on the roadways, as everyone was inside slurping down the drinks. The main street of the town was parked bumper to bumper on both sides for several blocks without regard for resident fire hydrants, driveways, red curbs, etc. We just parked the patrol car and walked down the sidewalk finding a violation here and there. We came upon one car with expired license plate tags. I wrote a parking ticket, and in looking into the interior of the vehicle saw an open whiskey bottle on the right front floorboard. We could enter the vehicle to obtain the registration card, and also to search for further contraband. In so doing I found a Mauser Model. 1914 under the driver's seat. Interestingly (now remember this....) the right grip was charred a bit like it might have been in a fire or very near one. I ran the serial number, and it came back as stolen about a year earlier from a house fire in a nearby large city. That squared with the charred grip. Just as an aside, other than the grip the gun was in collector condition.
Well, as Fate and Lady Justice would have it, about the time that I finished writing the citation here came a fellow walking down the sidewalk from the nearest bar. He approached and asked what the problem was, as it was his car, and he was a *** **** Fireman! Wow! A gift like this doesn't happen often. He was arrested for Possession of Stolen Property, a Felony. It was just too open and shut, and I never went to Court on the matter, but did hear at a later date that he was no longer a fireman.
So...I got one back for someone.
DG
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A total of five, three from a LGS where I had them on consignment and two from my vehicle.
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Thank God above, none. I did misplace a S&W M&P .38 once for about two weeks, when I found it I wondered, ''How did THAT get THERE?'' in the bottom of the wife's ceder closet.
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None lost or stolen but one was "taken". When in high school in the early 70's I would sneek out of the house a Win 60A single shot .22 my father got when he was a teen to shoot with my friend. We were shooting cans in the woods when a nearby homeowner approached and told my friend to give him the rifle......and he did. My father never noticed it was gone but I was always waiting for the question to come up. Fast forward 15 years and a friend stops by my place and says I have something for you. Turns out his friend's uncle was the one who took it and at some point gave it to him and by chance mentioned to my friend he had the rifle. That was 36 years ago and I still have it.
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One Savage 110C 30-06 taken from a truck in Nenana Alaska in the 1980's. Was the first new gun I bought.
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I had one stolen while in the possession of a girlfriend , lost one under the seat of a friend's jeep , the rest were lost in an unfortunate boating accident .
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Not one yet; but did find one in a river while fishing in Alaska.
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Just one,
Stolen in 2005. was found 2 months later in a drug raid, got the lowlife an extra 10 yrs. in jail. Took 5 years to get back from the cops, and they kept the magazine, and holster it was recovered with..
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All of them, terrible boating accident.
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I thought that my dog drug this Hi-point off somewhere....for two years.
Found it in the case, in the closet in a shoe cubbyhole.......[emoji848]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ed097cc042.jpg
Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk
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I lost one in a bet with my grandson...
Tony
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Yep. All of them in that canoeing accident I had. The one I had when I was paddling my canoe over to England!
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Had my first 10/22 and an old single shot .22 stolen out of my closet. Came home to a kicked open back door and a ransacked house. It was a turning point in my life.
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Only one that I can remember (and lucky at that). It was in 1976. The wife and I had been married about 3 years and returned to the home where I grew up. With both parents deceased we were the only occupants of the house. We had just bought our first house and were almost through moving into it. We were both at work and my sister (same town, married, home owner) called to say she was getting the last of her materials out of the house before we were to list it for sale. A middle-age man and a young adult came to the door asking if she had any odd jobs they could do. She sent them away and got worried about that visit and called to tell me about it. My next visit to the house was 2 weeks later and I found the front and back doors unlocked and ajar. I cleared the entire interior and found multiple furniture items missing. The '74 was gone, still needing parts to make it functional. I assembled a complete list of the missing items and began a search. This chore was easier because I was then a uniformed officer with our City PD. Started with pawn shops and used furniture shops - nothing. Then came the local auction houses and hit the jackpot when describing some of the odd pieces. They had a new customer who had brought this load and gave up his name and address, along of a full list of the properties they had sold for him and name, addy and phone contact of the buyers. We paid a visit to this person and charged him with burglary and theft. I started calling the buyers and most agreed to return the items and get reimbursement payment from the auction house. When the matter got into court the adult's lawyer claimed he was disabled from some previous activity. Our D.A. would not prosecute him claiming no jury would convict a disabled defendant. Charges against the young adult were then also dismissed. I could not find the serial number for the '74 until about 13 years when I found a letter I had written to Numrich looking for parts and serial number was in the letter. That week I got the rifle entered in NCIC but have had no inquiries since then. I suspect the pair did away with it forever. Not the ending I wanted, but at least we had a rather nice recovery.