Man arrested for "Grand Theft of a Firearm" in Miami Airport

[rambone]

This is what a veteran cop on this website has to say about asking police to check a serial number.

Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES have any government law enforcement agency do ANYTHING concerning that gun!!!!

If there is anything questionable about it it's YOU that will bite the bullet for it. They will care nothing about how old it is, where you obtained it, etc.

I tell you this as a retired law enforcement command officer.

DON'T DO IT!!!

I'll reiterate this one more time and then I'll keep my peace:

DO NOT PRESENT YOURSELF AT ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY AND ASK THEM TO RUN THE SERIAL NUMBER ON THAT GUN!!!!!

You've received some advice here (and I have no doubt that it was given in good faith) stating that if the gun is stolen and you disavow any knowledge of how it came to be that way that you will be sent on your way.

If you're willing to bet your freedom and your future on that, go ahead and put yourself in law enforcement's hands.

But if an old hit comes back on that gun, YOU AND YOU ALONE are the person in possession of it. There is no one else to hang it on.

If the guy who runs that gun is one of those clowns who was at City Market, do you REALLY think you're going to walk out that station a free man?

 

[BigMatt]

That is the advice I would take.

How do you find out if it is stolen then?

 

[Bill of Rights]

Get the serial number prior to purchase and run it before you own it, maybe?



Blessings,
Bill

 

[Timjoebillybob]

I could have sworn that gun shops have to check to see if they are stolen.

I don't think gun shops are required to check. Pawnshops have to turn in an inventory of items pawned I believe. And they also have to wait a period of time before selling the items iirc 30 days. LE has to check the lists. But how many things are pawned in a day? Some places might have to have a full time officer doing nothing but checking those reports, if not two maybe three.

If grandpa keeps an old rifle under the couch and never really shoots it, then grandson comes along and steals it and sells it for drugs or whatever, it may not get reported stolen for a long time. If it's not reported stolen, it's not in the database. Even if it had only been missing a week, that's plenty of time for the gun to get traded in at a gunshop and resold to an unsuspecting buyer. It wouldn't get reported stolen until it was long gone.

Yep pretty much.

Get the serial number prior to purchase and run it before you own it, maybe?



Blessings,
Bill

Except I've heard on here from some LEOs that most departments won't run a number unless the gun is in front of them. Kinda hard to explain why they call in a check on a serial number and it comes up stolen, then they don't have the firearm to turn in.

 

[finity]

It doesnt matter if he stole it or not, he was in the possession of one that was still on the books as stolen.

Actually it does make a difference.

One element of the crime has to be that they "knowingly" possess property that was stolen.

It's in the law posted below from FL & it's the same as the law in IN.

You can't be convicted without the state proving the "knowingly" part.

Florida theft statute:

[SIZE=-1]812.014 Theft.-- [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1](1) A person commits theft if he or she knowingly obtains or uses, or endeavors to obtain or to use, the property of another with intent to, either temporarily or permanently: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1](a) Deprive the other person of a right to the property or a benefit from the property. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1](b) Appropriate the property to his or her own use or to the use of any person not entitled to the use of the property. [/SIZE]

Besides, I would think the statute of limitations would have run out by now.

ETA: the statute of limitation in IN for a D felony (theft) is only 5 years.

 

[edporch]

Actually it does make a difference.

One element of the crime has to be that they "knowingly" possess property that was stolen.

It's in the law posted below from FL & it's the same as the law in IN.

You can't be convicted without the state proving the "knowingly" part.

-Snip-

Referring to the M1 Carbine I spoke about earlier in this tread that I bought in a Indiana gun shop that later turned out to be stolen from an individual in Illinois.

This may explain why the police told me something to the effect that I technically didn't have to turn it in and if I insisted on keeping it I could?
I didn't understand why they told me this at the time.

I simply said I didn't want a gun that belongs to somebody else, and turned it over to a police officer from Illinois, and he gave me a letter documenting that I'd turned it over to them.
Got my money back from the gun shop.

 

[Glock18FA]

Actually it does make a difference.

One element of the crime has to be that they "knowingly" possess property that was stolen.

It's in the law posted below from FL & it's the same as the law in IN.

You can't be convicted without the state proving the "knowingly" part.




Besides, I would think the statute of limitations would have run out by now.

ETA: the statute of limitation in IN for a D felony (theft) is only 5 years.

What I was trying to say is at that time at the gate it doesnt matter. The person was going to jail and the lawyer would sort it out.