Found a Gun in Front Yard

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BarryLee

New member
Ok, I'm doing my weekly yard work and while running the weed eater near the road I found a handgun. At first I thought it was a toy since it appeared to be a small version of a current gun. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was a Walther P22 with a laser mounted on the front. Since I didn't want to leave it unattended while going to call the police I picked it up and cleared the gun. I noticed it had a major feeding malfunction with a cartridge standing vertical in the magazine and it was deformed as if someone had tried to force the slide shut manually.


When the Police arrived he said, "you should've just kept it" which I think was a joke, but not sure. He ran the serial number and it had not been reported stolen, but he said a lot of theft victims never know the serial number. He speculated that it was stolen and that once it jammed since it had the paddle type magazine release they probably didn't know what to do and just tossed it.


Anyway, kind of an unexceed find and a good lesson about recording those serial numbers. Anyone else ever just found a gun laying around in a residential area?
 
Years ago when I was still in highschool, my dad found a cheapo 25 auto in the front yard. As I recall, he had one of us watch it while he called the cops. We left it in place and kept an eye on it until the police showed up.
 
Don't try to be helpful if you live in England:

https://www.prisonplanet.com/man-arrested-faces-5-years-in-jail-for-reporting-firearm-to-police.html

A former soldier has become the latest victim of the predatory UK police state after he was arrested and convicted by a jury for handing in a shotgun to his local police station after discovering it in his garden. The man faces 5 years in jail due to draconian gun control laws that dictate members of the public cannot even touch a gun without being charged with “possession of a firearm”.

“Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year. The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year’s imprisonment for handing in the weapon,” reports Surrey Today.

In a statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said: “I didn’t think for one moment I would be arrested.”

“I thought it was my duty to hand it in and get it off the streets.”
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And that was 9 years ago.....
 
We left it in place and kept an eye on it until the police showed up
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Yes, I thought about this, but I was alone and about 50 yards from the door. I hated to leave it unattended with various people of all ages out and about on a Saturday. I explained to the Police Officer why I moved it and he said it wasn't an issue.
 
Good for you BarryLee.

The "Paul Clarke" incident is so incredible I did the google thing and found Paul Clarke was given a suspended sentence of one year.

That's better than five years in the slammer of course but still shows 'common sense' is in short supply.

You can read an account of the sentencing here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nding-shotgun-police-given-award-instead.html

Reading the article I realized the Paul Clarke incident is a whole 'nother kind of crazy that might just make for a 'made for TV' movie.
1. Paul Clarke was a former soldier.
2. Paul Clarke has a previous criminal record of handling stolen goods and possessing a stun gun.
3. Paul Clarke was having a romantic affair with a female police detective and suspects another police officer was jealous and this contributed to his prosecution.
4. There is a clear English guideline that says "'No obstacle should be placed in the way of a person who wants to surrender firearms or ammunition to the police" and being arrested and charged is certainly an 'obstacle'.
5. Almost everyone agrees the arrest and trial of Paul Clarke was a government waste of time and money and it looks like most of the regular folk in England were on Paul Clarke's side.
 
DaleA said:
5. Almost everyone agrees the arrest and trial of Paul Clarke was a government waste of time and money and it looks like most of the regular folk in England were on Paul Clarke's side.
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With the exception of those serving on the jury, of course.
 
Paul Clarke in England aside

IMO,there is a fair chance any gun found in your front yard MAY have been used in a violent crime and ditched. I do not understand the LEO saying you should have kept it.
It could be the key to solving a crime.Posessing it,it could connect you to a crime you did not commit.

I would not leave it unsupervised in the front yard.

You did fine,IMO
 
^^^ Yeah, ya done good. Only thing you missed was picking it up with a stick and putting it in a baggy to save any fingerprints (and to keep yours off it). :p
 
it in a baggy to save any fingerprints (and to keep yours off it).
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Well, since I was doing yardwork I had on gloves, so I'm ok on that. I was concerned about messing up evidence, but also hated to leave it unguarded. I might add that after I took it to the garage and called the Police it took about thirty minutes for them to show up.
 
BarryLee said:
I might add that after I took it to the garage and called the Police it took about thirty minutes for them to show up.
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Think of how many people that gun could have shot in that time! It's a good thing you were watching it.
 
These are absolute offences here, and the mens rea is irrelevant.

Clarke and the local police dept seem to have had a history - and they got Capone on his taxes, after all.
 
Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday
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Ok, so a convicted felon in possession of a sawed off shotgun as was this case are some other details to the case that were relevant. Still he got no jail time.


Anyway, kind of an unexceed find and a good lesson about recording those serial numbers. Anyone else ever just found a gun laying around in a residential area?
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I found an older pellet gun that looked very much like a Luger, but it was a pellet gun.

But yes serial numbers... and locking the gun up. Shocking the number of irresponsible gun owners that shove a pistol under the driver's seat and leave the car unlocked. They then have no clue what the serial number is after the local meth heads take it. I have seen as many as 8 a night come up stolen in nicer neighborhoods. That is just the ones that were reported.
 
Ok, so a convicted felon in possession of a sawed off shotgun as was this case are some other details to the case that were relevant. Still he got no jail time.
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He's a poor example.

Does anybody have a link to the little old lady that got arrested and found guilty of illegally possessing ammunition, because she found WWII-era ammunition buried in her garden and moved it to the front porch before calling the local police station?

Close to that same time, another little old lady found a very rusty set of shotgun barrels in her garden. Again, she moved them to a better place (so she could keep gardening) and called the Bobbies. The barrels were thought to have been buried there for 20-30 years. But, again, she was found guilty of illegally possessing/handling a firearm ... because she moved the parts.



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A friend of mine recently found a Hi-Point hidden under the garden hose reel in his back yard. The police picked it up, asked him some questions, told him it was stolen, and left. A few weeks later, his neighbor came over, asking about the pistol. It seems the neighbor had conceived of some ridiculous scheme in which he was going to be locked out of his own house by armed thugs and he'd have to fight his way back inside.

The police found the story amusing when they came back to question the neighbor...
 
I had a gun stolen 5 years ago. The officer who took the report said it was very rare to take a report and get the SN. Most don't know it. The gun was recovered 1 month later in another country. The case still has not gone to trial and I cann loveot get it back until after the trial

I have not found one in my yard. But I volunteer with a SAR team and I found one while looking for a missing person. Most likely a suicide. I found what was left of a gun. A cheap 380. Most of the frame was gone. Slide a finger barrel in decent shape. Called police and they said to flag.location with survey tape and they would send someone. They never did

My BIL. Owns a body shop and often buys wrecked vehicles cheap,fixes them and drives them for personal use. He bought a 2006 F-150 in 2006. When repairing it found a Taurus 9mm hidden in a door panel. Police department sent someone out and told.him to keep it. Two years later he found a bag of pot in the passenger door

Sorry for typos. Internet dead here. Using phone
 
I had a gun stolen 5 years ago. The officer who took the report said it was very rare to take a report and get the SN. Most don't know it. The gun was recovered 1 month later in another country. The case still has not gone to trial and I cann loveot get it back until after the trial
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This is unfortunate. I always return stolen property (including firearms) to the owner when I recover it. I take tons of pictures, video document it, and show it to numerous witnesses... but then I turn it back over. I have had zero issues arise in court because of it also. This "you must keep it until the trial" thing really can be avoided in most cases. Think about it, I know of no modern cases in which a stolen car was kept until the trial. It's always turned back over to the owner. Why is a firearm any different?
 
BarryLee......I think you done good.

Many folks would have done as the cop said......just kept the gun thinkin' it was their lucky day. Around here, guns found can be claimed by the finder, if after a period of time it has been determined the gun is not stolen or used in the commission of a crime.
 
I have no interest whatsoever in keeping a gun that I might find. First of all, it is probably a crappy gun, or at least one that I normally wouldn't even purchase. Second, it is likely stolen. Third, I can afford to buy the guns I want. I just don't want a found gun.
 
Agreed Prolly stolen. Or if I had taken a different route with my P22 it might have been a similar story. Too many rounds with various CCI, Remington,winchester, federal and I don't recall what else I was never able to clear a mag without misfire, stove pipe etc. After a trip back to walther with NPF and continued agony I decided to see if a 38oz ball peen hammer might help it out. Fortunately, it did. My fustration was greatly relieved and that piece of doxie dung would haunt no one again.
 
There was a picture making the rounds, last week, of a pistol embedded in the plastic front bumper of a car.
Someone apparently tossed the gun, and it happened to bounce up and stick in the bumper of a trailing car.

In Washington state, it's illegal to take possession of a gun without first having a background check/transfer by a FFL, but the driver was apparently not charged for having violated that "gunshow loophole" law.
That would have made two people charged in the 3-4 years since the law was enacted . . .
 
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