Need help understanding time/register dates on Armslist site re stolen gun

N

NMQA

Inactive
I had a hand gun stolen yesterday morning. I reported this to sheriff, so far no interest in this and getting run around. My neighbor suggested I look on Armslist. There is a gun listed exactly like mine on that same day. However, the time it says it was listed is not in sync w real time. This morning when I got up it said it was listed today at 7pm. That can't be, because obviously 7pm hadn't happened yet. So if anyone can explain that to me I'd really appreciate it. The real kicker is that the person advertising the gun, according to the site, registered as a new user the day BEFORE my gun was stolen. Which means it is NOT my gun. UNLESS there is discrepancies/lag time in the date of registers also? This person just coincidentally listed a gun just like mine w the included accessories, on the same day, in the same city, it has been 45 days or more according to the search since a gun like mine was last listed, and this person didn't list anything else for sale, only has the one ad. I would say for sure this is too coincidental, but the date/time thing has me really throwed. Please any advice or tips I would really appreciate! Thank you!
 
Where are you located (you don't have to tell us, but YOU know where you are), and where is the Armslist server located? What's the time lag between the two locations?
 
Well I filtered it out by a search so that the only listings I was looking at is in my city. Those were the ones with the wrong times listed. I don't know where their server is located. I will look to see if I can find out. I also contacted Armslist, but I doubt I'll hear anything from them, who knows.
 
ARMSLIST is currently running on the ASP.NET MVC 3 Framework and MySQL server. ARMSLIST is hosted in the cloud on an Amazon Elastic Cloud Computing instance.

copied the above from their site, have no idea what it means!
 
It isn't necessarily wher they are hosted. Lots of server use GMT or Eastern even if located in Svalbard.
I would guess that is your issue though.
It is now 23:16 Eastern, but 04:16 GMT
 
What’s the serial number on your gun? What is the serial number on the gun listed? That will tell you if it’s your gun or not.

Jim
 
I just thought if 'everyone' said oh, yeah those dates are always messed up, then I would try to do something about the ad. But if people said, no, the register dates are accurate on that website even if the listing times are not in sync-well then I know it is not mine.
 
Idk about times but meet and look. If it is your gun buy it and then have police go get your $$$ back. Have a friend go with you as a witness. I personally would rather lose $$$ than one of my guns. $$$ is something I can make more but “my” guns are not just a number in an account (except for maybe one of several cheap ARs I bought as an investment)
 
I would not play detective. If the person is bad enought to steal and steal a gun at that, I don't want to be in contact with them. You have done your obligation by reporting the firearm stolen. Make sure you get a police report identifying the stolen gun by serial number and keeep it in your records.

You could request the serial number from a seller or at least a partial serial number. I would go no further unless you want to report a matching serial number to the sheriff or a close to matching serial number to the sheriff.
 
Idk about times but meet and look. If it is your gun buy it and then have police go get your $$$ back.
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I bet you still end up with no gun after this approach as they will possibly want it for evidence.

You could request the serial number from a seller or at least a partial serial number. I would go no further unless you want to report a matching serial number to the sheriff or a close to matching serial number to the sheriff.
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You could just report the ad to them and they may check it out. They probably won't care though.
 
Times being off could have an explanation. Many websites use UTC time. I see phone and Facebook records all the time that use this format. Its 4 or 5 hours ahead of EST depending on daylight savings. I have had to testify to time discrepencies before because of this.

Is it listed in your local area? How populated is your area? Idaho, or new York? Is it a rare gun, or run of the mill G19? If it was in a less populated area, and the firearm was rare or had pearl grips or anything to make it pretty distinguishable, I would notify law enforcement. Depending on busy the department is, you could go to the station and request to speak with an investigator. If you make a compelling argument that you're pretty sure the firearm is yours, they will likely be glad to help. All cops want to recover a stolen firearm and catch a guy breaking in to houses. There just has to be a pretty good probability for them to have that chance before they will get too excited. I would look into it if you're in my town, that is if the firearm is pretty distinguishable. I would arrange to buy it, meet, and check the S/N. If its not yours, I just make a lame excuse about how it wasn't what I thought and turn down the purchase. Maybe throw the guy a 20 for his time. If it is, he goes to jail.

I don't see anything wrong with you initiating contact with the seller to fish for info if cops refuse to look into it. I would not meet. Too risky. If he broke in your house he may have seen your picture and recognize you. I would probably use a spoof email to do it without your real name to do it.


Finally, may I ask the circumstance of the theft?
 
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