So you're walking down the street and you see...

S

Satanta

New member
I'd leave it right where it is! If that gun was used in the commision of a crime and someone was killed and you get caught with it----- Your up the creek without a paddle. Stop and think----- Why would someone dump a perfectly good gun unless something was WRONG! Nope I wouldn't touch it. Just my 2 cents worth.

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***Torpedo***
It's a good life if you can survive it!
 
This actually happened to me and what I found was a 45cal machine gun. I was in 4th or 5th grade and out for lunch break. The older kids like myself were allowed to go out to the stores for lunch.Behind the school was a wooded path and as we walked tothe stores I noticed a metal object partially covered by leaves. I picked up the object which turned out to be what I now know was a Grease gun which is a cheap stamped steel 45 machine gun. I really wanted to take it home as even then I loved guns and had several BB guns and a Crosman pellet gun. This new found gun really did not look like anything I saw before. If I recall it had a latch near the magazine housing (which I thought was some kind of second trigger) , a wire stock and a cover over the ejection port. I remember pulling the trigger but did think enough to point it into the ground. I walked back to school with my new machine gun and took it to the principle's office where he called the police. We all went back to class and soon there were two police officers in my classroom asking to see me. I showed them where I found the gun and they looked over the area. I was very popular in my class after that. Not many kids get taken out of class by the police and come back.True story.
 
I'll take a slightly different approach:
a) Sparing no expense, I'll have "Al Gore" immediately engraved on the firearm.
b) Next, I'll return it to the precise location where it was found.
c) Then I'll call Janet Reno; maybe she'll appoint a Special Counsel to investigate this crime?
 
I walked onto a used car lot just after they opened one morning, a salesman gave me the keys to a car, I was interested in, the wife and I jumped in and took it for a test drive. About 1/2 way into the drive I looked down between the seat and console and there was a nice shiney stainless (or maybe chrome) revolver. I don't touch it as thoughts of: was it used in a crime, am I test driving a get-away car, should I turn it over to the police, went through my mind. Upon my return to the car lot, the manger quickly came out, asked me how I liked the car, and told me he had been driving it home. I gave him a wink and told him he might want to take his personal effects out before his salesman hands the keys over to test drivers. He acknowledged this - we didn't buy the car.
 
Satanta, I actually had something very similar to this happen to me (a FUD experience) but it was before I found TFL so I never posted it ... Before moving into our home, we spent several months living with my in-laws while our house was being built. I was taking my little one for a walk around the house (she was just learning on how to take her first steps). I came upon one of those dayplanner-type things and I picked it up thinking that someone had obviously lost it with the intention of opening it up to see if there was any owner information. It just so happened that at that very moment, my daughter decided that she wanted to revert back to crawling. Since the ground was dirty & wet after a recent rain and I really didn't want to hear it from my wife that I allowed her to get her outfit dirty, I picked her up & we headed home.

However, with my daughter in one arm, I was unable to open this daytimmer thing until I was inside the house and had both arms free. When I looked inside, it wasn't a dayplanner thing but instead contained a Glock. All of these thoughts raced through my head that it might have been stolen or used in a crime. My sister-in-law started screeching at me that she wanted it out of her house and to put it back where I found it.

Well, I thought about that but if it was used in a a crime and somebody saw me dumping it back, they would incorrectly assume that it was my gun and that I was trying to get rid of it. So I decided to turn it in to the local Sheriff's office. I explained everything that happened. They thanked me. Took some information down and had me sign something. At the time I didn't have my Florida CWL and wasn't aware of all of the laws. Looking back, I was lucky that they didn't charge me for bringing in a loaded weapon into a police facility.

That evening, somebody was knocking at the door -- it was a neighbor two house over. It turned out that he works for the FBI and the gun was his -- he left the dayplanner thing on top of his car and when he drove off, it fell off. He stopped by to thank us for turning in the gun as it saved him the trouble of having to get a new one. My sister-in-law was all smiles and said that she was glad that we were able to help -- a much different picture from several hours earlier when she was screaming at the top of her lungs and her face was redder than a firetruck.

FUD
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Share what you know & learn what you don't

[This message has been edited by FUD (edited August 28, 2000).]
 
Skeeter;
The right term for that type of weapon is submachine gun.A machine gun being a crew served weapon.

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Bob--- Age and deceit will overcome youth and speed.
I'm old and deceitful.
 
Actually a submachine also uses a pistol cartridge in addition to being an individual weapon. An M60 machine gun is not necessarily a crew served weapon.
Still I wouls be excited to find aAn M# whatever.

A friend of mine was called by a little old lady to come to her house and remove some sort of firearm that her hushand had hidden in the attic years ago. Before he went to the attic she told him she didnt want any part of it. She wanted him to have it. SO
He took home a very well kept Thompson with a lot of accessories

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You have to be there when it's all over. Otherwise you can't say "I told you so."

Better days to be,

Ed
 
Back in 1985, my team was doing some training with one of the Belgian Para regiments (in Belgium, naturally). On our flight home on a CH47, I noticed that one of the Belgians left his Sten SMG on board. How tempting it was to just stick it in my ruck and say nothing. I did the right thing. DOH!

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"Pathfinders Light the Way!"
 
Great stories. Back to the original question, IMHO you can't just leave the weapon where it is. A Glock or a Python simply should not be laying around loose. Therefore you must secure the weapon. Unload it if loaded and lock it up somewhere.

What to do with it, once secured? You could row it into the middle of the lake and sink it -- what a waste. You could keep it and hope it's not stolen or a crime gun. You could sell it quickly and quietly, and hope the buyer's not planning to rob liquor stores with it.

Or, you could do what I think should be done. Call your PD or Sheriff's Office. Tell them the circumstances, and hand them the gun. Under some found property statutes you might even get it back if it checks out clean but they can't find the owner.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, just some guy with an opinion.
 
FUD, you said:

"I was lucky that they didn't charge me for bringing in a loaded weapon into a police facility."

If they went around arresting people for turning in guns they found, no one would turn one in. It's a sad state of events in this country where we're afraid of our own police even when we have good intentions in mind!

And of course your sister in law was nice to the G-man; after all they are highly trained specialists who know exactly how to handle weapons compared to the average shmoe. So highly trained in fact that he couldn't keep track of his own pistol. :D

Oh yeah, I forgot the original question. It would depend on the circumstances. In FUD's case, I would have done that. In some shady part of town, I would suspect that the gun was stolen. I think I'd pick it up in a way as to not get my own fingerprints on it and then report it to the police. Probably pick up the whole box to be sure. Maybe call the police from the closest business, diner or pay phone.

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The first step is registration, the second step is confiscation, the final step is subjugation.

[This message has been edited by ds1973 (edited August 28, 2000).]
 
Fud,

Another great story, however, let me amplify the "FBI angle". According to my father, an SA during the '40s and '50s, an Agent who lost his firearm, his badge, and/or his credentials was in the most serious trouble imaginable. Mr. Hoover would personally become involved -- a situation that was grave. Normally, the Agent immediately received a succession change-of-station orders to Butte, followed by Fargo, followed by Helena (etc.) until he decided to resign.

If this lost Glock ever became officially known to the Bureau, I am surprised the SA is still on the job.

Regards.
 
RWK, don't have any further details on that one. He just came to the door, identified himself and thanks us for returning the gun. Don't know how he got it back ir if the Bureau got involved (I would assume that they had to otherwise how would the police know which agent "misplaced" his weapon -- I'm also assuming that he was an agent ... he came to the door and said that he "worked for the FBI").
 
It was probably stolen before it was used for a crime and dumped.
The next time you get pulled over, or if you use that gun in defense and the numbers get run then it comes up reported stolen and you are now in possession of a stolen hand gun. That is a bad thing.
 
Have you considered that the Python in the box might have been abandoned there in haste with the thought of the original "owner" returning to retrieve it? And how would you like to be walking away with the firearm (or even worse, only one of the firearms) of said owner, who might not hesitate to take extreme measures to get it back.
 
IMHO it's irresponsible to leave a gun and possibly ammo for it laying around like that where a kid could find it. I would first look around pretty thoroughly to make sure the owner wasn't in the immediate area then I would remove it to a secure location. After that...I don't think I will say what I would do.
 
Actually, finding a sidearm in an urban setting like this would cause me to react differently from the rifle (or, was it a shotgun) example I've seen elsewhere.

I have to admit, I'd call the LEO's on this one. It may be related to a crime, and I agree ... I wouldn't feel right leaving it there.

So, I would hope that I'd have a shot at receiving the gun if no owner is found, and it was not evidence. And, if I didn't? Well, the downside would be worse than the upside on this one, IMHO.

Regards from AZ
 
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