Omg- SIL left her gun in the vacation rental!

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milemaker13

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Ok, this is crazy . My sister in law left her pistol in the beach house we all just spent the week in. We are driving home now and she's asking me what she should do. I said drive back but since this is a family circus caravan roadtrip thats not an option. The house is several states away , 17 hr drive. It is in a locked box with a lock on the gun itself also. It is in between her mattress (my wife didnt check there while checking under beds).
I told her to contact the management and explain a personal item was left. Also contact a local FFL and have them meet the manager at the rental to retrieve the box. Have him send it to her local FFL at home. She then retrieves the box from her local ffl.
Since the gun was locked away and not accessible to anyone, does it need any paperwork or transfer or background check?
Again, I am beside myself that anyone could forget such an item. I am only trying to help resolve a very bad situation.
 
Well believe it or not, I did the same thing about 3 years ago. . Left it in its holster on the top shelf of the closet away from kids eyes and curiosity. Felt REAL dumb. Never ever made that mistake again.

But I realized it 5 minutes later so I just ran back in and grabbed it.

Contact property manager. Have them take it to a local UPS store with the license to Second day air ship it to a local ffl.

Reimburse property manager for gas, time, and shipping cost. Pay ffl transfer. Done.

It only has to go ffl to ffl if the receiving ffl requires it. And they shouldn’t, but some do it just for their own peace of mind.

I believe..... it’s been awhile since I shipped one.

Also, if there’s a Cabelas on either end, I once used them to send a gun to my dad. They received and shipped it between stores, and there was just a transfer fee. But that was years ago.
 
Cops might collect it as found property. It is highly unlikely that a property manager would release an unknown firearm to an unknown party. I know I wouldn’t.
 
I’d make going back to get it the only option, regardless the inconvenience.
I actually agree with this. 100%. She didnt even realize she forgot it until 11 hrs into the drive back.
Have to see what happens I guess. I am glad it isnt my problem.
Not sure why she brought it with... maybe so it wasnt sitting at home... doesnt sound like she had it ready or even had ammo with it.. but she never said anything about having it there or I would have asked about it before departing.
 
I did the nearly the same thing in Tennessee. Under the pillow.

I reminded myself to not forget it when we left, since it was not in the morning after making beds.

Loaded up, got every one in the van and started it. Moaned a belabored sigh, shut off the van and went back in to get it.

That nauseous, "almost did bad, you idiot" feeling lasted for some minutes. I didn't like that.
Plus, it was my then new P-938.

It is highly unlikely that a property manager would release a declared and described, secured steel lockbox to a , vetted, paid for and known customer party. I know I wouldn’t.

Reminds me not to use any of your rentals...

It could be mom's statins or dad's blood pressure meds or my daughter's insulin.
Why would you rent to me and then refuse to return items left in your house? Especially if I offered to pay you for your trouble?

I know, I know, some humans have never forgotten anything, my ex for instance...;)



I would make her rent a car from where ever we stopped and drive back and get it. Immediately.

And we'll see her when she gets home...tsk, tsk.:D
 
Reminds me not to use any of your rentals...

It could be mom's statins or dad's blood pressure meds or my daughter's insulin.
Why would you rent to me and then refuse to return items left in your house? Especially if I offered to pay you for your trouble?

There’s a little more liability in releasing a firearm to an unknown party. Most people aren’t “gun people”, think that all guns are registered, etc. I would be surprised if hotels don’t have written policy for left behind guns. Retail stores and car rental companies do.

I think main moral is don’t forget your gun. I bet she remembered to bring her cell phone.... I suppose a firearm is different level of priority for me.

HB
 
I understand what you mean.

I just like to give things back to the owner. It makes me feel good.
Some humans feel good by denying others.

I can't speak to what was or was not important to her.

Most hand guns are registered. I doubt she is carrying a relic without a serial number.

There’s a little more liability in releasing a firearm to an unknown party.

Just who do you rent to? Why would you not know them?
 
I don't see how it could be shipped in that safe. Who knows if it's loaded or not? It sounds like a return trip to me. Let us know what happens.

Here's a story about forgetting your gun. One of our guys Mexican carried a nickle plated 1911. His habit was to take it out of his waistband and lean it on top of the urinal between the plumbing and the wall when he did his business. Yup, I know he left it there at least once because I carried it back to him. At least it was at the office and not at a restaurant or something. Why the guy didn't just wear a holster I don't know. o_O
 
I don't mean to be argumentative HB. I do see where you are coming from. If I were renting my summer house, I would not want dangerous things left there.
Verily, there is just as much death in a bottle of insulin, if one is not a diabetic...

Strange there is no outcry against background checks on rental property. It's not like I can kill you with a house, right?:)

But after paying two grand for a deposit and twenty five for a weeks rent, I see no reason for the manager not to return a two hundred dollar SCCY or shotgun or medicine box whatever may have been left.
If it was a four hundred dollar bottle of whiskey, it darn well better be returned! Dry county or not!;)
(A pack of perfect palaces, more precariously perched upon perilous precipices, I have not seen. Mears Valley, Tennessee.)

Make no mistake. Immediate return to the property and hand picking up her own weapon is just penance. No one else need touch the thing anyway. She should have called the manager and requested another day, regardless the price, to cover her return time and to ensure the place be un-messed-around-with. Total time of unsupervised firearm should have been twenty one hours.
(I could cut an hour off the time driving if I knew I had just left a firearm in a vacation home of children.)

Had I driven off I would have given serious thought to my continued carrying of a weapon, that's for sure.
Not a good situation.
 
My wife left her purse with her G43 in a shopping cart. Came home frantic when she got where we live (about 15 mins away) she went to grab her purse to bring it in and realized what she had done.

We called shaws to see if anybody turned it in and luckily they had. They turned it into police and they gave her a mild lecture, then I gave her a big one....
 
Demi- You can’t mail a handgun across state lines unless you are an FFL. If I was an FFL I would want at least $100 to retrieve the gun plus shipping, and thats if you could “in theory” if the rental owner doesn’t give it to police. I doubt police would release it to an FFL to mail back.

If my cousin used my cabin for a week and forgot one, thats one thing. If its a random person through Air BNB I would give the owner the responding dept’s # and they could go from there.

And I don’t believe most states register pistols anymore. Even Illinois got away from it. To get it back you’d likely have to provide a bill of sale. Police would then make sure you arent prohibited and the gun isnt stolen, call you an idiot, then give it back.
 
Lots of good conversation. Thank you all for that. We all arrived home about 330 am (we split off at the last 3 hr them going south and us going north).
Such a messy situation thats for sure. Ill try to help however I can... like talking to you all ;)
 
"I doubt police would release it to an FFL to mail back."

Maybe it depends on the state. One of my grandsons had a pistol stolen out of his truck in Texas. Some months later it was taken off a guy arrested in a town about 250 miles from where it was stolen. The DA's office contacted my grandson after a serial number check gave them his name as the owner. It was returned to him through a local ffl at no cost to him.
 
We don't know how much value the gun and box has for the owner. If I'd made it all the way back on a thousand-plus mile trip and realized I'd left one of my typical carry guns back in this manner, I'd contact the establishment and politely request they turn the locked box over to their local law enforcement agency. I'd let them know I'm contacting that agency myself to have them pick it up from the front desk, then I'd simply write that gun off unless I was planning a return trip any time soon. If it were a gun valued at, say, more than $350, then I'd at least look into some of the suggestions others above have brought up.
 
The gun was inside a locked box. Was the box identifiable as a gun safe? If not, I would have
  1. Phoned management, described the box, and asked them to hold it until your return in a few hours. No need to describe the contents other than it was a personal item that meant a great deal to you.
  2. Stopped in the next town with a major rental car agency willing to do one way rentals and rented a car.
  3. Driven back in the rental to retrieve the box.
  4. Driven home with it and turned in the rental.
 
,
Since the gun was locked away and not accessible to anyone, does it need any paperwork or transfer or background check?.
As long as its not prohibited by state law (where the beach house is located) ANYONE can ship that handgun via UPS/FedEx to an FFL in your sisters state. She'll have to complete a Form 4473/NICS to get it back.
 
Never. UPS policy strictly prohibits shipping firearms through a UPS Store location.
Maybe UPS Store was the wrong term.

UPS Customer Center is more appropriate. What matters is they have to have the proper license. And I believe you are correct, a “UPS Store” typically doesn’t have that license.
 
Maybe UPS Store was the wrong term.

UPS Customer Center is more appropriate. What matters is they have to have the proper license. And I believe you are correct, a “UPS Store” typically doesn’t have that license.
UPS doesn't have any type of firearm license. I have taken dozens of guns over the years to both UPS and FEDEX for shipment to either the maker or a buyer's FFL It isn't a big deal.
 
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