Acquired a S&W 629 through unfortunate circumstances

[jsalcedo]

Last year I got a frantic phone call from my wifes sister saying she had been punched in the head and pushed down by her
husband. This was done in front of her 10 year old son.

He wouldn't leave so she called the cops and I told her to bring his gun (S&W .44mag) to my house.

I locked it up in my gun room wondering what would become of it.
It turned out to be good call because the husband immediately went back in the house to look for the .44 when he found it missing he went ballistic demanding to know where it was
and to give it back.

Since he hadn't touched the gun in over a year I was very concerned about his intentions then the wifes sister called me up and demanded I give him his gun.

Pretty stupid on her part I guess.

I refused and told both her and the abusive husband that neither
of them will be getting thieir hands on that gun and I would pay them the blue book value when they straightened out their situation.

A year later the divorce was final and they were glad to get the
$325 and I was glad to have such a sweet gun.


Has anyone else run into this situation and should it have been handled differently?

 

[J Miller]

Sounds to me like you handled it just fine.

Keeping the gun from the angry husband probably saved your sister in laws life. And no doubt altho it made the husband mad, it probably saved some cop from having to shoot him.

I'd say your actions helped everyone.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Sounds like you did the right thing, though I'd have wondered about getting picked up for theft. Had you paid her for it right then, perhaps you could have made the case that the wife sold it to you?

 

[ojibweindian]

A good job in handling the situation.

 

[Ledbetter]

You did the right thing. And you were lucky.

It is often said that "No good deed goes unpunished." You were at risk of legal liability had the husband sued you, and it might have been better to turn it over to the sheriff.

 

[Gewehr98]

It's how I got my Yugo SKS.

She was deploying to the desert, leaving him alone in the house with the kids and the rifle. He, being of the abusive and permanently cheesed-off type, never mind not being legally able to own a firearm, wasn't leaving her with a good feeling as she went through the deployment checklist.

She called me over a few nights before her departure, and handed me the SKS. He got all bent out of shape, but in front of him, I handed her $150.00 for the rifle, case, and a few stripper clips of ammo.

Just wish the kids could've gone somewhere else while she was gone.

 

[4v50 Gary]

You did well and acted equitably (offered to pay them for it). Good sense of justice. You and Daniel Boone would sit well together beneath the Boone Tree.

 

[jsalcedo]

Thanks for the replies, I realize I should have
paid for the 629 when she first brought it
to me.

She was messed up emotionally and ended up
giving me a hard time about getting the gun back to her abuser so he would stop bothering her.
(like that would have helped)

It was lucky for him she didn't press charges against her husband or he would have forfeited
all of his gun rights.

 

[Ledbetter]

Let me reiterate

You did good, especially in not giving it back after he pressured her about it. You should be proud for helping someone in need of protection.