Torian wrote:
The backstory was he had secured his firearm in his car prior to going into a local bar ... then somehow forgot he left the weapon in the car, and later that night assumed it was stolen from him in the bar, reporting it to the authorities. I think he had a few more drinks that night than he will admit.
In New York State, you have a limited window to report the loss or theft of a firearm before it can be held against you legally. While he ultimately found his handgun later (still in his vehicle), he had already reported its loss, and the police were in the midst of conducting a significant investigation when he had to call them and explain it was buried in a pile of clothes in his car.
Going by this account, the friend:
- "Secured" his gun by burying it in a pile of clothes in his car.
- Went into a bar, got sufficiently impaired that he couldn't remember "securing" his gun, couldn't locate it, couldn't conduct a thorough enough search of his vehicle to discover the gun, and so
- Filed a false police report in which he admitted (albeit falsely) that he took the gun into the bar from where it was "stolen".
Arizona_Mike wrote
He did the right thing . . . twice.
As I see it, he did the wrong thing . . . thrice.