How to handle finding a pistol left behind by someone

[Big7]

po-leezzee..

 

[chicharrones]

AND no way would I leave any fingerprints on it in the event it was used in a crime.

That's my thinking, too.

 

[herrwalther]

Depends on where I am. If I am at work, most unattended firearms are left behind by police officers in the drop safe. So there are procedures for dealing with that.

If I find a firearm just laying around. The procedure is not much different. As there are a few officers whom I would call to deal with a firearm just laying about.

 

[FL-NC]

I've never been in that situation and I'm not sure what is the legal thing to do.

I might make up a sign and post it saying "Gun Found call xxx-xxx-xxxx" and see if the caller can describe what is missing. If it's a match, meet them at the range to return it.

If no phone matches or no callers after a week, I'd consider taking the gun to the local police.

It would probably be better to post a sign saying "Gun Found call local police at xxx-xxx-xxxx". Then turn in that gun to the local police.

This is what I did when I found a left gun at a range once- left a note.

 

[Mosin Bubba]

If I found it laying around on a range, I'd contact the owners or operators of the range.

If I found it laying around on public land or somewhere else, I'd call the police.

It's good that you were able to find the owner so quickly though.

 

[FL-NC]

Years ago, when I was in the army at Ft Bragg, my neighbor (she's a sheriff deputy) called me on my cell when I was at work. She asked me if I had a Glock 17. I told her yes, and she asked me where it was. I told her in my kit bag in my wall locker (completely against regs, but whatever). Am I sure? Yes, I just saw it. Well, she says, I wonder why there was a unloaded G17 laying in the street in front of our houses. I agreed with her that it was odd. A short time later, I came home, and noticed 2 young soldiers who I didn't really know who lived across the street standing in their front yard, who seemed very deep in thought. I just walked over and asked them if they were missing something, which they very sheepishly admitted to. I asked them if they maybe still had the box it came in with the serial number on it. Yes, I do said one. I told them to get the box and see the sheriff deputy across the street, who is married to a SF NCO, and ask for it back. Also be prepared to answer to both of them for what happened. At the end of the story, they got it back, after what was was the most epic butt chewing anyone could have possibly received, from a LE, military, and extremely P-O'd neighbor standpoint. But since they could have made it a whole lot worse on them by involving their chain of command, the sheriff's office, etc., they got off easy and learned a lesson that they should have never had to learn as soldiers in the first place.

 

[CLP]

This happened to me. When I was a poor medical resident, I used to shoot at a public range on a wildlife management area (WMA). There was no RO, no office, no anything. And all you needed was a hunting license and a map of the WMA to be allowed to shoot there (maybe your driver's license too, I cannot recall). There were about 10 lanes, it was a 100 yard range, and I swear the berm was at least 40 yard high at a very steep incline- I never saw anything like that berm. Though it wasn't ever heavily used (I think 4 people was the most I ever saw at one time, myself included), I witnessed some incredibly unsafe behavior at this range. Needless to say I don't shoot there any longer. Anyway, one day I go there to shoot my Springfield 1911. There's one guy on the far right lane, a rifle (which at this point I'd rather not describe other than to say it wasn't a very expensive firearm) in the center lane, and I occupy the far left lane (urinal rules apply to gun ranges). I thought maybe his buddy ran out for some food. But no friend of his ever came, and I wondered if he was just obnoxious and hogging multiple lanes. Eventually he left, and at that moment I knew someone else had left behind a brand new rifle. I could see how it happened. You can back your truck right up to the shooting bench at this range. After you've loaded everything up, it's easy to drive away and leave something behind if you don't double-check your bench. This is why to this day I triple-check. I shot targets the entire day. No one else ever arrived. I took the rifle home and it now belongs to me. I'll never leave it behind anywhere.

 

[robhof]

A somewhat related story from when I lived in Central Fl.: A gentleman was traveling to Orlando and saw a black case on the side of the road, he thought it was a bow case and stopped, it was a ballistic nylon case with an AR 15 and several 30 round mags. loaded, it also had a Sheriff's star logo on it so he took it to the nearest Sheriff's dept., turns out the officer had a flat and had to get to the spare and got a call as he was finishing up so he missed the gun and case. Would have hated to be him, as the good Samaritan made it to the office before the Deputy!!

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I've never been in that situation and I'm not sure what is the legal thing to do.

I might make up a sign and post it saying "Gun Found call xxx-xxx-xxxx" and see if the caller can describe what is missing. If it's a match, meet them at the range to return it.

If no phone matches or no callers after a week, I'd consider taking the gun to the local police.

It would probably be better to post a sign saying "Gun Found call local police at xxx-xxx-xxxx". Then turn in that gun to the local police.

Listen to chich

 

[everydefense]

I think the decision between transporting the gun to the police station and calling and having the police take it themselves would simply depend on the state one lived in. I would probably call them and ask them what they wanted me to do.

View attachment 774079He called the station a couple days later for a follow-up, and was informed that she had come into the office to claim her gun & purse. The OOD gave them both back to her!

Sounds about right. Your tax dollars at work.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

The local gun club has a designated member who is an FFL as contact point for lost and found items. Sometimes the person who forgot and item will drive back to recover it or report it lost.

Abandoning a gun at a formal or informal shooting range might be a way for a criminal to dispose of a firearm used in a crime, but not likely: criminals usually toss them into a lake, river, creek or roadside drainage ditch (if an ocean is not available).

Contrary to TV shows, guns are notorious for being poor surfaces for recovering fingerprints (presence of fingerprints is proof, no fingerprints proves nada). But DNA can be recovered from skin cells that rub off. Do not treat a found gun as a gift from the gun fairy or Zardoz; report it. It may have fallen off a farmer's truck, or abandoned by a thief or burglar whose sticky fingers gor cold. Anyway, don't touch, call appropriate authority.

 

[Blacksmoke]

A found gun has a potential for liability I do not want. I would call it in and wait patiently or follow their directions. The only unattended shooting ranges here are on BLM land. This means a potentially long time before one of their very few rangers shows up. Just another reason why I prefer supervised ranges. If I found one some place else, no way I would touch it. Not here anyway. Then again, a Model 27 or Colt Python would be most tempting.....

 

[mgresh]

Put me in the category of never taking possession of any random gun, no matter where it is found. I would be calling the police.

 

[milemaker13]

This is what I did when I found a left gun at a range once- left a note.

How did that turn out? Did the owner contact you?

 

[ArchAngelCD]

IMO there is only one thing that should be done. Call the police and ask them what they want you to do with the gun. They will probably ask you to stay there until the arrive to secure it.

I would not leave it there. I would not put it in my car, a Glock will not be damaged by the cold. I would not drive away with it even if I were bringing it to the police. I would not touch the gun. I would just call the police.

 

[FL-NC]

How did that turn out? Did the owner contact you?

No. The note hung on the board with my phone number for over a year, then I finally asked the people who ran the range what to do, and they said keep it. The note continued to hang there until I quit going to that range, wrote with sharpy on a 5x8 card tacked to the bulletin board under the roof, for several more months. For all I know its still hanging there. It was a Winchester 54 in 30-06 missing all the internal magazine components. I ended up giving it to a friend that likes that stuff. Told him if someone called me asking for their '54 back I would need him to give it back to me.

 

[George Dickel]

At that type of range I would call the police for their directions on how to proceed as there are too many stolen guns floating around. The person who left it at the range might not even know that is stolen. I would not want to be caught with a stolen firearm in my possession.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

I'm embarrassed to admit I've been on both ends of this situation. I belong to a club with a reasonably secure range. When I found a Marlin 336 lying abandoned, I took it home and phoned the club officers with my contact info. Eventually the owner stopped by and retrieved his rifle. I'm a bit sorry he did, it was first year of production! The other time, I was the idiot. I'd left a 8 3/8" model 17 behind. Some kind soul took it to the police and I retrieved it a day later. Goes to show ya, even a brilliant gent like me can mess up.

 

[RETG]

POSSIBLY due to being a retired LEO, my first thought would be CRIME HERE.

I would be VERY suspicious of such an incident ---- especially in my state that you MUST have a license to possess a handgun.

I would take a pic of the gun,then call for an officer to come get it ----- AND no way would I leave any fingerprints on it in the event it was used in a crime.

Guess that is what comes from being a cop for over a quarter century .

I guess we think alike. I would just call the local LE. And I live in a very gun friendly state, and only my friends would ever question me about carrying around a new glock. (My friends would as if I lost my mind.) Odds the gun has been used in a crime is probably one in a million, but I would hate to be the one.
But back to the original post, was the gun left there overnight? And did you know the guys who said they knew the owner, and, unless the weapon was highly modified, how would they know who owned the weapon just by looking at it?

 

[bassjam]

I've never had anything like this happen to me, but I'd probably react differently depending on what the gun is.

If it was something like a Glock or Hi Point, I'd assume the owner was tired of their cheap feeling appliance and was just getting rid of it. I might even dissemble it and throw it away for them!

But if it was a quality firearm, I'd probably leave a note with my contact info on it, and also get in contact with whoever runs the range. I doubt I'd want to involve the police.

 

[Kendahl]

My club has a private range restricted to members and their guests. It's open to the general public only for matches for which non-members must provide contact information. Therefore, it should be easy to find the owner of a gun that has been left behind. Since the range has a locked building to which only members have access, I would leave a found gun out of sight inside and notify club officers. Keeping the gun myself for return to the owner raises issues about transfer of possession and possible legal requirements for background checks (as silly as that sounds).

It's harder to deal with a gun found on a range accessible to the general public. Options run from immediately calling an emergency telephone number for the entity that owns the range to calling 911. I would not take possession of the gun and leave behind my personal contact information.

 

[SamT1]

Take it with you, take it to the police after so many days it’s yours if unclaimed or put the word out and try to find the owner yourself.
If you leave it a thief will take it.

I ran across an air compressor on the edge of a dirt road a month or so ago. It appeared someone lost it off their flatbed. I had too much junk in my pickup to load it up, so I put the word out. The guy who lost it called me a couple hours later and asked if I had it, he said it was gone when he went for it. I had only told honest people that had business in the area it’s whereabouts. So someone must have cut through and found a payday in the ditch. I really felt bad I didn’t make more effort to load it up, I bet I’d have got a 30 pack reward for it’s safe return!

 

[H&R Glock]

I find shooting glasses or staple guns at my range every year. Call the club president and tell him, then take the item to him for delivery to the rightful owner. I'd do the same with any firearm left at the club. Sometimes kids enter the club to look for brass or bullets when no one is shooting. I wouldn't want them to find the gun.

 

[TRX]

I'd turn it in to the cops. They have the ability to determine ownership; I don't.

Maybe in the places that have some kind of gun registration system in place. For most of the country, the best they could do would be to contact the ATF and find out when it last changed hands with a 4473.

For a large number of firearms, that would have been quite a few owners ago.

Not only that, even if the owner went to the station to get his gun, unless he had some form of proof that it was his, he probably won't get it back.

 

[cp1969]

For most of the country, the best they could do would be to contact the ATF and find out when it last changed hands with a 4473.

That's more than I can do.