"Passing on" or whatever it is called

[LittleLarry454]

FWIW, I think we have some paranoia here. I have never heard of BATFE agents wasting time going through probated wills. They may be public records, but I think (hope) the Feds have better things to do than poring over millions of wills in search of lists of guns.

I agree. And there's a LOT of public records, so the thought of the BATFE going though them is pretty slim.

I think the auction or consignment is the way to go in a case of a person with a large collection. Especially the consignment route. The consinor will try to get the best price, because his cut is better and assuming he's a FFL, everything is on paper then.

 

[John Ross]

Don't forget to list the GPS coordinates of anything you've buried...

JR

 

[Leatherneck]

Jim, good thread; thanks for posting it. I have one problem with this part:

If you have unregistered NFA items or other illegal stuff, clue someone in so they will know and not get into trouble.

If you did have unregistered NFA stuff, it would be illegal, right? So if you told me about it, then I've got knowledge of a felony(?) in progress for as long as you keep the item. That's not only a legal problem for me, but a moral one as well. I think you might apply the same "put notice in safe deposit box" philosophy.

TC
TFL Survivor

 

[bdhawk]

good idea

your idea has a lot of merit. a sweet little ole widow lady sold a pristine ruger .45 colt blackhawk to a shootin' buddy of mine for $100.00. she had no idea what it was worth. his consience got to bothering him and he went back to her, telling her that she made a bad deal for herself. she stuck to it, but she probabally did not want to go back on her word.

 

[entropy]

"Or "finally got in touch with that "entropy" thing..."

 

[Jim K]

Hi, Leatherneck,

You are correct, and that section was not well thought out. I had in mind cases where your ownership of an illegal item is known to a friend, and you might want to let him know so he can get it to keep or destroy after you are gone. Of course, this makes him an accessory to a crime.

On consideration, I will say that any illegal items should be turned into the police or BATF. The trouble is that most folks who do have such things want to keep them and generally do not want anything to do with the LE community.

Anyway, it is an area that people need to think about before their actions get their survivors into trouble.

Jim

 

[Sam Adams]

Jim Kennan, LittleLarry454

I am not an attorney, but I have never heard of anyone listing guns in a will unless it was to parcel out specific guns to specific heirs. Mostly, the will just says "guns" or "gun collection" if the testator wants to deal with the guns separately from his or her other possessions.

FWIW, I think we have some paranoia here. I have never heard of BATFE agents wasting time going through probated wills. They may be public records, but I think (hope) the Feds have better things to do than poring over millions of wills in search of lists of guns.

And there's a LOT of public records, so the thought of the BATFE going though them is pretty slim.

1. It is the listing of specific guns in a will that I was addressing.

2. Even if you just leave "guns" or a "gun collection" to 1 or more heirs (and even if they're not mentioned at all in the will), many states have a requirement that the Executor provide an inventory of the estate's assets and their values to the Court. When I come across this situation, I uniformly advise the Executor to simply include the value in "miscellaneous property" and leave it at that.

3. Given the state of the law in this country up to the present time, I would agree that such caution may seem excessive. However, I always advise my clients for the long term. Who knows what the future will bring? Can you guarantee that Hillary won't get elected in 2008 and name Schumer as her AG, or that some event or events (real or manufactured, like the Reichstag Fire) won't result in a clampdown on our RKBA and a large increase in funding for the BATF (large enough, for example, to send a few people to every probate court in the country over a period of 5 or 10 years)? I don't have a crystal ball, but I do try to make sure that anyone who gets advice from me is prepared for as many things as possible. I am sure that most of those who opposed the Nazis in the early '30's didn't think that registering their guns was a problem, and equally sure that many of them felt quite differently later on.

In case you didn't notice, gun owners and all lovers of Freedom and Liberty are in a cultural war against the collectivists. They want our guns, ALL of them, and have even stated so publicly. We'd be foolish to provide any additional means by which our ownership can be proven. That's not paranoia, that's prudence.