Stolen Gun Hot Sheet?

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boomer1911a1

boomer1911a1

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I did a search in THR for this topic but came up with nothing. And Mods, if this is in the wrong spot, please move it as you see fit.

Is there a public access database of stolen firearms? I had one stolen out of my car about 2 years ago, and I would like to know if (A) it has been recovered, but the notification process is lagging, (B) it was recovered in some un-gunfriendly Yankee territory and melted down to make lug nuts for Mayor Bloomberg's limo, or (C) if it's even still listed as stolen and would ring any bells if presented to an FFL for sale.

Anybody know anything?
 
If not, there should be. Maybe a call to your local Sheriff would be a good place to start.

Sorry for your loss, and good luck,
Buzzcut


.
 
Not sure

My method has always been to call my local Police Chief and ask him to run the SN. As far as a public database, I have never heard of such a thing. It would be nice though. I always thought of it as 1 more reason to be on friendly terms with the local cops. If you have the Serial Number I can ask one of my LEO friends to run it and see what comes up. An interesting side-note, in most jurisdictions, it is SOP to run the SN of every firearm they come in contact with.
Dalton
 
I had that happen to me once. I got stopped for a non-moving violation and had a pistol in the car. They ran the serial and it came back stolen. :what:

Fortunately the pistol I had was a .45 black powder derringer, the stolen number was attached to a .38 revolver. I still ended up in handcuffs for a couple hours. But what the hey, I just left a friend's house after Monday Night Football, and didn't have anything to do anyway. Sorta broke up the drudgery...

Back to the topic, I agree; your best bet is to simply contact the local and state authorities and report it. The sooner they know to watch for it, the better chance you have of hearing what becomes of it. You can almost forget ever getting it back though. Likely if ever found it will be tied up in red tape, being held as evidence.

It's sort of made me think about attaching a hidden RFID tag into some of my firearms though. Kind of hard to deny it's yours if you can sweep it with a gun and comes back with a number.
 
Thank you, both.

The investigators told me that because they are so regulated and tracked, stolen guns do tend to turn up and get returned.

They ALSO told me, (gulp!) that because I left my garage door open (totally my brain fart) I might be held liable if the gun were used in a crime. I'm not 100% convinced of that, but I'm not 100% convinced of the opposite, either. In any event, I would rather NEVER lay eyes on this gun again, than to be informed that it was used by some kid to kill another kid...or similar bad story.

I guess I'll call up the Plano PD and see if they've heard anything.

FWIW, BTW: It was a Springfield Armory 1911A1, "Loaded." One of a pair I had swapped slides on to render that two-tone effect. The stolen one had a stainless frame and a matte-black slide...
 
To the best of my knowledge there is no public data base available.

I too believe that the hot sheet should be public information .
 
If it has surfaced at a gun store or was used in a crime the LEO will have been alerted and you would most likely have gotten it back.


Of course in most cases it takes 10 years or more for a stolen gun to surface so patience is your friend.
 
I have NEVER seen a "Stolen Gun Database" on the web~?

BTW, there ought to be one maintained and kept current showing
that weapons were stolen, and recovered. When a weapon was
recovered, under the "Comments Section" all that would be needed
is "Returned To The Rightful Owner"- nothing else~!;) :D
 
A stolen gun database is about the only national regisrty I would support, with the caveat that it would be removed from the registry once recovered by the rightful owner. I would like to look up guns I buy in private sales before hand to ensure I wasn't buying a gun stolen from Florida up here in Idaho.

Now to me, that would be a piece of legislation that would help to prevent and even solve crimes.
 
It's sort of made me think about attaching a hidden RFID tag into some of my firearms though. Kind of hard to deny it's yours if you can sweep it with a gun and comes back with a number.
Click to expand...

Maybe those should be required. That way the ATF&E could drive past our houses and know what guns we have. It would stop all those messy forced entrys.
 
The problem I see with a large, stolen firearms database is just that.....

it will be a large firearm database.

Serial numbers, the owners and their information DO NOT belong in ANY database of any kind when mention the ATF.

Stolen or not, you would be giving the ATF a database to keep track of guns - VERY BAD IDEA.

PS - I am an LEO and will run a firearm for you if you send me a PM.
 
So when a FFL transfers a firearm, does the call-in process include running the serial number?
 
Ah, but here's the thing.

What if the database did not contain serial numbers, but instead, secure hashes of serial numbers? The serials would need to be entered into the DB using specific protocols to ensure correct matching.

With this method, you would have to have the serial number to see if it's listed in the database, and you would not be able to troll databases for lists of serial numbers. This has been the de facto method for storing computer passwords for decades.
 
When an FFL does a call in they are checking on the buyer......the firearm doesnt matter and is not part of the process.

Im of the opinion ANY government control or inclusion in a database is a bad thing. Who says how its setup.....who maintains it......lots of questions. Dont think for a minute that the ATF is going to setup a database based on what you want. It wont happen. These are the people that shoot first and ask questions later.....dont put ANY of your information in their hands, secured or not. If you allow them a database they are going to get to say how it works and hows its setup.....I dont see them taking a public opinion poll on the matter.
 
The NCIS stolen gun database is already out there. I'd just like a public access portal where you enter a serial number and it will come back as "no record" or "stolen 02/23/2007", etc. like the Florida system. That way people don't have to find out the hard way like risasi did if they have a weapon that had been stolen at some point.
 
Why there isn't a public hot sheet list!!!

Because than, the police would have to waste their time putting guns back on the street (read returning them to their rightful owners) instead of simply chucking them into a furnace, thus reducing the number of evil guns in circulation!!

I believe with all my heart that the policy of most police departments is to "take guns off of the street"!!!

I found that out several years ago when I went to recover my revolver that was used in a self defensive situation by a friend of mine, in Scottsdale AZ. The city of Scottsdale brought charges in the case that were subsequently dissmissed. They were not going to return my property even after the case was dismissed,even though I had the original receipt for the gun, and I found out that the policy was to melt down all guns taken in!! It took a court order to force them to return my property!!

Needless to say my faith in the government to protect my rights, property or otherwise, was and still is badly corroded!!
 
Quote:
It's sort of made me think about attaching a hidden RFID tag into some of my firearms though. Kind of hard to deny it's yours if you can sweep it with a gun and comes back with a number.


answerguy said:
Maybe those should be required. That way the ATF&E could drive past our houses and know what guns we have. It would stop all those messy forced entrys.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll play along...

:D You caught me, I'm a secret government plant. MK Ultra actually.

Seriously, I'm not worried about that, they're too lazy to drive by and "scan" people's houses. Now spooks might be a different story...anyway, since I'd be putting them in my own handguns I'd A. Make sure they were low power modules. B. Leave them in there for identification, say for instance if the gun was disfigured in such a way you couldn't get a serial, etc.

And, no. I don't think it should be legislated in to add RFID to handguns or any other such nonsense. Hey, that would make a good conspiracy theory though. What if...they are already doing it. :scrutiny:


Anyway, I think we've answered the question; report it like any other stolen property.
 
They ALSO told me, (gulp!) that because I left my garage door open (totally my brain fart) I might be held liable if the gun were used in a crime. I'm not 100% convinced of that, but I'm not 100% convinced of the opposite, either. In any event, I would rather NEVER lay eyes on this gun again, than to be informed that it was used by some kid to kill another kid...or similar bad story.
Click to expand...
Perhaps civilly liable, but usually not criminally liable. It depends on the state.

Pilgrim
 
Question for Mr. Aaron R. Kelley-

Sir-

With all due respect, does YOUR agency not consider "running a gun"
thru NCIC an act of opening up a criminal investigation; thus possibly
subjecting you to criminal prosecution, under the statue of using a
a govermental database for personal gain? Past experience, shows
that my old agency looked at this issue in this respect.

Just suppose that a weapon came back as a "HIT", I'm positive that
my former agency would want me too confiscate the said weapon
and logged it into the property clerk as a "Recovered Stolen Firearm".
If I were unable to do that, I just might be subject to the wrath of
our police chief, city council, or mayor; which might include some
form of disciplinary action, or criminal prosecution.

Case in point, a recent sheriff's election here in Jefferson County,
Alabama resulted in a former sheriff using a governmental computer
too check on registered voters in a given district. The reason being,
he was challenging the results because he lost by a total of 6 votes.
When push came to shove, the federal court DA indicted the former
sheriff and the case went to cout. Low and behold, this man was
found GUILTY; and is currently awaiting sentence.

BTW, Thank You Sir- very much for the offer to "run weapons
thru NCIC". I offer the above story not as criticism, but as a word
of caution on how some departments look upon this type of act.
 
We are a very small dept, counting the sheriff we are talking a total of 5 deputies. Small town, small town views.....we can go entire months without an "investigation" being opened up. We dont generate case numbers for requests of information.....under most circumstances.

We do this for people in town when requested, I guess I havent considered the difference. People will bring in a serial under the premise that someone is selling this gun but the price is oddly low and they want to check if its stolen....the sheriff will run it regardless.

I suppose if it WAS stolen we could track it down.....and therefore not the same as running one for someone not standing in front of me.

Good question, I will check into it further....
 
stolen gun database

I know this is an old post but a guy I work with made a stolen firearms database that is completely anonymous. I thought it was a good idea and figured someone coming across this post might find it useful. Here is a link:
http://www.hotgunz.com
 
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