What do I do?

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y.old.ndn

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Today at our garage sale this man (75+) gets dropped off by his son and looks around and buys some stuff, then he starts walking home so I offer him a ride home. When I clear out a seat for him I left a empty 7.62 case in the seat so he says, "you like guns?" We talk some more, then when we get to his house he says "Lemmie show you some of our guns. So we go inside and he pulls out a H&R 12 ga cut down to 10" OAL!:what: I highly doubt he has the atf paper work, and I didn't say anything about it being illegal without paper work so my problem is should I report him or should I turn a blind eye?
 
Since you don't know whether he had an AOW stamp for the thing and nothing he did leads you to think he's a criminal, I don't think I'd risk finding out that he has all the right paperwork by reporting your suspicion.
 
What are you going to report?

that you speculate that he might not have the appropriate paper work.

If you we're really concerned you should have talked to him about it.

I often find that Matthew 18:15 provides a good guide in most of these type of situations. Not your exact situtation, but the principles still apply.
 
its not your business but-- eventually a guest or a health care worker, visiting nurse, etc, may be in the house and see it. and report it.

might be a nice thing to drop back to see him and explain what he has in a " perhaps you are not aware of what you have as laws have changed since you bought/made it" kinda way.
 
Report him to what end?

Do you expect his house to get raided based on your lone statement?

Do you think a single shot shotgun of ANY length poses a greater risk to society more than pretty much any legal modern handgun with 10+ round magazines? As a 75 year old citizen, is it possible the firearm was legal at the time of purchase?

No. Don't report him. Carry on with your life.
 
If you don't think these people are the type to go rob a store I say you just go about your buisness.

Besides you don't know for a fact that he doesn't have the paperwork. :scrutiny:

If he or someone else in his family is dumb enough to take that gun to a public place well then LEOs will deal with them. If it just stays in the house as a HD gun Oh well.

Never really understood the cut down shotgun thing. Really seems to be more of a dramatic movie thing then a truly effective weapon. Must loose a lot of FPS with a 10 inch barrel.
 
Man leave that old guy alone.

If you report him your just trying to put a feather in your own hat.

Whats he gonna do illegally with it that he can't do with legal firearm? If he didn't have paper work for it, or if he don't and doesn't know it is illegal, do you think he is gonna show it to a perfect stranger?

It shouldn't even be a question.
 
No don't report it! No use getting him in trouble, especially when he may have more inteligence than you credit him with and does in fact have the necessary paperwork. Just in case he doesn't have it registered tell him what laws he may have violated and if he doesn't know about them tell him to keep his mouth shut about what he has, don't be showing it off and to not use it unless he has to defend his life or that of his loved ones. Better yet, get rid of it and buy something he doesn't have to worry about being legal to defend his family with.
 
Let it go. Even if his shotgun doesn't meet the law there's no harm done and not your concern unless he's up to no good.
 
Thanks every one. I now see it is not my buisness, so he can do what he wants. I was trying to figure out if I had a legal obligation to report him.(should have made that clear) I want to stay within the bounds of doing what is right...but don't want to be a tattletale. (That "do unto others as you would want them to do unto you" applies here, too.) Right now, all of what we own is "legal," but in the current political climate, who knows what tomorrow brings!
 
That would be akin to a "Man with a gun" call to the police for someone open carrying, except with much siffer, federal penalties. Gunowners have things tough enough as it is without turning in each other for violations of stupid unconstitutional rules.
 
Don't report anything to those ATF guys.

My policy is and always will be, I have seen nothing. I refuse to aid in the enforcement of unconstitutional laws.
 
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Assuming you didn't whip out a tape measure and verify the exact length of the shotgun, you don't know how long it was. As far as you know, it was 18.5", right?
 
Victimless "crimes" are exactly that.

However, if I had an illegal NFA item by accident, I would appreciate it if someone told me about it. So you might consider going back and asking him if it is registered and informing him of the potential penalties if not...

But in the current situation, you don't even know for sure if a victimless crime has been committed. No way I'd report anything like that to ATF. Your word probably isn't enough to raid his house anyway.
 
The people you would report him to have enough trouble obeying the laws of this country and respecting our rights as it is, so as long as you have no reason to believe that this man is a danger to society, then as far as I'm concerned you have no ethical duty to report him. Regarding whether you have a legal duty to report him, I'm not aware of any such statute, so please just let it go.
 
y.old.ndn said:
I didn't say anything about it being illegal without paper work so my problem is should I report him or should I turn a blind eye?
Click to expand...

Did the guy say anything to you about it being illegal to drive a car on a public street without a license? Did he report you for doing so? How did he know you had a license to drive? Capish? What's the difference?
 
You don't report someone because you *think* they *might* have committed a crime.

Most of the time, in life, in general, you shouldn't assume you're in possession of all the facts.
 
I'd go back to his house and say respectfully to him:

"Sir, I've been thinking about our last visit and something wasn't sitting easy on my conscience. Although I admired the shotgun you showed me, I subsequently wondered if you were aware that it might be illegal to own that shotgun without very specific federal paperwork. I say 'might' because I didn't measure the barrel, and for all I know, you do have the proper paperwork."

"However, if you were unaware of the law, I'd hate to see you unknowingly facing a federal felony charge. The law requires any shotgun with a barrel under 18 inches to have a special $200 federal tax stamp. Without that tax stamp, it is punishable by five years in prison."

"Now, I am certainly not going to tell anyone about this because I am not a big fan of our Ruling Bureaucrats in DC with their unconstitutional laws anyway. But I would sure hate to see a nice elderly gentleman get caught unawares."

"Thank you for showing me the kindness of listening to me. Good day."

If he follows up by asking questions, then help him understand.
 
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