Would you buy firearm responsible for a death?

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It wouldn't bother me, it's just a tool that did it's job. The firearm wasn't responsible, the hand holding it and the brian controlling that hand are responsible. To me that question is like asking if I would buy a hammer that has struck a nail.

matt z
 
By the reading of the title of this thread...the firearm clearly should be incarcerated.

(Sorry, I read no further)
 
It's a non-issue for me. Whether a given gun has fired a bullet that killed a person (or animal) or not has nothing to do with me. If the gun is legal for me to own and isn't stolen, I'd buy it even if it had been used "as intended".
 
I wouldn't really be troubled by it but I might be put off if it had a particularly gruesome story behind it (not that you would ever know if buying a used gun). But if it was used in a suicide by someone I knew (like someone had mentioned before) I would not want it whatsoever. With mil surps I'd hope they had killed someone, I like to imagine it was owned by some hero soldier, hope that isn't too dark.
 
Many firearm enthusiasts and forum members own military surplus rifles which have seen action.
 
If it was something I wanted, was in decent condition and was priced right, I wouldn't care of it killed a family of nuns. It isn't like the gun did anything wrong. It is just pieces of metal and maybe plastic. It has not evil will of its own.
 
I wouldn't knowingly have a firearm that was used in a crime that hadn't been cleared - I mean, I wouldn't want to take a chance on being implicated myself years down the line. But that's just prudence.

But otherwise, no problem; I'm not that superstitious, and don't believe ghosts attach themselves to objects. ;)

(I've got a WWII Jap rifle I inherited from my Dad, and a Samurai sword that's hundreds of years old - odds are, both have taken lives And I don't feel the least bit haunted.)
 
^ if it saved my life but was no longer functional it would be framed. If it was still functional it would still be on my hip everyday. Some people carry lucky rabbit's feet, I carry a gun.
 
lnjowell, I'm sorry about your friend. I think it's nice that the piece brings good memories of him to you.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your condolences. Its been a few years now, but that kind of pain never goes away. It dulls, slips into the background, but sometimes a simple thing can trigger it and bring it back again.

Contrary to what a lot of people would think, the gun itself does not bring me bad feelings. In fact, I can remember us going together to the local gun shops and browsing and negotiating until we got the best deal we could get on it. I think about all the time we spent together working loads for it and our other guns. It brings a smile to my face and brings me a little closer to my lost friend when I shoot that gun. I could lose all of my other guns, including my first shotgun that my dad gave me when I was 11, but I would never let go of my friends pistol. A lot of us will never say it to our guy friends, most of us will never think about it, but once he was gone i realized what a huge part of my life he was, I loved him like a brother. We had been friends since we were 14 years old, and in most respects he was a member of our family.

Sorry to bore you with that story, but its important to the history of the firearm. Many people have expressed feelings that they would never want to own a gun that took a friend or relatives life. Its all in your perspective really, because the gun doesnt know what it was used to do, nor does it care.
 
Doesn't bother me. I think one of the former owners of my house died in my home (non-violently), just based on what the neighbors have told me. Doesn't bother me, either.

Death is inevitable for all of us, eventually. Even in a homicide the gun doesn't carry the burden of that death.
 
How would a firearm or any object be responsible for a death? It has no control or mind or consciousness. It is an object.

Heck, I found out from the neighbors that three people died in my house over the years gone by, including a small child who was accidentally run over by his father... Should I bulldoze it?
 
In my area (south Florida) any weapon used in a crime (or in a suicide) will never see the light of day again once a department impounded it. We were even very, very careful about selling/disposing of surplus department inventory weapons (only through a large dealer). As a practical matter a weapon has a lifespan that will greatly exceed its first owner, and if properly cared for will work just fine 100 years later. Many chiefs of police are quite careful of disposing weapons since any reporter can trace one back to its source if they're willing to take the time and effort. With all the other things that can shorten the tenure of a chief, being anything other than very careful about weapons that the Department controls isn't the best idea. I'm sure many small departments do things differently but in urban areas that's pretty much been my experience....
 
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