Ever Sold A Gun That Was Later Used In A Crime?

[Geezer]

The BOS thread got me to wondering if anyone here has ever sold or traded a gun that was later used in a crime? If so, how did it go for you?

It happened to me once about 5 years ago and happened to a couple of friends many years ago.

I traded a Kel-Tec PF-9 for something, I have no idea what. About 2 years later, the FFL that I bought it from called me and was all excited. He said that the ATF was looking for me. They had called him and asked who had bought Kel-Tec serial number XXX. He looked and gave them my information.

About 2 months later, a detective from Randleman, NC called me and asked if I had owned the gun. I answered "Yes." He then asked me if it had ever been lost or stolen. I answered "No." He said, "OK, thank you.", and started to hang up. I asked him what was going on. He said that he couldn't tell me much but that the gun had been used in a crime. He said the gun was recovered and they just had to trace it back and see if it had ever been lost or stolen as a standard part of the investigation.

He never asked when, where, or to whom the gun went, only if it had been lost or stolen.

 

[TheMailMan]

While working in a gun store I sold a regular customer a Browning Hi-Power. 23 years later his then girlfriend shot him to death with it.

 

[Glenn B]

Had the police come to my apartment way back in 1983 or so. They were inquiring about a pistol I had sold to a woman from Calipatria, CA. If I remember right (and don't quote this as gospel) the gals husband had shot someone with it or she shot him (and that one is what seems stronger in memory than her husband shooting someone with it). Legal shooting, as I remember the officers told me, but rather unsettling to have the police come to my home telling me someone was shot with a gun I had sold and they wanted to interview me about it. They were professionals and nice guys, took a look at my BOS/receipt, asked a few questions, and left. Never heard more about it. I have kept that sales receipt/BOS, all the years since then, among my firearms records.

 

[craigntx]

i got a call that one of mine had been used in a shooting. cop wasn't specific.
he just asked if it had been stolwn from me and where i had sold it (tx gun trader)
whats strange is how he(cop) got # as it was a new #.
evidently at tomball pawn they gave it to him as i had a gun delayed and had written my # on that 4473

 

[Renegade]

The BOS thread got me to wondering if anyone here has ever sold or traded a gun that was later used in a crime? If so, how did it go for you?

I sold a MAC-10. No BOS. Conversation with ATF was 15 seconds ("yes I sold it last year, do not know who to").

 

[rotor]

How did the cops know to come to you? I thought that our guns were NOT registered. I know that if you buy through a FFL that he keeps a 4473 but how do the cops track down by a serial number that you had the gun? Enlighten me.

 

[Geezer]

Back in Virginia in the mid 1980's, my good friend bought a new Ruger Security Six at the local hardware store. Somewhere down the line he traded it off.
A few years later and in the same county, two neighbors were having a property line dispute. They had the land surveyed and it determined the property line. Someone had been taking down No Trespassing signs on their property. The man and his son were in the process of building new fence along the boundary of their farm. The man and son were going through the woods to return to working on the fence when the neighbor ambushed them, shooting and killing both the man and the son.
The gun that was used was the Ruger that my friend had originally bought.
ATF contacted my buddy and told him that they were tracing the gun. It was just a formality as they had the gun in their possession at the time.
Ironically, both my buddy and myself were friends with the son that was killed. He was about our age and I was in the Army Reserves with him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...quitted/47f113d4-7549-4abf-8498-24360fa7b26c/

 

[txhawg]

Probably a paper trail from the mfr all the way to the ffl.



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[Shady]

Duno what you consider a crime.

I had a g17 and a raven .25 stolen from my house. 2 years latter I get a call they found my stolen gun and I could recover it. Turns out it was the raven and it had been tossed into a water bucket and sat in it for a long time it was rusted to crap. I am not sure if they tested it but it was a mess. I scrubbed and sanded it and it still functions but is not pretty not that it ever was.

Then a year or 2 latter the glock was recovered in the waistband of a local hoodlum at school it was covered in white grease pen with case numbers and id numbers the cops said it came back clear of any murders but was used in a crime thats all they would say.

This was in California 15 or so years ago.

From the wear on it it had been in a waistband a LONG time.

 

[Renegade]

How did the cops know to come to you? I thought that our guns were NOT registered. I know that if you buy through a FFL that he keeps a 4473 but how do the cops track down by a serial number that you had the gun? Enlighten me.

Gun with SN123 is recovered.

ATF calls RPB asks who they sold SN123 to.
RPB says they sold it to XYZ.
XYZ says the xferred SN123 to me on 4473.

 

[cvgunman]

Probably a paper trail from the mfr all the way to the ffl.



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Correct. ATF will start with Mfg. then to distributor and final FFL. They request a copy the 4473 from store and go from there.