Posted: 7/28/2008 9:49:52 AM EDT
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I've become increasingly concerned about the hypothetical below, not because I think I own (or have purchased) a stolen firearm, but because I want to mitigate any potential consequences now. I try to carry receipts at all times. Hypothetical: Individual purchases gun in store from local gun dealer. Individual travels periodically out of state to various competitions and uses the purchased gun at the competitions. Individual is stopped by law enforcement out of state for a traffic violation. LEO asks individuals if he has any firearms in his possession. Upon receiving an affirmative response, LEO asks for and receives permission to search. Gun is located, serial number is run, and gun is reported stolen. 1. Will individual go straight to jail? What if individual provides proof (e.g., a receipt) that the gun was purchased from gun dealer? LEO will obviously want to confirm details behind receipt. Anything to do to mitigate the possibility of going to jail until confirmation is received? 2. Will a receipt from the local dealer be sufficient to prevent DA from bringing formal charges? If local gun dealer refuses to give any information to the LEO or DA, what options does individual have? Dealer must supply info to ATF when requested, but I don't think an individual or a LEO has any power to force compliance from dealer. 3. Can individual recover cost of firearm from dealer in civil court? If individual installed many upgrades to firearm (e.g., drop in trigger, etc.), can individual recover the cost of those items from dealer? If individual spends a couple of days/nights in jail before bailing out, does individual have any recourse against selling gun dealer for lost wages? What if individual lost his job completely? That hypothetical scares me to death. Let's try to avoid discussing whether permission should be given to search (or whether the LEO has the right to search). Assume that the gun is in plain sight (e.g., it's on a gun rack) when the officer approaches the vehicle. I would love to run all of my guns now, but I doubt that my local LEO will run the 50 of so guns in my collection to check whether they are stolen. I don't think they'd run a single gun. |
I can't speak for the DA, but we could certainly provide a copy of the invoice and verify via our bound book that we sold the firearm in question to you should LE or the DA ask, with no court order necessary if you authorize us to release the info. We do like repeat business after all.  |