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Stolen Gun?

dick471dick471 Member Posts: 21 ✭✭
edited January 2012 in Ask the Experts
Is there any way to find if a stolen gun was ever registered? I had a Walther PP .380 S/N 32665 stolen in San Francisco Jan 1977. Made a police report but nothing ever found or they never notified me.

Comments

  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,875 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The theft should have been reported by the police to the Treasury Dept for addition to the stolen gun data base. Only the police can access that data base. Some local PDs will check the data base for you, upon request; however, at this point, doesn't seem like it's worth the effort.

    Neal
  • CSI21CSI21 Member Posts: 1,206 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have never heard of the stolen gun database, your local department can run it NCIC and see if its still listed. I have recovered a Luger that was stolen in 1973 from Seattle Washington here in NC. Just never know where guns will show up. It could have be located and removed from NCIC and they not know your new address.
  • 62fuelie62fuelie Member Posts: 1,069 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The department that took the report is required to enter serial numbers of stolen property in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). These numbers remain in the system until cleared by a competent user. You could ask your local agency to run the number to ensure that it is still listed as an active stolen.
  • Manoa-FishermanManoa-Fisherman Member Posts: 190 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Here in Hawaii, instances have occurred when a gun is purchased on the mainland or brought in a new resident is registered with the county police departments and found to have been stolen. The registration here requires the serial numbers of all firearms, handguns, rifles and shotguns to be included in the registration process.

    A check of the national data base has resulted in some expensive shotguns being confiscated at registration and returned to the person reporting the firearm stolen in one case that I know of. So it appears there is a procedure for recovering a stolen firearm if has been registered in another jurisdiction. It is just that some jurisdictions either have no registration requirement or lack the manpower to check the database.
  • tambourinemantambourineman Member Posts: 150 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Try this:

    www.hotgunz.com
  • 47studebaker47studebaker Member Posts: 2,251 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The NCIC entry can only be removed by the Dept. that entered it into the system, or that was the way it was in 1999.
  • Toolman286Toolman286 Member Posts: 2,964 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
  • Riomouse911Riomouse911 Member Posts: 3,492 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I got a Iver Johnson tp-22 back after 10 years stolen...it was seized 4 years prior and never ran through the system by the deputy who booked it. Only when the property clerk was checking to see if it was ready to be destroyed did the stolen record come up. They sent it back to me with a copy of the report when it was located (it was taken for safekeeping on a crazy-person call). The mag still has the case number on it.

    Call SFPD and see if it is/isn't in the NCIC system using the serial number. Since the 90's, in Ca reports involving stolen guns have to be kept by the agency until the gun is recovered... but I don't know what the rules were back in '77. NCIC should keep them active until it is recovered as well.
  • givettegivette Member Posts: 10,886
    edited November -1
    SFPD is the baseline to start your querie. But, now that begs the question:

    New owner.

    How can a new purchaser obtain a 'clear title' to a firearm? Is their any way to insure that a firearm is 'clean' [read: not on any list] prior to purchase?

    Thanks, Joe
  • andrewsw16andrewsw16 Member Posts: 10,728 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It's up to your local LE organization as to whether they will run a serial number of a prospective purchase as a courtesy to you. Ours will. That way you don't accidentally buy a stolen gun, and at best, lose your investment, and at worst, get charged with possession of stolen property.

    After thought editted in: I wonder what the possibility would be of allowing the general public to have READ-ONLY access to the NCIC database, at least the stolen gun portion. Then people could run their own checks before buying. Heck, if they wanted to cover the cost of the connection, they could offer a reward for information on stolen guns. Just wonderin'....
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