Avoiding buying stolen Guns

[cyclesarge]

Any of you worry about buying stolen guns at gun shows or from individuals that advertise guns for sale. I am guessing this has been discussed before but I was not able to find anything searching for "Stolen Guns"

Anyone use sites like stolenweapon.com or hotgunz.com to check?

I've entered the numbers off a friend's guns on the sights and they came back clean, a few weeks after he had reported the guns stolen the the police. I think they only show up if you register the guns stolen with the websites. It's a good idea but their database seems limited.

 

[009]

i notice things, and even two years ago i have heard the ser. number being read. maybe its only handgun. like the dol p/w for handguns in wa. i even notice oregon folks having tables here in wa.gun shows and selling like their private sales/wa. residents. whoops!

 

[Jeppi]

Is this for OR residents only or guns reported stole in OR only?

After reading this thread I did some research and in Oregon there is a 1-800 you can call and it takes about 30 seconds over the phone. Not really any work for peace of mind and covering your own butt.

 

[Jeppi]

I think both of these sites are owned by individuals that have had guns stolen from them so they decided to set up a website where you can register or list stole guns to help recover them, I agree this database is probably very limited

I've entered the numbers off a friend's guns on the sights and they came back clean, a few weeks after he had reported the guns stolen the the police. I think they only show up if you register the guns stolen with the websites. It's a good idea but their database seems limited.

 

[absoluterik07]

Is this for OR residents only or guns reported stole in OR only?

You know I'm not sure. I know it is through the Oregon state police but I just found the number on the state resource website page. Here it is: 1-800-432-5059 Maybe if you call they can tell you. I just used it to run a gun check.

 

[phathom]

I always have them fill out a bill of sale (under NWFA resources/forums) and we each keep a copy with each others information on it (copied from their CHL/ODL).
It covers the buyer and the seller. If I'm the buyer and find out later it's stolen, I have a lead on who sold it. If I'm the seller and it they use it in a crime, and I get questioned if it was last known to be with me, then I have proof that I sold it and who I sold it too.

Also I will only sell to people who have a valid CHL and that information is also written down on the bill of sale.

 

[jankun]

You know I'm not sure. I know it is through the Oregon state police but I just found the number on the state resource website page. Here it is: 1-800-432-5059 Maybe if you call they can tell you. I just used it to run a gun check.

Does Washington have a phone number for checks as well or can WA residents use that number as well? I believe you need the firearm in your posession at the time of the check so law enforcement can obtain the firearm if it comes up stolen. Therefore I'd assume WA has to have a different number.

 

[Redcap]

I always have them fill out a bill of sale (under NWFA resources/forums) and we each keep a copy with each others information on it (copied from their CHL/ODL).
It covers the buyer and the seller. If I'm the buyer and find out later it's stolen, I have a lead on who sold it. If I'm the seller and it they use it in a crime, and I get questioned if it was last known to be with me, then I have proof that I sold it and who I sold it too.

Also I will only sell to people who have a valid CHL and that information is also written down on the bill of sale.

 

[Jeppi]

I emailed one of sites, stolenweapon.com and got this response, so it looks like there are very few stolen guns listed on this site compared to how many are floating around out there

"There are over 500,000 guns stolen every year in the US alone, with between 100,000 and 200,000 being reported. So there are literally millions out there that are stolen. our database has about 1600 guns in it at the moment. We are still in our infancy and obviously we will never have them all or even close. We are here to offer a place to those who have had guns stolen a chance to get some exposure to them.,....................back to your question. The percentage would be less than 0.1 %.

Thanks for your inquiry,
Aaron Crowder
Founder / www.stolenweapon.com"