7 - 10,000 stolen firearms found in man's home

[jimpeel]

This happened in South Carolina. The cops say that there is no evidence that he was trafficking the firearms and that 99.9% of them were long guns. He is apparently simply a hoarder -- of stolen goods. The best pics of the booty are on The Daily Mail site out of Britain.

It took four tractor trailer loads to get it all out of there with one full of firearms and another full of ammo. The other two were full of everything else he took in including quad runners, chain saws, and taxidermed trophies.

The cops say that there are somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 firearms and they simply stopped counting after it became too tedious. A formal accounting will hopefully return most of them to their rightful owners.

http://dailym.ai/1Wbwgue

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Personal gun buy back program?

 

[kilimanjaro]

I hate to say this, but how are the police going to prevent internal theft? Thousands of uninventoried guns in locked trailers is going to invite a lot of issues. This is going to require a dedicated team, a secured work and storage area, controlled access, and security overwatch. Several officers and some volunteers doing nothing else for weeks.

 

[rickyrick]

Most stolen property is never returned, even when police find it.

I like the pretty wreath on one of the walls and the local witness named Rusty Fender.

So no mention on how he aquired these... I bet he merely has been taking them in as trade for drugs

 

[SEKLEM]

Assuming an average value of $200 per gun, and assuming there's only 7000 guns, that's 1.4 million dollars in guns.

 

[jimpeel]

His affirmative defense: "I was keeping these weapons off the streets."

The Brady bunch will raise hosannas to his name.

 

[Skans]

Maybe there is a jem or two in there, but most of those guns didn't look all that valuable.

 

[jimpeel]

And they won't be after the cops mishandle them and engrave evidence numbers on them.

 

[kilimanjaro]

The cops are going to have to return the stolen items to the owners. They already look pretty bad for allowing a known felon to engage in fencing so much stolen property that he needed a warehouse and storage units for it all, let alone excess of 7,000 firearms.

I can hear the defense attorneys claiming the cops knew all about it, and did nothing as long as he warehoused the guns and didn't put them out on the street, kind of a public safety service kind of thing. I'm not buying that scenario, the cost to acquire the guns is just too much to believe the fence would just sit on them and not sell any on.

 

[jimpeel]

That was my thought. This guy must have a lot of funds that he will let sit idle while the goods languish in a warehouse. What are his sources of income to have that kind of disposable capital?

 

[rickyrick]

Even at 25$ it's not chump change.

I'm guessing he took them in trade. Maybe he has an obsession, but still enormous value even if sold cheaply.

 

[doofus47]

hey, he has the same filing system that I had when I was 11!
I wonder if there are any C&R rifles in that mess.
I hope they don't melt down the collectibles.

 

[kilimanjaro]

They could, even if it's not South Carolina policy or law to destroy them, if they've got, say, 2,000 guns left over after returning the others to the rightful owners that can pass a background check, I can see the gun haters making headlines over a public auction or sale of 2,000 guns. Some politicos may just decide to forego the income in favor of publicity.

 

[rickyrick]

What happens to guns found on criminals in most other cases? Are the seized by police and returned to the last "legal" owner?

These are only assumed to be stolen at this point. But he may be a felon in possession of firearms. They would have to prove that each individual firearm was stolen. That may be nearly impossible unless someone reported them missing.

With the number if illegal firearms running around I am guessing that very few are reported.

 

[PolarFBear]

I had a firearm stolen from me once. It was found by a police agency in South Carolina. Regrettably, it was used in a murder. The sheriff's department called me to verify that I was the owner. I had filed a police report of theft the day the pistol was stolen. That has been over 11 years ago. I have yet to get the pistol back; never even a follow up to see if I wanted it back. The perpetrator, a career criminal , used the gun to kill, another career criminal: his brother. They were arguing over a ham sandwich at their father's residence. The only good thing about this tragedy was it DID take two career criminals off the streets of Charleston.

 

[dakota.potts]

I have to check the law again carefully, but in South Carolina a person caught illegally carrying a used weapon and convicted must forfeit the weapon as part of the crime. The weapon can be used by the police department or traded to an FFL for a new firearm to use for the department.I wonder how that applies here

 

[45_auto]

in South Carolina a person caught illegally carrying a used weapon and convicted must forfeit the weapon as part of the crime.

What's the penalty if he's carrying a new weapon? Why would whether the weapon is new or used make any difference in the penalty?

 

[dakota.potts]

There isn't a difference. I was typing faster than I was thinking. That law applies to all handguns (open or concealed) and all concealed weapons (excepting knives, razors, knuckles, rifles, shotguns, and a few others which are not illegal to carry unless used in furtherance of a crime or with intent to commit a crime)

 

[johnwilliamson062]

Insanely enough, I have heard many anecdotes of departments that do not return stolen firearms as a matter of policy. All a person can do is take them to court over it which costs more than most firearms.

 

[rickyrick]

There was just a case where a person took the police department to court to get his guns back.

They were stolen from him by a relative and used in a particularly heinous crime.

Since he was not the criminal in the case and did not commit any wrong doing, he felt he had the right to his property back. The police refused to return the guns on the basis of the magnitude and the nature of the crime.

The court found in favor of the gun owner and ordered the return of the firearms.

The police department decided to buy the guns rather than to return them. I think they paid 4000 for them.

I'm typing from memory, so I hope my statements are accurate.