Finding a gun in a rental house

[DawidDabrowski]

My friend rents a house in Santa Clara County. He discovered there was a shotgun under his bed. It's been there for years now, nobody touched it, nobody cared. The owner of the house does not really care about what my friend does in the house as long as he pays the rent, the owner lives in Florida now.

What I am asking for is a piece of advice.
1. Can my friend legally handle the gun (inspect it) in the house?
2. Can he take it to the range legally?
3. Can I take it to the range legally? I live somewhere else.

[waygeekierthanu]

With the new laws against loaning, I'm not sure that you can do much of anything with it. It's not his so I would argue that he should not take it to the range. You should definitely not. I definitely would clear it if nothing else but otherwise I just wouldn't mess with it.

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[P5Ret]

Maybe I'm just overly cautions, but I wouldn't touch it if I have no idea who's it is. It's a bit unclear in your post, but does it belong to the property owner, a previous renter or?

I know I sure as hell would hate to be stopped on the way to the range with what could potentially be a gun reported as stolen or lost.

[waygeekierthanu]

Not to mention, you have no idea what condition it's in. Let's say he put the slug in there and then chamber is already cracked a little bit and it blows up in his face. It's just not worth it you can get shotguns for like three hundred bucks if you really want one.

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[tbc]

Report it to the authority and ask for their instruction.

[HUTCH 7.62]

Report it to the authority and ask for their instruction.

Bad advise. Just what the op’s friend needs is the DOJ thugs from the Politburo to kick down his door.

I would talk to the landlord first before talking to the authorities.

[Jimmy's]

Great gift. Be quite!

[Simi762]

San Francisco will buy it

[yoteassasin]

Lots of lame speak in this thread... possession is 9/10 of the law. And after 3 years it's yours now. If you are too scared to touch it I'm sure some one with a pair will come over and take it off your hands

[boopiejones]

I would at the very least confirm it is clear. I assume your friend rented the house fully furnished? Or did he bring in his own bed and then the shotgun magically appeared under the bed at a later date?

[ChuckDizzle]

There are legal avenues to claim found property as your own. I'd say have a full clean and function check done by a gunsmith for safety's sake. Then vol-reg to make sure it isn't a lost/stolen gun in the system.

This kind of thing happens more often than you think.

[Michael777]

Finders keepers

[P5Ret]

Lots of lame speak in this thread... possession is 9/10 of the law. And after 3 years it's yours now. If you are too scared to touch it I'm sure some one with a pair will come over and take it off your hands

Care to cite any code to back that statement up? Here I'll help you out with the code section that says the exact opposite.

485. One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is guilty of theft.

You may want to take your chances with "finder's keeper's", but I don't think most people would.

[boopiejones]

“Possession is 9/10 of the law” just means that having possession of something makes it easier to prove it is yours. So if two people are arguing about who owns something, the person who has been possessing and using that thing for many years has an upper hand vs a person that does not possess it.

But if someone has proof of ownership - title to a house, pink sip to a car, a gun registered in their name, etc. that would trump someone who merely had possession of the item.

[fiddletown]

Lots of lame speak in this thread... possession is 9/10 of the law. And after 3 years it's yours now. If you are too scared to touch it I'm sure some one with a pair will come over and take it off your hands

Well there's certainly some lame advice in yoteassasin's post.

Under California law one doesn't acquire ownership of found property. See California Civil Code 2080 and 2080.1:

2080. Any person who finds a thing lost is not bound to take charge of it, unless the person is otherwise required to do so by contract or law, but when the person does take charge of it he or she is thenceforward a depositary for the owner, with the rights and obligations of a depositary for hire. ...

2080.1. (a) If the owner is unknown or has not claimed the property, the person saving or finding the property shall, if the property is of the value of one hundred dollars ($100) or more, within a reasonable time turn the property over to the police department of the city or city and county, if found therein, or to the sheriff's department of the county if found outside of city limits,...

See also California Penal Code 485:

485. One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is guilty of theft.

Furthermore, under California law, the landlord has certain specific rights and obligations with regard to personal property left behind by a tenant after termination of tenancy. See Civil Code 1980-1991.

Bottom line is that the current tenant of the house has no rights with respect to the shotgun. Pretty much the only things he may lawfully do with it are (1) notify the landlord and give the landlord the chance to comply with CC 1981-1991; and (2) turn it into the police if the landlord won't deal with it.