My stolen guns recovered

[Mark49]

First off let me set the stage. I live in one of the most safest cities in San Bernardino County.

I live alone, nice home, great neighbors for 35 years.

About 8 years ago someone broke into my home, busted open a cheap gun safe and took 8 hand guns, holsters and ammo. I never thought I would see any of them again!!! I called and reported all the missing guns to the Sheriffs Dept including serial #s make and model.
Of course I had an idea who it might be.

For those of you that don't think you'll ever see your guns again here is my story

1st gun recovered less then a year after theft. In Barstow A parole sweep.
2nd gun a year later in a stolen property raid. This was San Bernardino city
3rd gun found in Mesa Arizona about two years later, because it was used in a shoot-out ATF had it until all the appeals came in.
4th Indio Calif, Parolee contact with Indio police. This gun I received back on year 5

5th Last night I received a call from Banning Police they made an arrest to whom I believe was the person that once worked for me. Its now in the evidence locker until the trial.

I'll know more about the thief via email or a crimes unit supervisor.

So I still have 3 guns to go, I guess i'll not give up hope
My worst fear of course is one of my guns used in a shoot-out where someone could get hurt.

Inside job, of course, do I now have top in bolted gun safes, YES!!!

Do I now have DVR sony night cameras Yep!

[Yodaman]

My stolen guns recovered

Good job to those who recovered them. Kudos to getting a better safe.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tradecraft]

Congrats (so far)! What sort of pistols?

[GW]

5 is way better than zero
Good luck on getting the rest of them.

[L84CABO]

Thanks for sharing! Can you tell us how you handled the insurance end of this?

Did you have a separate firearms policy or was it just your regular home owners policy? I'm particularly interested if you had a separate gun policy...who was it with and how do you feel about the way they handled your claim? Because we don't get a lot of feedback on how the gun insurance companies fare on the claims end of things.

And also, what happens with regards to the insurance payout if your guns are recovered? Do they let you keep the gun and not have to pay back claim?

[mike415stone]

What kind of condition were they in?

[Kevfin]

What kind of condition were they in?

I'm mostly curious about this.

I find your story interesting and hopeful. Thank you for sharing.

[phdo]

What kind of condition were they in?

I'm mostly curious about this.

I find your story interesting and hopeful. Thank you for sharing.

I would also like to know the condition.

[OCEquestrian]

First off let me set the stage. I live in one of the most safest cities in San Bernardino County.

I live alone, nice home, great neighbors for 35 years.

About 8 years ago someone broke into my home, busted open a cheap gun safe and took 8 hand guns, holsters and ammo. I never thought I would see any of them again!!! I called and reported all the missing guns to the Sheriffs Dept including serial #s make and model.
Of course I had an idea who it might be.

For those of you that don't think you'll ever see your guns again here is my story

1st gun recovered less then a year after theft. In Barstow A parole sweep.
2nd gun a year later in a stolen property raid. This was San Bernardino city
3rd gun found in Mesa Arizona about two years later, because it was used in a shoot-out ATF had it until all the appeals came in.
4th Indio Calif, Parolee contact with Indio police. This gun I received back on year 5

5th Last night I received a call from Banning Police they made an arrest to whom I believe was the person that once worked for me. Its now in the evidence locker until the trial.

I'll know more about the thief via email or a crimes unit supervisor.

So I still have 3 guns to go, I guess i'll not give up hope
My worst fear of course is one of my guns used in a shoot-out where someone could get hurt.

Inside job, of course, do I now have top in bolted gun safes, YES!!!

Do I now have DVR sony night cameras Yep!

Congrats on the recovery and even more so for the realization that you need to truly secure your firearms in a real safe.

I wish all my fellow gun owners were responsible enough to have real, secure safes and yes I know that no safe is absolutely secure but a hardened quality safe properly installed will prevent all but the most determined professional who has unlimited time. Your situation is a great example of the responsibility we gun owners have to secure our firearms and where those guns end up when we do not secure them, a responsibility that SO MANY ignore. Almost all your guns ended up in the hands of violent criminals.

If the gun control advocates were truly concerned about gun violence, they would not focus on restricting law abiding citizens access to numbers and types of guns... they would REQUIRE that gun owners own gun safe's and require that all but one long gun and one handgun be secured at all times. I am not sure I would have a problem with the requirement of safe ownership / secure storage for anyone who owned more than one or two firearms. It would substantially reduce the availability of stolen guns to prohibited persons. I certainly have no respect for anyone with a number of firearms and no safe.

Disclosure: I own three gun safes, kept in three different homes, 1500 lbs, fire proof, stainless steel lined, bolted to concrete pad and alarmed.

PS: I too am curious about both insurance experience and the condition of the firearms when returned.

[toro1]

Congrats OP and I hope the others turn up. Like others I am waiting to hear what the condition of them was.

[colt11]

Great story, I've heard it's important to have the serial numbers at the time you place the stolen gun report, so the officer can enter it into their report, and post them as stolen in the DOJ database.

[Skip_Dog]

Great story and well learned lessons. Hope we can all learn from this.

[onelonehorseman]

What kind of condition were they in?

I'm mostly curious about this.

I find your story interesting and hopeful. Thank you for sharing.

I would also like to know the condition.

+4

Interested to hear about condition post recovery vs before they were stolen.

Anyway, congrats on getting some of them back OP!

[223556]

Been there OP. Sucks all around but glad your getting your handguns back safe.
Had a handgun stolen few years back. Recovered in a raid in the same year but after the investigation and what not. The whole process was roughly 2.5 years till I was able to get it back.
Thankfully it was in the same condition the day it was stolen.

[broadside]

I got mine back after 9 years sitting in a plastic evidence bag (it was recovered in a raid a few months after being stolen).

It was rusty on the surface, has some light pitting. The barrel however was all rusty and corroded and needed to be replaced.