Gun in storage auction

[todd2968]

I don't think your friend will find any guns. I went to a few of those auctions in the area for a few weekends in a row and it became very obvious that the owners of the facility would go through everything the day/night before the auction and grab any valuables. I'm not sure if this is the situation with all storage facilities but as far as I am concerned those auction shows are full of it and those lockers are stuffed with cool stuff by the producers of the show.

I know a real auction hunter who make a pretty good profit and he finds guns all the time.
I think you may be right that they may pad the show , but i also believe people that know what they are doing know where to look and what to bid on and what to walk away from

As a fellow gun owner I would love to see someone get their stolen guns returned, but (food for thought) once a deadbeat storage lot owner losses his locker, what is to stop him from reporting his guns STOLEN?
Also I would check every gun from the local authorities if I felt they wouldn't confiscate/steal my found and rightly auctioned guns. ( i am in no way disrespecting LE they maybe bound by procedure)

[bobomb]

I don't think your friend will find any guns. I went to a few of those auctions in the area for a few weekends in a row and it became very obvious that the owners of the facility would go through everything the day/night before the auction and grab any valuables. I'm not sure if this is the situation with all storage facilities but as far as I am concerned those auction shows are full of it and those lockers are stuffed with cool stuff by the producers of the show.

yep cut lock off dig ,re-stack put on $2 lock run auction with angle grinder implying unit hasn't been opened since the the owner shut it

[todd2968]

So if I find a gun in a storage auction I should
1. Give it to police and have them destroy it, keep it themselves, or (if stolen) return to the owner or the deadbeat ex storage container owner.
2. Hide it till I leave California and sell it in a free state
3. Send in a I have this gun and I'd like to register it form creating lots of questions from the DOJ
4. Keep it til the next gun buy back and turn it in for cash
5. Wipe off all finger prints and throw it over the border fence (just kidding)

[Librarian]

So if I find a gun in a storage auction I should
1. Give it to police and have them destroy it, keep it themselves, or (if stolen) return to the owner or the deadbeat ex storage container owner.
2. Hide it till I leave California and sell it in a free state
3. Send in a I have this gun and I'd like to register it form creating lots of questions from the DOJ
4. Keep it til the next gun buy back and turn it in for cash
5. Wipe off all finger prints and throw it over the border fence (just kidding)

Nope, none of those.

I think I'd go to the person selling the unit contents and say,

Hi, neighbor, you probably didn't know it, but when the unit renter defaulted, you became the owner of EVERYTHING in the unit; I bought it all but to legally transfer the guns (see, aren't these nice?) you have to have a company agent go with me to an FFL and do a Private Party Transfer. Obviously, I pay the transfer fees.

[todd2968]

Company agent meaning the buyer or the storage company

[havegonetooz]

I would send in this form: http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/pd...rms/volreg.pdf

Then I would take the gun to police to run serial #.

I also can interpret agent as the buyer.

Edit: The declaration says California will run the serial # for you, so pay the fee and no news is good news.

[BKinzey]

.....once a deadbeat storage lot owner losses his locker, what is to stop him from reporting his guns STOLEN?....

Generally the law would be on your side. The gun comes up stolen so they ask you where you got it, you point to the storage unit auction. The records of the storage unit point back to the previous owner who now has to explain how he didn't file a false report. Even if the previous owner says "Uhh, I forgot they were in there" the gun(s) are still legally yours.

[Lives_In_Fresno]

i think its just a form, and ya only handguns are necessary, and if they are stolen, DOJ will contact you. personally, i would go into a police department and make sure theyre not stolen before i send the DOJ form in

I would not do this unless I know that there is a legal requirement to do so.

I would think that the police are likely to take it first, and hold it for awhile.

[Dutch3]

Librarian may have an angle on the operation of law aspect. Not sure I fully agree with that concept (jury is still out) but I like the way he thinks.

The jury is not "still out", nor is it some kind of "angle". It is covered in PC 16960. The contents of the storage unit are collateral in lieu of payment as stated in the storage contract.

They become the property of the contract holder upon default and can be subsequently transferred through a FFL. Whether you "agree with the concept" or not is irrelevant.

When my wife's dad passed away in his bed from natural causes, the deputy that responded to fulfill the coroner duty took great interest in the two full gun cabinets in the bedroom. He informed my mother-in-law that it was "standard procedure" to confiscate the firearms for "safekeeping".

Nice try, but it did not happen. I have to wonder how many other LEA/LEO have the (unlawful) policy that "there is no other way" to deal with firearms upon default or death other than surrender/confiscation.

[mase1b]

Short answer is that I doubt local LEOs will look it up for you. I'm not sure about what the storage auction rules are, but if you're buddy can keep the guns, then I would go with him to a FFL and just do a sale, wait 10 days etc. That way it's in your name and gets a background check so you're covered. Your friend should keep detailed records on each firearm and where he got it, so that if it is stolen, he can explain himself.

Maybe my experience will help a little: I inherited my father's gun collection when he passed. Way back when, he bought/sold and traded guns all the time (nothing needed to be registered then) Many of the guns I knew the history of, but a few he had indicated might have shady backgrounds.

So once they were in my possession I tried to figure out what to legally do with them. When I contacted my local Sheriff's office (San Diego County) I was told that they don't run checks for civilians (but they will gladly take any firearms you'd like to surrender!) and even if they did, they themselves only had access to SD county records. So it would have had to be registered, or reported stolen in SD for them to see it.

They then suggested contacting the CA DOJ, who told me that they could tell me what guns were registered in my or my father's name, but not much else.

So what I ended up doing is putting the ones I wanted to keep in my name using the OP-Law (family transfer) form, and sold the rest.

I was never asked to show that I was the owner, and I assume they were clean, since I never heard anything. but it sure seemed to me that they weren't very concerned about who was selling the guns, as who was buying it.

I had always thought that any LEO could check on any firearm and know within seconds all about it. But it's actually a little scary how little communication there is. I think it demonstrates that this system isn't really meant to solve crimes or keep bad guys from getting guns, it's more about making life miserable for gun owners and generating fee revenues.

[1lowluv]

I don't think your friend will find any guns. I went to a few of those auctions in the area for a few weekends in a row and it became very obvious that the owners of the facility would go through everything the day/night before the auction and grab any valuables. I'm not sure if this is the situation with all storage facilities but as far as I am concerned those auction shows are full of it and those lockers are stuffed with cool stuff by the producers of the show.

My In laws have bought a few lockers so far and got some awesome stuff, gold, diamonds, iPods, laptops, coins, tools, collectables, etc. every locker has more than paid for it self.

[Ripon83]

Owners or Owners

My understanding is these things are locked up long before the "owners" lose them. I think, and sorry to be accusatory" that its really the employees of the locker company that probably slide through the day/night before and take what they want.

Though a friend of mine did get a VW beetle when he paid $750 for one - all he really wanted was the killer table saw in front.

I don't think your friend will find any guns. I went to a few of those auctions in the area for a few weekends in a row and it became very obvious that the owners of the facility would go through everything the day/night before the auction and grab any valuables. I'm not sure if this is the situation with all storage facilities but as far as I am concerned those auction shows are full of it and those lockers are stuffed with cool stuff by the producers of the show.