How to obtain list of firearms registered to a deceased person?

[bk23103]

My father passed last month and as the executor of his estate, I have a responsibility to care for his property. In opening his safe, I found a number of firearms I remember belonging to him over the years missing. I would like to confirm with CA DOJ that what I have matches their records and potentially report any missing, lost or stolen guns to law enforcement.

The DOJ website offers form BOF 053 for this purpose, but it is required to be signed and notarized by the registered owner of the firearms. As my dad is no longer with us, is there some other way to acquire this information?

Thanks.

[anyracoon]

If you have a Power of Attorney for the estate I would think that should work.
I keep a current list of guns, serial numbers, stored loaction and who gets them in my safes.

[smoothy8500]

I would like to confirm with CA DOJ that what I have matches their records and potentially report any missing, lost or stolen guns to law enforcement.

The DOJ website offers form BOF 053 for this purpose

Just a side note, my request a few years back included a couple handguns that I no longer owned. They were sold and DROS'd in CA and yet still showed up under my name.

[Marauder2003]

I think the CA DOJ list is to track all the owners of a gun. So it will always show your name.

Just a side note, my request a few years back included a couple handguns that I no longer owned. They were sold and DROS'd in CA and yet still showed up under my name.

[SVT-40]

My father passed last month and as the executor of his estate, I have a responsibility to care for his property. In opening his safe, I found a number of firearms I remember belonging to him over the years missing. I would like to confirm with CA DOJ that what I have matches their records and potentially report any missing, lost or stolen guns to law enforcement.

The DOJ website offers form BOF 053 for this purpose, but it is required to be signed and notarized by the registered owner of the firearms. As my dad is no longer with us, is there some other way to acquire this information?

Thanks.

I don't believe you can submit a request for another person, even as an executor of an estate.

Besides just because the firearms are no longer in your dad's safe doesn't mean they were stolen or are missing. DOJ's records are often incomplete. If the guns were sold out of state or in a person to person sale not done to the current legal requirements, the firearms wouldn't show a "DROS" and would still be listed in the historical record under your dads name.

Reporting these guns as "stolen" which they aren't, would cause whoever currently possesses them to be in unreasonable criminal jeopardy.

So just deal with what you have found, and let the your issues with the firearms you can't find go.

He also might have sold them legally.

[RickD427]

Just a side note, my request a few years back included a couple handguns that I no longer owned. They were sold and DROS'd in CA and yet still showed up under my name.

And that's exactly as it's supposed to be. The fact that a weapon was sold at some time after you have DROS'd it, does not erase the fact that you DROS'd the weapon.

The AFS is a historical database. It is not a current registry.

[recpark99]

I don't believe you can submit a request for another person, even as an executor of an estate.

Besides just because the firearms are no longer in your dad's safe doesn't mean they were stolen or are missing. DOJ's records are often incomplete. If the guns were sold out of state or in a person to person sale not done to the current legal requirements, the firearms wouldn't show a "DROS" and would still be listed in the historical record under your dads name.

Reporting these guns as "stolen" which they aren't would cause whoever currently possesses them to be in unreasonable criminal jeopardy.

So just deal with what you have found, and let the your issues with the firearms you can't find go.

THIS, and my condolences for your loss. RIP to Dad.

[Che762x39]

My Condolences to the OP for his loss.

[Che762x39]

I don't believe you can submit a request for another person, even as an executor of an estate.

Besides just because the firearms are no longer in your dad's safe doesn't mean they were stolen or are missing. DOJ's records are often incomplete. If the guns were sold out of state or in a person to person sale not done to the current legal requirements, the firearms wouldn't show a "DROS" and would still be listed in the historical record under your dads name.

Reporting these guns as "stolen" which they aren't, would cause whoever currently possesses them to be in unreasonable criminal jeopardy.

So just deal with what you have found, and let the your issues with the firearms you can't find go.

He also might have sold them legally.

Us older gentlemen remembers when we bought and sold firearms and handwrote a Bill of Sale. We never went to an FFL in the 1970s or 1980s.

[ar15barrels]

My father passed last month and as the executor of his estate, I have a responsibility to care for his property. In opening his safe, I found a number of firearms I remember belonging to him over the years missing. I would like to confirm with CA DOJ that what I have matches their records and potentially report any missing, lost or stolen guns to law enforcement.

The DOJ website offers form BOF 053 for this purpose, but it is required to be signed and notarized by the registered owner of the firearms. As my dad is no longer with us, is there some other way to acquire this information?

Thanks.

DOJ does not know what guns a person has.
They can only give you a list of what guns that someone got from FFL's that required registration at the time of transfer.
DOJ does not track when you sell a gun so the list will include every registered gun even if those guns were later sold.
Handguns have been registered going back about 100 years but long gun registrations only go back about 10 years for common long guns.
Assault weapon registrations go back to ~1990.
Your father could have LOTS more guns that he got before there was registration of long guns (sometime in 2014).
All long guns obtained before that time will not have been registered unless they were assault weapons that were voluntarily registered.
The DOJ AFS request form will get you the guns that are registered to him at one time.
The DOJ list will not tell you which ones he may have sold.
If you don't find a gun that's on the DOJ list, it could be because he simply sold it.
The list is NOT an exact list of what he SHOULD have at a moment in time but is actually a list of guns a person once had, even if he no longer has them.

My last AFS request form took 8 months to get the results back from DOJ.

[Duck Killer]

My father passed last month and as the executor of his estate, I have a responsibility to care for his property. In opening his safe, I found a number of firearms I remember belonging to him over the years missing. I would like to confirm with CA DOJ that what I have matches their records and potentially report any missing, lost or stolen guns to law enforcement.

The DOJ website offers form BOF 053 for this purpose, but it is required to be signed and notarized by the registered owner of the firearms. As my dad is no longer with us, is there some other way to acquire this information?

Thanks.

[silver89]