Hypothetical Question

[Schlyme]

Mod please relocate if I'm posting in the wrong area.


Lets say I was out in the dessert riding my quad and came across a firearm. I take it to the local PD and turn it in. My question is if it is not registered to anyone, not reported lost or stolen, can I claim it for myself?

[geedavell]

i wouldn't bother turning it in. I seriously doubt the PD will let you keep it.

[Wicked Pete]

What if it was stolen or used in a murder and dumped there? If say...you kept it and were stopped, the poo poo will hit fan. Yunno?

[bruceflinch]

i wouldn't bother turning it in. I seriously doubt the PD will let you keep it.

If you got caught w/ a stolen murder weapon, I seriously doubt your bunghole would be the same size coming out of jail as it was when you went into jail....

[Kappy]

Odds are that it was dumped after some crapbag used it to kill someone. You should turn it over.

I don't know about the legalities, but I understand the ethics.

[Turo]

They may or may not let you keep it, assuming it didn't belong to anybody else. It would probably depend heavily on the department.

One thing though, I definitely wouldn't pick it up with my bare hands. I want no part in having my fingerprints anywhere near a weapon used in a murder. Even if they know I just found it.

[Ron-Solo]

i wouldn't bother turning it in. I seriously doubt the PD will let you keep it.

Misappropriation of found property is by legal definition, a theft. Theft involving firearms is considered grand theft, punishable as a felony.

Are you willing to give up your personal freedom and your gun rights for a gun you found lying in the desert?

This doesn't even include the ramifications of any crime the gun may have been involved with.

Your call........

[keenkeen]

Misappropriation of found property is by legal definition, a theft. Theft involving firearms is considered grand theft, punishable as a felony.

Are you willing to give up your personal freedom and your gun rights for a gun you found lying in the desert?

This doesn't even include the ramifications of any crime the gun may have been involved with.

Your call........

Penal Code 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.

California's law against appropriating (or misappropriating) lost property (not "found" property) -- prohibits you keeping property that you find when there are clues identifying its true owner.1 You are not required to go to extremes to identify and contact the owner. But the law says you must make a reasonable attempt to do so.

Proving a violation of PC 485 would be far from a slam dunk given what the OP described. But, as stated by Ron-Solo, it is likely not worth the potential risks.

Handgun vs. Long Gun would likely make a difference, as a reasonable person would assume there may be a record of the owner of the handgun. Also, you would want to claim the property was "abandoned" not "lost" as there is no violation of PC 485 with regards to abandoned property. But, you had better get yourself a lawyer.