Abandoned Firearms

[HPT]

Questions for you FFL's that have had to deal with Abandoned firearms.

I have two firearms for an individual that have been sitting in my shop since September that he had transferred here. The owner came to DROS them at that time and he received a DMV reject at the time. I told him to get it cleared up and we could re-DROS them as soon as he got it cleared up. I called in at the beginning of October (said he couldn't get into DMV), again in November (said he couldn't get into DMV), again in December (said DMV wasn't taking appointments), and the last time in January (said he would have it cleared up and be in this month) and since then I have not heard from the person and I stopped calling him.

I want these guns gone. My question for you is did you notify the person to the loss of the firearms or did you just say "F it" and sell them?

I want to make sure I am not getting myself into any legal trouble.

[Featureless]

It's not your property so what do you think you should do with it?

[edgerly779]

Take apart and delivery frames to local pd. Or just delivery wj]hole firearms to pd. Send him registered letter for disposition before doing that.

[GoingQuiet]

It's not your property so what do you think you should do with it?

If it's in the bound book, it's indeed licensee property.

[EBR Works]

You might want to publish a policy for this on your website and hang it on the wall for customers to see. Ours is:

“$10 per day, per firearm will be assessed for firearms left with us for over 60 days without prior arrangement. Firearms left over 120 days will be considered abandoned property and will be sold for storage fees.”

In our 10 years in business we have had to implement this several times.

[HPT]

You might want to publish a policy for this on your website and hang it on the wall for customers to see.

We have a policy published in the store and on the website. It is almost the same as yours, it states $10.00 a day not to exceed $200 per month and after 120 it is considered abandoned. Never dealt with this before in 6 years so it has been a new experience.

I felt I should give the guy one more shot and gave him another call, he stated he forgot and would be in this week now that he now has his license reinstated. I mentioned the storage fees as well and will most likely cut him a break on them just to get the guns out of my old log book.

Thanks.

[ugimports]

We have a policy published in the store and on the website. It is almost the same as yours, it states $10.00 a day not to exceed $200 per month and after 120 it is considered abandoned. Never dealt with this before in 6 years so it has been a new experience.



I felt I should give the guy one more shot and gave him another call, he stated he forgot and would be in this week now that he now has his license reinstated. I mentioned the storage fees as well and will most likely cut him a break on them just to get the guns out of my old log book.



Thanks.

Off topic

Isn't it weird how some people can forget they actually have a firearm to pick up and some people want to DROS 4 seconds after they get delivery confirmation and want to pick up as soon as the DES button appears?

2 completely opposite extremes.

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[OCArmory]

I would send a certified letter with return receipt. detailing the charges accrued so far and note what your storage policy is and where it is posted. Also in the letter give them a set amount of time to rectify the situation. At least at that point you have something that shows they received the invoice and failed to pay. They will probably still go after you in small claims court if they are so motivated. Or you can just sit on them till you close and deal with it then.

[CalifEd]

If he is still around, send him a certified, return receipt and signature required notice just to cover your backside.
Email and voice mail is nice but this is California, land of the Law Suit.
Give him 2 weeks to come in, pay the storage and get things straight.
If he doesn't then it is abandoned.

[Tyke8319]

I think you have exercised you due diligence and with the posted caveats your last option to c.y.a would be the send the "registered" letter. Beyond that if there is no response, there yours.

[QuinnBayArea]

After 90 Days of no storage fees paid, I send certified letter letting them know the 90 days are up, and they have a 15 day grace period before I sell the Firearm to recuperate storage fees. Had to do it 3 times in the past 2 years since taking over this shop, still haven't heard back from none of the parties involved.