private gun sales

[Guest unreconstructed1]

from time to time, I come across a few guns for sale from my brother, who is selling them for friends. Since I don't know these people, and it's better to be safe than sorry, what's the best way to check the SN of these guns to make sure that they ain't stolen?

[The Rabbi]

Arrange a transfer through a local dealer.

That's the only way to do that, afaik.

[Guest tanker179]

What The Rabbi said..

[Guest nraforlife]

Is your brother acting like a fence for his friends? Maybe you ought to let your brother sell the guns or ask why there are so many people involved with selling - the owners, your brother and then you. Sure you can run the transfer through a dealer and pay the add on fees the dealer is going to hit you with but why? Owner to buyer sales are not that tough.

If your worried about the guns being hot then maybe you ought to ask for a background check on the owners.

[Guest jp79]

If you have a good friend who is a police officer he may run the numbers for you.

If it is a scenario were a bunch of guys in the gun club go to him with something to sell i probably wouldn't worry about it. If he doesn't know the people well i would probably stay as far away from the guns as i could get.

[Guest jth_3s]

My local sheriffs department will run them you might try yours.

[Guest nraforlife]

Sounds almost like 'my next door neighbors daughters girlfriend boyfriend aunts sisters cousins ex-husband' has a gun to sell will you handle it for him?

[skipsfirearms]

If you wanted to email me a list of the firearms, I can fax it to the TBI and they will check the serials for me. I also have police in the shop all the time and they will usually do it for me too. No Charge....

[The Rabbi]

If you wanted to email me a list of the firearms, I can fax it to the TBI and they will check the serials for me. I also have police in the shop all the time and they will usually do it for me too. No Charge....

Out of curiosity, what will you do if one of them comes back hot?

[Guest jp79]

Sounds almost like 'my next door neighbors daughters girlfriend boyfriend aunts sisters cousins ex-husband' has a gun to sell will you handle it for him?

Could just be somebody hard up to sell it but if that is the case you should have no problem getting a phone number and talking to the seller directly. if you cant buy directly from the seller its not worth taking the chance even if you do run the numbers.

In My Opinion

[Guest unreconstructed1]

Maybe you ought to let your brother sell the guns or ask why there are so many people involved with selling - the owners, your brother and then you.

well, my brother more or less just acts as a advertiser for his friends. they let him know that they have something that they are wanting to sell, and he let's everyone know that so-and-so has this-or-that for sale. it's not actually him selling it ( maybe I should have made that a little bit clearer)

I have passed up some pretty decent deals on some guns in the past because I just don't trust his friends, but I was just wondering if there was anything that I could do to check the serial numbers, just so that I didn't wind up accidentally buying a stolen gun...