gunsmith delema

ammo.crafter · March 25, 2012, 08:30 PM

What do you do when an out-of-state gunsmith will not return your gun? I am not the only person this smith is doing this to.

paperpounder · March 25, 2012, 08:49 PM

I think that I would first give the local police in the town that the gunsmith is located a try. The cops may even know him and could jar the gun loose. Then I would try a local attorney.

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SilentScreams · March 25, 2012, 08:57 PM

There's always an element of risk when shipping your weapon out of state or even in state. My suggestion: Talk to a lawyer in your area and find out what recourse you have, The police option might be good as well. I hope the shipment was well documented, along with your conversations and agreements with said gunsmith.

For what's worth, I hope you get it back and I hope you stick it to him in the process,

Willie Sutton · March 25, 2012, 09:36 PM

A call to the local BATF office encouraging a compliance visit to the offending smith might be in order as well..... but first make sure it's not just a smith who is just running late (like many do). I usually double the time estimates made by smiths and even then they are often late. Jjust the nature of craftsmen. I assume that you have politely called him up?

Willie

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Casimer · March 25, 2012, 10:42 PM

Willie's right, smiths often do find themselves backlogged, and some aren't very good at handling this properly.

That said, I'd found myself in a similar situation once w/ a gunsmith who held a pistol of mine for nearly 2 years and repeatedly failed to return it after promising to do so. I was genuinely worried that he'd lost or sold it. So I sent him a certified letter in which I explained that I had a legal obligation to report a lost or stolen firearm and would be contacting his regional BATF office, being that he was the last person to have the gun in their possession. Low and behold, the pistol showed up on my doorstep about a week later.

Rifleman1776 · March 26, 2012, 08:46 AM

Has he given you a reason why he is holding the gun?
Without more info your question seems strange. A lot is missing here.

Webleymkv · March 26, 2012, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Has he given you a reason why he is holding the gun?
Without more info your question seems strange. A lot is missing here.

I concur with Rifleman 1776. There are, in fact, a few very good reasons why a gunsmith or other FFL may refuse to return a gun to a customer. For example, I once knew an FFL who bought a used Colt Anaconda and then resold it in his shop. The customer to whom he sold the gun had problems with it and returned the gun to the FFL who sent it back to Colt. Colt then contacted the FFL and informed him that they were unable to return the gun because the serial number had been altered (neither the FFL nor the customer to whom he'd sold the gun had done this, it had already been done before the FFL bought the gun). In this particular case, the FFL refunded the customer's money and had to eat the cost of the gun himself.

If the gunsmith in question is refusing to return the gun and has no good reason to do so, I would send him a certified letter stating that if you do not either have your gun or at least proof that it has been shipped back to you by a specified date that you will contact the ATF and inform them of the situation as well as report the gun as stolen. My guess is that, unless he has a legitimate reason not to return your gun, you'll have your gun back post haste after the gunsmith recieves such a letter.

shortwave · March 26, 2012, 08:00 PM

Quote:

If the gunsmith in question is refusing to return the gun and has no good reason to do so, I would send him a certified letter stating that if you do not either have your gun or at least proof that it has been shipped back to you by a specified date that you will contact the ATF and inform them of the situation as well as report the gun as stolen. My guess is that, unless he has a legitimate reason not to return your gun, you'll have your gun back post haste after the gunsmith recieves such a letter.
______

Along with this good advice, you may want to inform the gunsmith you will be getting a hold of the Attorney Generals office in his state and filing a formal complaint.

March 25, 2012, 08:30 PM	#1
ammo.crafter Senior Member Join Date: June 25, 2006 Location: The Keystone State Posts: 1,970	gunsmith delema What do you do when an out-of-state gunsmith will not return your gun? I am not the only person this smith is doing this to. __________________ "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading". --Thomas Jefferson

March 25, 2012, 08:57 PM	#3
SilentScreams Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Midwest Posts: 56	There's always an element of risk when shipping your weapon out of state or even in state. My suggestion: Talk to a lawyer in your area and find out what recourse you have, The police option might be good as well. I hope the shipment was well documented, along with your conversations and agreements with said gunsmith. For what's worth, I hope you get it back and I hope you stick it to him in the process, __________________ Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. - Friedrich Nietzsche

March 25, 2012, 08:49 PM	#2
paperpounder Member Join Date: March 14, 2012 Posts: 48	I think that I would first give the local police in the town that the gunsmith is located a try. The cops may even know him and could jar the gun loose. Then I would try a local attorney. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

March 25, 2012, 09:36 PM	#4
Willie Sutton Junior member Join Date: January 26, 2012 Posts: 1,066	A call to the local BATF office encouraging a compliance visit to the offending smith might be in order as well..... but first make sure it's not just a smith who is just running late (like many do). I usually double the time estimates made by smiths and even then they are often late. Jjust the nature of craftsmen. I assume that you have politely called him up? Willie .

March 25, 2012, 10:42 PM	#5
Casimer Senior Member Join Date: April 23, 2007 Location: Pennsylvania, USA Posts: 1,918	Willie's right, smiths often do find themselves backlogged, and some aren't very good at handling this properly. That said, I'd found myself in a similar situation once w/ a gunsmith who held a pistol of mine for nearly 2 years and repeatedly failed to return it after promising to do so. I was genuinely worried that he'd lost or sold it. So I sent him a certified letter in which I explained that I had a legal obligation to report a lost or stolen firearm and would be contacting his regional BATF office, being that he was the last person to have the gun in their possession. Low and behold, the pistol showed up on my doorstep about a week later.

March 26, 2012, 08:46 AM	#6
Rifleman1776 Senior Member Join Date: April 25, 2010 Location: Arkansas Posts: 3,309	Has he given you a reason why he is holding the gun? Without more info your question seems strange. A lot is missing here.