Buried with?

9ballbilly · November 9, 2011, 12:48 AM

I apologize if this is posted in the wrong forum.
My question is this: Can a person be buried with a handgun that they legally owned?
During my time as a LEO I worked for a very small dept., officers were allowed to forego carrying the dept. issued .357 revolver and use a personally owned firearm on duty as long as it was deemed "reasonable" by the armorer and the officer passed qualification with it. I bought a NIB S&W model 4006 .40cal. for duty carry. I am and will remain the only owner. Obviously I have strong sentimental feelings towards it. Although the rest of my guns will be inherited by my son, I would like to have this one interred with me.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

TheGoldenState · November 9, 2011, 01:00 AM

Sure, why not?

Call it safe storage.

maestro pistolero · November 9, 2011, 03:10 AM

Nice gun. Say, where're you planning on being buried?

icedog88 · November 9, 2011, 06:28 AM

maestro, that was wrong. Just wrong!

AirForceShooter · November 9, 2011, 06:36 AM

no it wasn't

AFS

CowTowner · November 9, 2011, 07:19 AM

Well, maybe just a little bit.

Sefner · November 9, 2011, 08:37 AM

I know of no law preventing a person from being buried with a firearm.

JimPage · November 9, 2011, 08:49 AM

I don't know definitively, but I'm willing to bet that you can't do it in NY or MA. In NY your guns must be accounted for at death and turned in or legally transfered within a specific time. (60 days rings a bell, but I won't put any money on that)

JerryM · November 9, 2011, 08:51 AM

Do it if you will, but an instant after death what you have with you is of no consequence. Where will you spend eternity?
Jerry

youngunz4life · November 9, 2011, 11:02 AM

I hardly ever drink, but the heck with it, bury me with a shotgun, my 357, a bottle of 36yr old sherry cask aged scotch, and a box of stogies

PLEASE, I am dead so do this for me.

PS- Please leave the weapons loaded.

Pahoo · November 9, 2011, 11:15 AM

I've seen it happen once with a rifle and more times with other items. The last one I saw, was for a union electrician and he took a union presentation knife with him. Your feelings, pistol and right. ....

Be Safe !!!

C0untZer0 · November 9, 2011, 11:18 AM

Unless you provide for someone to inventory the guns in the casket just seconds before lowering it, and further - that they remain there until the casket is completely covered over with dirt.... Your guns will be stolen.

There are thousands of documented cases where people's valuables go missing from the funeral home, worse even - even cases where corpse's gold fillings are extracted.

What I outlined above doesn't even account for people exhuming the body and stealing the valuables and re-burying the body, which also happpens.

There are cases where cemetary operators exhume bodies, take an expensive casket, throw the body in a pine box, clean the expensive casket up and re-sell it.

youngunz4life · November 9, 2011, 12:57 PM

I have to agree w/Count. I wouldn't trust it even if I was dead. My wife prefers cremation, so I might just go in the wind someday and maybe have some ash buried like Grandpa. I put a bunch of his old navy coins dropped right in the dirt when they buried it. As for my other Grandpa, I wouldn't be surprised if the dollar I put in the open casket at the wake disappeared(he used to give me a dollar as a boy). Maybe it is me; I just have wondered sometimes what happened to the dollar...

markj · November 9, 2011, 05:28 PM

Give it to yer son, get cremated, have the boy load up a box of ammo using your ashes and some good powder and then a trip to the range

hunters do it all the time.

Lee McNelly · November 9, 2011, 05:33 PM

Sell or give to a new cadet at one of the academy's

Kreyzhorse · November 9, 2011, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Nice gun. Say, where're you planning on being buried?

Beat me to it...... shame that a well loved gun would never see the light of day again but to each his own.

I hope I've got several years before I plan on leaving my guns behind, but I hope to be able to give my most loved guns to someone who will cherish them as I have.

Uncle Buck · November 10, 2011, 08:16 AM

As far a I am aware, there is no law specifically preventing it. Although I do believe there are a few things that can not be buried, I never heard of a firearm being one.

But you would have to check with the funeral home that will prepare your remains and work out the details (In advance

) with them and your family.

Some caskets now have a lock on them that is broken when the lid is shut and the handled is turned to seal it. It can not be readily opened again.

If you plan of being interred in a Veterans Cemetery, your casket will be placed in to a vault and a slab of concrete will be placed on top, sealing you in for all eternity. At a veterans cemetery, your loved ones usually do not see the casket lowered and buried. (A lot of cemeteries now require the vault.)

Although there have been cases of theft at funeral homes and some cemeteries, these are extremely rare.

orangello · November 10, 2011, 04:27 PM

I would want it bagged well to prevent deterioration. Some future archeologist should get a kick out of it.

Pahoo · November 10, 2011, 04:42 PM

Am hard pressed to come up with a gun that I could take with me and pretty much talked myself out of doing so. I've decided to be buried with a good flashlight and Eveready batteries. Ya just never know?? Won't have to worry about anyone stealing it and on top of that, I happen to know the mortician personally and trust him. He's also a bow hunter and in-line shooter. ....

Be Safe !!!

aarondhgraham · November 10, 2011, 04:47 PM

For a fresh pack of cigarettes to be placed in his shirt pocket.

My sister asked which of his lighters he would want,,,
My Aunt piped in with, "Where he's going he won't need a lighter."

I'm with JerryM on this,,,
You won't have any use for anything material.

Better to arrange a home for it beforehand.

But on the other hand,,,
This is the good old US of A,,,
Do what you wanna do if you wanna do it.

Aarond

geetarman · November 10, 2011, 06:40 PM

When you die, EVERYTHING you own is valueless to you.

As much as you like that gun, it won't do a thing for you.

On the other hand, it could be PRICELESS for someone who knows how attached to it you are.

Legalities aside, I would urge you to carefully consider including that gun in your will and ensure it goes to someone who can enjoy it.

I have some nice guns and some are very special. I already know where they are going when I die. I know they will bring a lot of pleasure to someone.

I hope those people in line to inherit these guns can take the time after a session at the range to hoist one and remember me.

In any event, I won't be around to observe. I will leave it at that.

Geetarmen

November 9, 2011, 12:48 AM	#1
9ballbilly Senior Member Join Date: May 19, 2008 Location: northeast Florida Posts: 610	Buried with? I apologize if this is posted in the wrong forum. My question is this: Can a person be buried with a handgun that they legally owned? During my time as a LEO I worked for a very small dept., officers were allowed to forego carrying the dept. issued .357 revolver and use a personally owned firearm on duty as long as it was deemed "reasonable" by the armorer and the officer passed qualification with it. I bought a NIB S&W model 4006 .40cal. for duty carry. I am and will remain the only owner. Obviously I have strong sentimental feelings towards it. Although the rest of my guns will be inherited by my son, I would like to have this one interred with me. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

November 9, 2011, 01:00 AM	#2
TheGoldenState Senior Member Join Date: August 8, 2010 Posts: 1,191	Sure, why not? Call it safe storage. __________________ The Day You Get Comfortable Is The Day You Get Careless...

November 9, 2011, 06:28 AM	#4
icedog88 Senior Member Join Date: April 16, 2011 Location: norwich ct Posts: 737	maestro, that was wrong. Just wrong! __________________ "The bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps"-LtGen. Holland M "Howlin' Mad" Smith, USMC,1949 Have you forgotten yet? Look down and swear by the slain of the War that you'll NEVER forget. [Siegfried Sassoon,"Aftermath,"1919]

November 9, 2011, 06:36 AM	#5
AirForceShooter Senior Member Join Date: December 21, 2005 Location: Sarasota (sort of) Florida Posts: 1,296	no it wasn't AFS __________________ 'Qui tacet consentit': To remain silent is to consent.

November 9, 2011, 07:19 AM	#6
CowTowner Senior Member Join Date: October 17, 2007 Location: Cowtown of course! Posts: 1,747	Well, maybe just a little bit. __________________ NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, Home Firearms Safety, Pistol and Rifle Instructor *“Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life......”* President John F. Kennedy

November 9, 2011, 03:10 AM	#3
maestro pistolero Senior Member Join Date: August 16, 2007 Posts: 2,153	Nice gun. Say, where're you planning on being buried?

November 9, 2011, 08:37 AM	#7
Sefner Senior Member Join Date: June 24, 2009 Location: Michigan Posts: 769	I know of no law preventing a person from being buried with a firearm. __________________ gtalk:renfes steamID: Sefner

November 9, 2011, 08:49 AM	#8
JimPage Senior Member Join Date: February 21, 2010 Location: Rome, NY Posts: 941	I don't know definitively, but I'm willing to bet that you can't do it in NY or MA. In NY your guns must be accounted for at death and turned in or legally transfered within a specific time. (60 days rings a bell, but I won't put any money on that)

November 9, 2011, 08:51 AM	#9
JerryM Senior Member Join Date: April 4, 1999 Location: New Mexico Posts: 1,889	Do it if you will, but an instant after death what you have with you is of no consequence. Where will you spend eternity? Jerry __________________ Ecclesiastes 12:13 ¶Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

November 9, 2011, 11:02 AM	#10
youngunz4life Senior Member Join Date: November 15, 2010 Location: United States of America Posts: 1,877	throw in a 24oz can of beer of your choosing too - Thanx! I hardly ever drink, but the heck with it, bury me with a shotgun, my 357, a bottle of 36yr old sherry cask aged scotch, and a box of stogiesPLEASE, I am dead so do this for me. PS- Please leave the weapons loaded. __________________ "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" -Admiral Farragut @ Battle of Mobile Bay 05AUG1864

November 9, 2011, 11:15 AM	#11
Pahoo Senior Member Join Date: February 16, 2006 Location: IOWA Posts: 8,783	Who said you can't take it with you ??? I've seen it happen once with a rifle and more times with other items. The last one I saw, was for a union electrician and he took a union presentation knife with him. Your feelings, pistol and right. .... Be Safe !!! __________________ 'Fundamental truths' are easy to recognize because they are verified daily through simple observation and thus, require no testing.

November 9, 2011, 11:18 AM	#12
C0untZer0 Junior member Join Date: April 21, 2011 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,555	Unless you provide for someone to inventory the guns in the casket just seconds before lowering it, and further - that they remain there until the casket is completely covered over with dirt.... Your guns will be stolen. There are thousands of documented cases where people's valuables go missing from the funeral home, worse even - even cases where corpse's gold fillings are extracted. What I outlined above doesn't even account for people exhuming the body and stealing the valuables and re-burying the body, which also happpens. There are cases where cemetary operators exhume bodies, take an expensive casket, throw the body in a pine box, clean the expensive casket up and re-sell it.

November 9, 2011, 12:57 PM	#13
youngunz4life Senior Member Join Date: November 15, 2010 Location: United States of America Posts: 1,877	I have to agree w/Count. I wouldn't trust it even if I was dead. My wife prefers cremation, so I might just go in the wind someday and maybe have some ash buried like Grandpa. I put a bunch of his old navy coins dropped right in the dirt when they buried it. As for my other Grandpa, I wouldn't be surprised if the dollar I put in the open casket at the wake disappeared(he used to give me a dollar as a boy). Maybe it is me; I just have wondered sometimes what happened to the dollar... __________________ "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" -Admiral Farragut @ Battle of Mobile Bay 05AUG1864

November 9, 2011, 05:28 PM	#14
markj Senior Member Join Date: October 27, 2005 Location: Crescent Iowa Posts: 2,971	Give it to yer son, get cremated, have the boy load up a box of ammo using your ashes and some good powder and then a trip to the range hunters do it all the time.

November 9, 2011, 05:33 PM	#15
Lee McNelly Junior member Join Date: June 9, 2011 Posts: 325	ANSWER Sell or give to a new cadet at one of the academy's

November 10, 2011, 08:16 AM	#17
Uncle Buck Senior Member Join Date: June 21, 2009 Location: West Central Missouri Posts: 2,592	As far a I am aware, there is no law specifically preventing it. Although I do believe there are a few things that can not be buried, I never heard of a firearm being one. But you would have to check with the funeral home that will prepare your remains and work out the details (In advance ) with them and your family. Some caskets now have a lock on them that is broken when the lid is shut and the handled is turned to seal it. It can not be readily opened again. If you plan of being interred in a Veterans Cemetery, your casket will be placed in to a vault and a slab of concrete will be placed on top, sealing you in for all eternity. At a veterans cemetery, your loved ones usually do not see the casket lowered and buried. (A lot of cemeteries now require the vault.) Although there have been cases of theft at funeral homes and some cemeteries, these are extremely rare. __________________ Inside Every Bright Idea Is The 50% Probability Of A Disaster Waiting To Happen.

November 10, 2011, 04:27 PM	#18
orangello Senior Member Join Date: February 25, 2009 Posts: 566	I would want it bagged well to prevent deterioration. Some future archeologist should get a kick out of it.

November 10, 2011, 04:42 PM	#19
Pahoo Senior Member Join Date: February 16, 2006 Location: IOWA Posts: 8,783	Being optomistic !!! Am hard pressed to come up with a gun that I could take with me and pretty much talked myself out of doing so. I've decided to be buried with a good flashlight and Eveready batteries. Ya just never know?? Won't have to worry about anyone stealing it and on top of that, I happen to know the mortician personally and trust him. He's also a bow hunter and in-line shooter. .... Be Safe !!! __________________ 'Fundamental truths' are easy to recognize because they are verified daily through simple observation and thus, require no testing.

November 10, 2011, 04:47 PM	#20
aarondhgraham Senior Member Join Date: December 1, 2009 Location: Stillwater, OKlahoma Posts: 8,638	My Poppa always asked,,, For a fresh pack of cigarettes to be placed in his shirt pocket. My sister asked which of his lighters he would want,,, My Aunt piped in with, "Where he's going he won't need a lighter." I'm with JerryM on this,,, You won't have any use for anything material. Better to arrange a home for it beforehand. But on the other hand,,, This is the good old US of A,,, Do what you wanna do if you wanna do it. Aarond __________________ Never ever give an enemy the advantage of a verbal threat. Caje: The coward dies a thousand times, the brave only once. Kirby: That's about all it takes, ain't it? Aarond is good,,, Aarond is wise,,, Always trust Aarond! (most of the time)

November 10, 2011, 06:40 PM	#21
geetarman Senior Member Join Date: November 18, 2009 Location: Arizona Posts: 3,157	When you die, EVERYTHING you own is valueless to you. As much as you like that gun, it won't do a thing for you. On the other hand, it could be PRICELESS for someone who knows how attached to it you are. Legalities aside, I would urge you to carefully consider including that gun in your will and ensure it goes to someone who can enjoy it. I have some nice guns and some are very special. I already know where they are going when I die. I know they will bring a lot of pleasure to someone. I hope those people in line to inherit these guns can take the time after a session at the range to hoist one and remember me. In any event, I won't be around to observe. I will leave it at that. Geetarmen

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