I occasionally wonder if I'm the only one that would do this, or just the only one that will admit it

[Alpo]

I've asked this before, on this or that board. I think I've asked it here, but it's been a while.

 

You are about 11 or 12 years old, and you're playing in the woods, or in a vacant lot. And you find a pistol. What would you do?

 

Everybody that has answered that question has said they would give it to their father. Except for the two or three that said they would call the police.

 

I would take it home and hide it in my bedroom. Give it to my father??!? If I gave it to my father I would never see it again. When my brother was about 17 he bought a pistol from a guy on the street corner. When Daddy found out about it, first he took it down to the police to see if it was stolen. Then he locked it up. Didn't give it back to my brother until he was 23.

 

And if you call the police you would definitely never see it again.

 

Would any of you fine people here in the Saloon (ACS) sneak it home, or would you all do the reasonable, prudent and legal thing?

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

At that age I certainly would have taken it home to my Dad. I have no doubt that he would have turned it over to the Police. 

Even today, I would turn it over to the Police. I wouldn't want it in my possession if it were stolen or could be traced back to a crime.

[Pat Riot]

For me it would have depended on how I found it. 

Just lying there in good shape - I would go tell the police. It might be a crime gun. I watched lots of police and detective shows 

In a box or gun rug - I would probably take it home to Dad after checking it was unloaded and a very thorough inspection which would probably include some cops and robbers fun…for 2 or 3 hours. 

[J-BAR #18287]

Dad found a .22 rifle in the dark corner of the basement when we moved to a new house.  We shot it.  Finders keepers.  1953.

[Pat Riot]

17 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Dad found a .22 rifle in the dark corner of the basement when we moved to a new house.  We shot it.  Finders keepers.  1953.

This reminds me of when we were looking at a rental house when I was 10 or 11. My Dad said “Kids, go check out the bedrooms.”

My brother Jeff and I went to the back bedroom. In the closet on the high shelf we found a snub nosed revolver. We used a stool that was in the room. Jeff held the stool while I looked.  The gun was loaded with .38 Specials. We unloaded it and put the 6 rounds in the partial box of ammo on the shelf.

We did discuss keeping it and decided to risk was too high. We took it out and gave it to our Dad. 
I will never forget my Dad’s response “You did the right thing.”

He then turned to the landlord and said “So you cleaned the house, huh? How do you explain this, huh? What else did you do around here because it’s probably a lie as well. If one of my kids had gotten hurt by this I would have broken your a** in two, you lying’ (edited for very colorful language and variations of bodily harm).

Needless to say, we didn’t rent that house. 
I confirmed later that the revolver was a Colt’s Detective Special. 

[Eyesa Horg]

When I was 11, I'm pretty sure I'dve kept it and been quiet about it. But would've known I should give it to my Dad.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

What pistol , WHERE? , 

I did not see any pistol 

 

  CB 

[Cypress Sun]

43 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

When I was 11, I'm pretty sure I'dve kept it and been quiet about it. But would've known I should give it to my Dad.

 

This.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

At that point in time, didn't have a "dad" present and my Mom was completely ignorant of guns.  Finders Keepers you betcha.

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

Not a kid but a young adult: Found a Browning 9mm laying in the road near my house on a Sunday morning. Called the police and was told that if it was not stolen or claimed in a reasonable amount of time, I could claim it. I was later told that the owner of the "new" gun had taken it out to the orange groves near my home to test it out. When he shot it, he was shocked by the loud bang, laid it on his roof to get his keys and took off. I don't know if he was charged with anything.

 

A few years ago, my neighbor knew I was a gun owner and asked me if I had put two rifles in his trashcan about a year earlier. Not really able to comprehend such an action, I told him no, I had not. He went into his garage and pulled out a Ruger 10-22 and a Crossman air rifle. Since we lived in a gated and primarily adult complex and knew everyone on our street, we could not figure out who might have done such a thing. So, the first thing in my mind was some kid from another street stole them, panicked and dumped them in his trashcan. I had a friend that was a retired deputy sheriff and asked if he could check to see if the 10-22 was stolen. He did so and it was not so I now have a 10-22!

[Blackwater 53393]

My dad was a cop…

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

At 11 yrs old, I would have given to my Dad. We had no ammo in the house I could've used if I kept it. We only owned long guns for hunting.                    And I'm certain the guys who owned the local sporting goods store, and were HS classmates of my Dad, would not have sold me any ammo.

[Eyesa Horg]

Our local Western Auto would have sold US ammo. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

Most likely have left it there and brought Dad out to it.

 

Next, if I didn't want to do that would be call the police and guide them to it.

[Blackwater 53393]

The hardware store, the farm supply, one of the local drugstores, or the gun store would all have sold me the ammunition.

 

If the gun was unencumbered by theft or use in a crime , my dad would have asked around the neighborhood and if nobody claimed it, he’d have kept/held it and taught me to use it, just like ALL the other guns in the house!

 

We kids knew where they all were, what they were for, what they could do, and how to safely handle and shoot them!!

 

A gun safe was almost unheard of back then.  Dad had a cabinet that held the long guns and ammunition.  The handguns were kept in drawers or at hand, and in times of unrest or trouble, there was a shotgun behind the entry doors of the house.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I might have done something stupid.

[Pat Riot]

In my home town the various stores that sold ammo would sell a kid .22 ammo, but for any other ammo a note from a parent would do. 
 

A buddy of mine got a snubbie .38 revolver that had a blanked off barrel. The bore was completely full of some metal. The gun looked like a cheap imitation of a S&W model 10. I don’t remember where he got this thing and he claimed he took it to the police dept to see if he was allowed to have it. 

But anyway, he would shoot .38 blanks in it to scare people. 
One day this nimrod started an argument with this kid then he whipped out that revolver and pulled the trigger. I was to the left of him and when the gun went off it was tremendously loud compared to what it had been and something hit me high on my cheekbone just below my right temple. 
I was bleeding like crazy. I ran down to my grandmother’s place where my dad and my friend’s dad were having coffee with my Nanny. 
My buddy followed me all the way yelling for me to stop. 
I went inside and my Nanny was patching me up asking questions. In the mean time my buddy was explaining to his dad that he had no idea what happened. 
Our stories didn’t match at all. 
It turns out my idiot friend took .38 Special LRN cartridges and cut the lead off even with the brass to make “blanks”. 
I had a hunk of lead in my face. 
My buddy’s dad took the gun then took my buddy home.

My buddy didn’t walk right for a while. The gun went to the police dept and the officer that supposedly told my buddy it was okay to have the gun got reamed by the Chief. 
 

[Eyesa Horg]

That was a close one Pat. 

[J-BAR #18287]

Not so much about the original question but about Dads in the 50s and 60s...

 

My dad made a gun rack for my bedroom wall.  It held my 3 rifles and two handguns when I was in high school, before I went away to college and took them with me.  The dormitory housekeeper found them in my dormitory room closet and asked me about them but we were on good terms and she didn't rat me out.

 

Different times...

[MizPete]

5 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

My dad was a cop…

Mine, too. Not when I was 11 but..... Yeah, I'd have told my Dad about it.

[watab kid]

at that age , most likely turned it over to dad , a little later ? dont know i never found one 

[Three Foot Johnson]

At that age, I would have given it to my dad. 

 

In my adult life, I've came into the possession of a couple guns with questionable heritage, and lemme tell ya, getting the Sheriff's department to "run the serial number" was a PITA. One was a 5 1/2" bull barrel Ruger Mk I .22 pistol with the finish completely stripped off that was left behind in plain sight on the kitchen table in a rental trailer a buddy of mine owned after he evicted the hop-head tenants. He called me and said, "I'm not touching it, they probably killed somebody with it". I went and got it and had quite a time convincing the Sheriff's department to run it for me. Another one was a Winchester 190 .22 rifle at a moving sale. The guy said they were leaving for Alaska in the morning and he couldn't take it across Canada, so he needed to get rid of it, bury it, or throw it away. It sounded kind of fishy, but I took it, called the Sheriff's office and went through the same rigmarole as before to get the serial number checked out.

[Gorgo]

Would have safeguard it with my life, my new special secret toy. 

Not telling anyone for sure.

[Rye Miles #13621]

At 11 yrs old I was in Catholic school and I was a good kid. All A’s!! I would have brought it home to my parents for sure! 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I turned a gun into the Ontario California PD.

 

I left it in the car and went in to tell them about it.

 

They took my keys, got the gun, searched me and my car, and then questioned me for damn near three hours.

 

Never again.  These are the same LEOs who took a poor incomplete report of thirteen guns stolen from me, wouldn't look at nor take the detailed photos I had, did  no investigation, and wouldn't tell me anything about the results.

 

Fine.  

 

I recovered the guns on my own with the help of the"gun community".  Caused some grief and a lot of fear to the two men and a teen age boy who took them.  I didn't report them found,  just put them away in a much more secure enclosure. 

 

Almost three years later I got a call from the PD asking if I had found the guns.  I told the guy that it was resolved.  He asked me how and I told him to shove it an hung up.  He called back and threatened to have me arrested for withholding evidence.  I referred him to my wife's boss, a very well known defense attorney and told him to shove it again.  Called my wife's boss, we went to lunch (as we often did), and I never hears a word about it again.

 

If i ever find another gun I'll drive by and throw in my current mayor's yard.  Let that lying left wing puke explain it

[Alpo]

21 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I left it in the car and went in to tell them about it.

I can take my own thread off on a tangent, right?

 

40's statement there reminded me of a scene from the book Patriot Games. I don't remember it being in the movie but it was in the book.

 

This guy shows up at the cop shop with a bundle. Unwraps it on the desk Sergeant's desk. It's an Uzi. All the cops freak.

 

The IRA guys had shot up Ryan's wife's car. With the Uzi. Then they dumped it in a quarry full of water. This guy and his kid were out there fishing and the kid brought it in. So Dad did the right thing. Turned it over to the police.

[bgavin]

The NRA says leave it alone, leave the room, contact an adult.

It's been many a decade since I was a kid... not sure if I would leave it, or take it home.
Either way, I'd go straight to Dad about it.