What do you guys think?

[ray1970]

If you were looking to buy a firearm and knew that someone had used it to commit suicide would it?.

Kind of freak you out or steer you away from buying it?

Think owning something with a ?confirmed kill? would be kind of unique?

Be indifferent about it and only look at it as just another firearm purchase?

[eddiememphis]

Logically, it's just a tool someone misused.

Emotionally, it's creepy and I'd avoid it.

Ghosts and karma and all that stuff is almost certainly made up nonsense. However, in the small fraction of a chance that there is some validity to it, it's easy enough to err on the side of caution.

[BPTactical]

Would depend on the firearm IMO.
If it’s a S&W 5906 or Ruger Security 6 or the like- meh, probably pass.
If it’s a matching # Luger or GI 1911 or something else exceptional then it’s under consideration.

What is it RayRay?

[SideShow Bob]

Usually the surviving family members don’t keep a firearm with such history, they don’t reclaim it from the investigating PD.
How did it get back to the family ?

[Scanker19]

Depends on who it was.

[gnihcraes]

Do you know any of the other guns you own haven't done the same?

I had a p226 stolen and recovered in Glendale AZ. Bunch of gangsters had used it for who knows what.

Sold it after getting it cleaned up and checked. Couldn't get past what it might have done.

[.455_Hunter]

I purchased a used 3 inch Smith & Wesson Model 10-8 RB from Sportsman's Warehouse that has Puerto Rican evidence numbers engraved on it. What type of crime was it involved in? - I don't know, but it was almost unfired, finish challenged (from humid storage, not blood) and perfect for a knockabout carry gun.

[Skully]

Think owning something with a ?confirmed kill? would be kind of unique?

...............that is a little dark and morbid


For me the deciding factor is how well you knew the person that used it to take their life. (It is just a tool........)

As for those that are superstitious you can have it "cleansed." No seriously it is a thing, my wife is very superstitious and has inherited heirlooms from passed relatives and has had them "cleansed"

[JohnnyEgo]

Sad but true, there is a market for this sort of thing. When a woman shot herself on my old range with one of our rental guns, we five or six calls the next day asking if it would be for sale.

If it was something unique that I really wanted, I doubt I'd be particularly haunted by that aspect of its provenance, provided it was not someone I knew. But if it was something relatively common place, I'd most likely pass in favor of one with less emotional baggage.

[Martinjmpr]

When a woman shot herself on my old range with one of our rental guns, we five or six calls the next day asking if it would be for sale.


Well, let me just file that away under "things I wish I didn't know."

[Fentonite]

I used to have access to dig through police trade-ins (duty and evidence guns) from a police supply in Austin. I got several good deals, but looking at the calcium stripes on top of the barrel and rusty blood spots turned me off from an almost-free model 65.

[Joe_K]

It?s a tool. Clean it, use it, dont get worked up about what someone else did using it to achieve their will. If you spend all day worrying about where that $20 bill has been, who slept in your hotel room before you on a trip, you will wind up near suicidal yourself. I find myself getting horrified about what evils exist on the cellular and internet networks I use, but accept I cannot easily control what others do with the same tool, not a perfect one - for - one analogy but similar enough way to think about it.

[flogger]

It's something you would remember every time you looked at it. Kind of creepy to think about even holding a 'known' weapon like that, but as mentioned, some have unknown histories. That being said, lots of variables to consider in the who/what/when category.
I was looking up Earnest Hemmingway's suicide and what he had used, it was his prized English side by side pigeon shotgun. The gun was eventually dismantled, cut-up and buried in a field outside of Ketcham Idaho. Story goes that someone found it and re-built it!?

I heard of someone who collected assassination weapons, not the original but 'like' models. A specialized field of gun collecting.

I would pass, bad Juju.

[bellavite1]

I couldn't care less.
Actually, if it was somebody I really didn't like, I would be willing to pay extra...

[ray1970]

Fascinating the different view points so far.

Since a few inquiring minds want to know, the specific firearm I am alluding to belonged to my grandfather. It isn?t anything exotic or valuable. Its a Ruger and it?s either a speed 6 or a security 6. I can?t recall. I retrieved it from the police in 1994, cleaned it up, and put it away for probably fifteen or twenty years until my dad was finally ready to put it away in his safe. It sat there until my dad passed away in July.

I?ll eventually be selling it and just trying to get a feel about if I should disclose it?s history to potential buyers or not.

[WETWRKS]

Fascinating the different view points so far.

Since a few inquiring minds want to know, the specific firearm I am alluding to belonged to my grandfather. It isn?t anything exotic or valuable. Its a Ruger and it?s either a speed 6 or a security 6. I can?t recall. I retrieved it from the police in 1994, cleaned it up, and put it away for probably fifteen or twenty years until my dad was finally ready to put it away in his safe. It sat there until my dad passed away in July.

I?ll eventually be selling it and just trying to get a feel about if I should disclose it?s history to potential buyers or not.

I wouldn't mention it.

As far as our family...my grandfather committed suicide with a WWII surplus military 1911. The family headed to Wyoming where he lived and towards the end of dealing with the funeral and splitting up his items and such I mentioned retrieving the firearm from the police. We had a card for the contact officer so with there being no objections from any of the family I called about it. The officers were kind and had not only the pistol but a suicide letter and a bit of other evidence we were allowed to retrieve. When we showed up they told us the armorer had professionally cleaned and oiled the pistol for us. We also found out that the officers had cleaned up the scene as they did not want the family to have to deal with it. I hear horror stories of families who have had to clean up things like that themselves.

We have that 1911 and keep it ready for home defense. None of my direct family are weirded out by it's history. Frankly...as it is WWII surplus it may have other deaths attributed to it. I saw on auction the other day a classic colt revolver with notches in the grip...most people wouldn't be too freaked out over owning such a gun. It is likely because of the time difference. I have never had anyone question if that Indian arrowhead that someone found had kills on it. Yet it very well could have.

[Gunner]

Fascinating the different view points so far.

Since a few inquiring minds want to know, the specific firearm I am alluding to belonged to my grandfather. It isn?t anything exotic or valuable. Its a Ruger and it?s either a speed 6 or a security 6. I can?t recall. I retrieved it from the police in 1994, cleaned it up, and put it away for probably fifteen or twenty years until my dad was finally ready to put it away in his safe. It sat there until my dad passed away in July.

I?ll eventually be selling it and just trying to get a feel about if I should disclose it?s history to potential buyers or not.

Well if you list it here, the cats out of the bag and we all know.

For me I don?t think I?d care one way or another. I think I?d only care if it was someone close to me who used it. But if I?m a disinterested 3rd party probably wouldn?t bother me as much.

Now if it?s a house? I might care then

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BPTactical]

A firearm with bodies on it is different than than a suicide gun IMO. Unless it is a homicide gun the most likely candidate is a conflict weapon. To me those are a slice of history and always say to them- “If you could only tell your story.”
When I was working at a local shop we started getting crates of Yugoslav SKS’s in. It was clear these were from the Serb conflict. It was fascinating to see the trench art on them, Cyrillic carvings, dates, artistic carvings, patterns where the carrier twirled a knife point and made dot patterns. One was really interesting with colored wire wrapping’s on the gas tube wood.
We had a customer who could read Cyrillic and some of them had a loved ones name, one had a “Lord protect me” type saying.
They all had a history.
One was a bit chilling- wiping off the cosmoline you could see a perfect hand print on the barrel caused by a bloody hand.

[BPTactical]

Fascinating the different view points so far.

Since a few inquiring minds want to know, the specific firearm I am alluding to belonged to my grandfather. It isn?t anything exotic or valuable. Its a Ruger and it?s either a speed 6 or a security 6. I can?t recall. I retrieved it from the police in 1994, cleaned it up, and put it away for probably fifteen or twenty years until my dad was finally ready to put it away in his safe. It sat there until my dad passed away in July.

I?ll eventually be selling it and just trying to get a feel about if I should disclose it?s history to potential buyers or not.

Anybody else think it’s weird that I noted a Ruger Security Six in my 1st post?[Peep]

[Martinjmpr]

Story time: in 2003, when I was in Afghanistan, my father's best friend and hunting buddy Dave (whom I had also gone hunting with) killed himself with a .44 magnum revolver. He had been depressed for a while and my dad actually went over to his apartment to see if he was OK, and just as my dad walked up to the front door he heard the shot and called the police. After the place was cleaned up and the estate settled, nobody else in Dave's family wanted anything to do with any of his firearms (and he had a pretty good collection of them), the Fort Collins police asked my dad if he wanted the gun that Dave used to kill himself. Dad declined so I presume the gun either sat in the Fort Collins police evidence room or was somehow disposed of by them.

Dave's other guns were all given to dad (since, again, nobody else in his family wanted them) and one of those guns, a 12g Mossberg 500, sits in my gun safe today.

[ray1970]

Anybody else think it?s weird that I noted a Ruger Security Six in my 1st post?[Peep]

I kind of chuckled when I read your post.

I?m starting the process of decluttering my life soon so I don?t have a bunch of stuff for my loved ones to deal with when I?m gone. I?m kind of the end of my bloodline as I have no biological children and neither do my brothers. I?d rather not burden my wife or my step kids with having to deal with getting rid of my crap so I?m going to try and die without much stuff and just have money in the bank for them instead.

[Martinjmpr]

I'll eventually be selling it and just trying to get a feel about if I should disclose its history to potential buyers or not.

My vote is no.

It's a gun. We know what guns do. For all I know some of my guns may have been used in a homicide or suicide. I don't actually know and really don't care.

[Gunner]

I kind of chuckled when I read your post.

I?m starting the process of decluttering my life soon so I don?t have a bunch of stuff for my loved ones to deal with when I?m gone. I?m kind of the end of my bloodline as I have no biological children and neither do my brothers. I?d rather not burden my wife or my step kids with having to deal with getting rid of my crap so I?m going to try and die without much stuff and just have money in the bank for them instead.

If you?d like you?re more than welcome to write me into the Will and burden me with the guns? [emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wctriumph]

I don?t have a problem as long as it?s something that I wanted anyway and the price was right. If you have battle rifles that were used in war, I don?t see a problem.

[Singlestack]

In 1986 my Dad killed himself with a 30 cal M1 carbine, same type he carried in WW2. Fought under Patton and won bronze star and purple heart. The police offered it to me and I was really upset and requested they destroy it

[ray1970]

In 1986 my Dad killed himself with a 30 cal M1 carbine, same type he carried in WW2. Fought under Patton and won bronze star and purple heart. The police offered it to me and I was really upset and requested they destroy it

Not to drag up bad memories, but did the day ever come when you wish you would have kept that carbine or pretty much no regrets about letting it go under the circumstances?

[flogger]

In 1986 my Dad killed himself with a 30 cal M1 carbine, same type he carried in WW2. Fought under Patton and won bronze star and purple heart. The police offered it to me and I was really upset and requested they destroy it

I think you did the right thing, just what I would have done. Who needs that constant reminder, even if you are a gun collector. Good move in my opinion and I'm guessing you never regretted it.

[Singlestack]

I think you did the right thing, just what I would have done. Who needs that constant reminder, even if you are a gun collector. Good move in my opinion and I'm guessing you never regretted it.

Thanks. Nope, never regretted it for an instant. If having a historical firearm like Dad used was important to me, I'd save up and buy a nice new production replica or a Mil-surp. But that night, and my wife and me finding him when she was 8 months pregnant with our oldest son, permanently removed any desire to have an M1 carbine around the house as a reminder. Probably the worst night of our lives.

[flogger]

Wow, I can't even imagine going through that. Suicides effect so many people and especially family members for many years.
All the best to you and the Family. Not an easy thing to process.

[20X11]

Firearms are just objects...they have no soul, no conscious, no memory... nothing. They don't even rise to the level of a "Pet Rock" for emotional attachment.

[Waldo1]

Would depend on the firearm IMO.
If it?s a S&W 5906 or Ruger Security 6 or the like- meh, probably pass.
If it?s a matching # Luger or GI 1911 or something else exceptional then it?s under consideration.

What is it RayRay?

Its Hitler's Hi-Point. The one he offed-hizzelf with in the bunker. i seen it on GunBroker.

[BPTactical]

Its Hitler's Hi-Point. The one he offed-hizzelf with in the bunker. i seen it on GunBroker.

If you would have said it was Mussolini's HiPoint I would have believed you.

[CapLock]

I have an Aunt that had a handgun stolen and used in a Murder. It didn't bother her when she got it back.
She's a tuff little thing. Ex sherrif deputy. Broke a woman's arm as a security guard at a Vegas casino.
Used to bike to work through bad part of town at 2 in the morning. People said it was dangerous. If they only knew how dangerous her and that 357 could be.
When she did a shotgun training course and they tried to give her low recoil rounds...now that bothered her.
Some are built different.