Posted on 11/13/2022 6:34:08 PM PST by algore
It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 27, 2021. Umon Moore was with friends, including a woman and teenage boy, doing target practice.
The group had five handguns and a rifle lying out on an old cement graffiti-covered bridge railing on a back-country road in Tennessee. They had been shooting down into a riverbank.
Sgt. Key with the Sheriff’s Office rolled up and informed them that you can’t shoot from a bridge or roadway.
Bodycam video reviewed by KARE 11 shows the entire interaction was polite and respectful by all involved.
The deputy seems inclined to just give the group a warning, but first asks if he can run the firearms to ensure they’re not stolen.
The group on the bridge has no objections.
He begins calling in serial numbers to dispatch to run through NCIC – a database of stolen guns maintained by the FBI.
The first two guns come back clean, then Sgt. Key calls in a Springfield XD-40 – a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun.
It comes back stolen
After 33 minutes in handcuffs on the side of the road, Moore was set free to call Scheels in Minnesota to try and confirm his story.
“Call ‘em,” Key said. “And if they can fax that information to us at the Sheriff’s Office it goes a long way.”
Records show Scheels sent over documentation confirming that Moore bought the handgun from them. The stolen firearm was confiscated, he was let go.
On the body camera footage, both the deputy and Moore seem perplexed as to how a major sporting goods store like Scheels could have sold a stolen gun
(Excerpt) Read more at kare11.com ...
Retailer should have liability in my opinion
Scheels are good people and I expect they’ll make good on this if they haven’t already.
Lesson learned is never willingly let a cop investigate you regardless.
In order to get more eyes on this story, I’ve added the keyword Banglist.
That’s funny, so did I.
I also suspect the NCIC system is flawed and didn't catch the registration of a weapon reported stolen. Can't have that truth come out.
As for the retailer having liability, they don't have access to police records. The police department that sold it, likely at auction to a good friend of the chief who then resold it, needs to be on the hook.
The Feds are also culpable. They lie about the NCIC check which clearly didn't work. If this man had bought a stolen firearm, how hard would it be to send him and Scheel's a letter?
Retail gun dealers are not required to check to see if AA used gun they are selling is stolen. I believe pawn shops are,
If you read the whole article, the dealer has no way to verify if a gun is stolen so how can they be held liable? The Feds have the info but have no method for a dealer to check the serial number to see if stolen.
What kind of idiots think it’s OK to send on a road bridge and shoot?
So I’ve seen this happen to someone I know
Bought a gun on gunboker, had it transferred to dealer as it was another state, all done in acccordance with law
Purchaser gets stopped by hillbilly cop with an attitude, more shit happens and when the serial number is run it comes up stolen
Apparently the seller sold a lot of his collection then claimed they were stolen and filed insurance claim, if the other chain of events had not occurred he would have gotten away with it, however the law took offense, did their job and seller caught a couple years in jail and a felony record for it
There is absolutely no reason why there should not be access where any person can run a firearm SN or vehicle VIN and be able to determine if it is stolen or not.
The feral Govt acts like this is 1965.
A lot of incompetence and malfeasance on the part of government agents would be revealed if that was publicly and freely available.
That said, for the past twenty years, I’ve always been able to call the local PD non emergency numbers when purchasing a car and every department was happy to confirm make, model, year and whether it was stolen.
Sure. Don't cooperate and they'll all get arrested for shooting from a bridge. I dunno, but sounds like the cops (plural) acted reasonably under the circumstances. No summons, no charges, a stolen gun recovered. Good police work.
Insurance fraud is a crime against all the other insurance company’s customers. Glad the jerk got prison and a record.
I have had PD run a VIN on a 50 year old truck when the number on the frame didn’t match the door and title. He had to search each state individually. He just checked the surrounding states as there is no national database. That was maybe 2017.
We can’t manage to compile that information in one place? Really?
Serial numbers are not necessarily unique. I know of a fellow whose Winchester lever action was seized as stolen property only to find out (two years later) that it was some commemorative Winchester with the same S/N that was stolen. He eventually got his rifle back but it was pretty seriously trashed, rusty and banged up stock.
Manufacturers are under no obligation to use unique serial numbers and can reuse S/Ns
Retail gun dealers are not allowed to check, neither are pawn shops, according to the article.
But, that has changed with the recent passage of a law by Congress.
Unfortunately, the mandated changes have not yet gone into effect.
***Apparently the seller sold a lot of his collection then claimed they were stolen and filed insurance claim,***
I remember that happening to a guy who bought a hunting rifle advertised for sale in the want adds.
A few years later he took the rifle to Canada for hunting, then was arrested when he returned to the US and declared the rifle at the border.
It seems the original owner who had sold it to him also listed it as a firearm stolen from him in a later burglary.
I remember reading of a man who had a legally owned and licensed mint condition Thompson sub machine gun.
One day the local police came and confiscated the firearm. After several years of law suits he got his mint condition Thompson back, so rusted up it was trashed.
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