Wife's Friend Found Random Firearm???

[TedBeau]

My wife was telling me that a girl she works with told her this story. It almost seems to far fetched to believe, but my wife works with this girl almost everyday, all day for the past 12 years. They are basically a team, being the only two in their office most every day, so my wife knows her and believes her.

The girlfriend was shopping in the garden shop area of a Meijers, (Think a cross between Wamart and Target for those not familar with Meijers.)
She was in the area of the parking lot that they mark off with pallets to make an outdoor area for plants, mulch and such. She had purchased a couple of yard waste trash cans, and was going to grab them as she loaded up her car. When she grabbed one to move it there was a gun laying on the ground behind it.

My wife said the girlfriend grabbed a different can, put the first one back and loaded her car. When she got home she called the store and told the manager about the gun.

The manager went out and checked and it was still there.

My wife told me the girl told her there was the gun and some bullets there also. I don't know if they were loose rounds, in a mag, or in a box, or what.

My only possible explinations would be perhaps someone fleeing from the police and wanted to hide the gun before they were caught with it, planning to return later and retrieve it?
If the store sold hand guns and it was not already outside the door, I might think shopplifter that lost his nerve, or suspected he was made. But the store doesnt sell hand guns and if they did I would assume they would be locked up.


I guess another possiblilty would be an employee that didn't want to carry it in to the store. So they hide it there, perhaps they take a bus to work?

I don't get it.

Any thoughts?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[JD]

*moved to general firearms*

[Hiram25]

My guess would be somebody who wanted to ditch it fast. The store should have called local PD and turned it in, might have been used in a crime, but they usually wind up in water somewhere.

[lafayettela]

I think that I would have either made the manager aware or called the police and not left until the weapon was secured. I would have been concerned that a child would find it.

[msgt/ret]

I think that I would have either made the manager aware or called the police and not left until the weapon was secured. I would have been concerned that a child would find it.

Same here, I would not want a kid to find it and if it had been used in a crime hopefully the police may be able to use it as evidence to convict the criminal.

[Hopyard]

I don't see anything far fetched in the story. BGs stash guns or toss them. Going home and calling the store after leaving the location is a tad odd, but I can see someone doing just that to avoid getting involved and being quizzed when the police arrive. Not a smart thing to leave it on the ground but also dumb dumb dumb if she had taken possession or touched it in any way.

[Skippys]

Handguns discovered in unusual places are typically ditched because they have been used in a crime. I covered the trial for the Carr brothers in Wichita (link) several years ago on a fine December morning and one of the key pieces of evidence was a handgun -- found by highway clean-up workers -- that was proven to be the one used to execute four young citizens stripped naked in a nearby soccer field following a night of rape, sex abuse and robbery. A fifth victim and key witness survived because a hair clip deflected the bullet enough that it didn't penetrate her skull. She played dead, then walked nearly a mile, naked and bleeding from her wounds, through snow and subfreezing temperatures to a nearby home.

This is an incredible story, and, fortunately, not one that happens with much frequency. But it did happen on a day that began like any other day. That was when I decided to carry every day, no days off.

Moral of the story? If you find a firearm, even if it is the Colt Gold Cup Commander you've been lusting after, call the cops. (And if it is that Colt Gold Cup Commander, go on the record as finders-keepers.)

[BugDude]

When I was about 12 me and a buddy were walking up his parents' front sidewalk which was lined with bushes when he said, "Hey look!!!" He reached down and picked up a .22 handgun. It was a top break single shot made to look like a revolver. The house and sidewalk were close to the road and it was a busy road. I always figured someone ditched it out a car window after something less than honorable. It was unloaded. He took it in the house and gave it to his parents. They kept it for him and let him have it when he was older. They didn't call the police or anything.

[Retiredonce]

They kept it for him and let him have it when he was older. They didn't call the police or anything.

I wish those days weren't so long ago...

[Bubbiesdad]

An employee at our Wally World foun an H&K rifle under a shopping cart a year or so back.

[supv26]

I local "porta potty" company found one in the tank once. They said it was so rusted up they couldn't read the make or serial number on it.

[atctimmy]

IIRC Wal Mart had a lady in FL find a water moccasin the hard way last year in the garden dept.

[msgt/ret]

IIRC Wal Mart had a lady in FL find a water moccasin the hard way last year in the garden dept.

On a scale of 1-10 that would rate as a pucker factor of 15.

[dukalmighty]

It's definitely the work of the gun fairy,I find em under my pillow all the time

[TedBeau]

What surprised me is that she did go home before calling the store. She's not an anti by any means. She has gotten a deer rifle as a christmas gift before. She doesn't hunt any more but is an avid fisherwoman. I have gone out on her boat with her, and she ties her own fly fishing ties.
I should call her and tell her to get a hold of the police to tell them if no one claims the gun and they can't trace it to a legal owner that she wants it. I don't know what it is, but hey why not claim it.