Can my ex take my gun

[jmra]

Get a copy of the 4473 from BassPro - you'll probably have to give them the exact date of purchase.
Send off the warranty card.
List the gun including serial number on your homeowner's / renter's insurance

All of this establishes proof of ownership in various forms, so that if he reports the gun stolen you can refute his claims.

Look into training classes / girl-with-a-gun groups / action pistol leagues to get more proficient with your gun.

Educate yourself about the various Texas self-defense laws including the motorist protection act.

Get a lawyer so you can get the process started of stopping the harassment.

As a lady CHL I agree with the above urgently! Please make sure you are confident with this weapon, if you are not already, and secure it from your kids. Our local police station gives away FREE gun locks. Please call yours and see if they do. Stay safe, confident, and aware! You'll sleep much better at night.

If I were depending on that firearm to protect myself and my family the last thing I would do is put a gun lock on it. For what many families spend on a meal out and a movie you can purchase a quick access handgun safe that is much easier to ready the firearm than any gun lock.
Test it yourself. Put your keys somewhere inaccessible to your kids. Put your firearm with gun lock installed wherever its going to be normally stored. Now turn out the lights and have someone yell go. See how long it takes you to get to your keys, remove the lock from the firearm, and ready it for defense. BTW, if this were real, you're dead.

[Oldgringo]

I still want to hear his side of the story. As the Bard is alleged to have said. "...(sic) heck {wherever that is} hath no fury as that of a woman scorned...".

FWIW, my white horse has a sore foot...or something.

[Medic624]

personally... unless its some rare gun i would just let him have it back just to keep him from bothering me. Go out and buy yourself a gun and call it lesson learned.

though i dont agree with the police.

Wait a minute and think about what you are saying. You are advising a single mother to just hand a weapon to an apparently unstable and potentially abusive ex-boyfriend?

In what world is that good advice?

that's what I was thinking... Why hand over her only means of protection to a man who has (allegedly) shown himself to be a bit vindictive and possibly unstable??

[Blindref757]

If I were depending on that firearm to protect myself and my family the last thing I would do is put a gun lock on it. For what many families spend on a meal out and a movie you can purchase a quick access handgun safe that is much easier to ready the firearm than any gun lock.
Test it yourself. Put your keys somewhere inaccessible to your kids. Put your firearm with gun lock installed wherever its going to be normally stored. Now turn out the lights and have someone yell go. See how long it takes you to get to your keys, remove the lock from the firearm, and ready it for defense. BTW, if this were real, you're dead.

Correct...a rock and a trigger locked gun are the same thing!

[bayouhazard]

Can? Yes.
May? Probably not.

[bdickens]

As a lady CHL I agree with the above urgently! Please make sure you are confident with this weapon, if you are not already, and secure it from your kids. Our local police station gives away FREE gun locks. Please call yours and see if they do. Stay safe, confident, and aware! You'll sleep much better at night.

The only real purpose a gun lock serves is to turn a useful defensive tool into a club.

[TexasGal]

The safest place for a handgun that is readily available to you no matter where you are and is still out reach of your kids is on your person in a proper holster (assuming you have a CHL and excepting illegal places to carry). Do not take it off to lay it down anywhere unless that place is a locked box or safe. No matter how careful you are, it is human nature to lay even a gun down and "forget" you did so for a short period.

If this guy is demanding it back knowing it will leave you and your children defenseless, that is a red flag. I understand he is miffed now at the cost of it. Maybe that's even understandable depending on why you guys broke up. If you want to send him payments to mollify him that may diffuse things, but keep a record and do so by mail. Please don't give up the only means of defense you have especially since you don't know just what else he may have in mind or, as others have pointed out, if he is prohibited from owning a gun. I can attest to the fact sometimes you get tangled up with people who have a whole nother side to them that you never saw coming. Please be careful. Be watchful when you are coming and going from your home or work.

[Pawpaw]

I don't think she's coming back...

[strider67]

I don't think she's coming back...

She could still be monitoring the topic as a guest, possibly feeling a little overwhelmed by the instant popularity of her topic. Lots of good advice here, I hope she stuck around long enough to read it.

[carlson1]

[bizarrenormality]

Correct...a rock and a trigger locked gun are the same thing!

No children ever shot themselves with a rock.

[jmra]

Correct...a rock and a trigger locked gun are the same thing!

No children ever shot themselves with a rock.

I doubt many children have been saved by a firearm with a lock on it when seconds mean the difference between life and death. I also doubt any children have shot themselves with a gun stored in a quick access gun safe.

[b322da]

Hey there I am having an issue with my ex bf. He "bought" me a Smith & Wesson m&p 9mm for my birthday! We went together and bought it from Bass Pro Shop. The background check and the gun were registered in MY name. The only thing he did was swipe his credit card. Well after we split up and he moved out he now says that the gun is his because he bought it. He says because he has "bank statements" saying he paid for it he can take it out of my name and put it into his name! Please help! Can he seriously take my gun? He swears he looked it up online and says he can do it with "review in ownership" no idea what he is talking about. He says he talked to an officer and thats what they said, but when the cops came to my house when I called them yesterday they laughed and said no he can't take my gun from me because its not like a piece of jewelry it is a lisenced registered gift and he was stupid enough to put it in my name! HELP!

I do hope you will forgive me for stepping in here somewhat late, at some length, but I will anyway since the thread seems to have drifted away.

It appears to me that your question comes close to answering itself. If I might quote it with some emphasis added to just one word, "Can my ex take MY gun?"

If it is indeed your gun -- personal property belonging to you -- it is unlikely that your ex can legally take it without your permission. If it is your gun, and your ex takes it without your permission, it would likely be, at a minimum, theft. If he takes your gun without your permission, depending upon the circumstances, like when, where, and how, he may be committing a much more serious offense.

The important question, which has been pointed out several times by commentators here, is, "Is the gun in fact yours? Is it legally and solely your personal property?"

I am not prepared to answer that question on the basis of the information I have, particularly as it is from only one party to a transaction. It may be, unique to my personal experience, that I have all the information material to the question of whose gun it is, but, with respect, I must doubt that. So very often there may be just one little fact missing which could change the whole picture and blind-side me -- a fact not recognized by the relator to be material. As just one example, you have not even told us where you are located. You might be in North Dakota for all I know. Answers to questions like yours depend heavily upon your location.

Most, if not all, police officers are well aware of this, and they, rightfully, in my opinion, will not take it upon themselves to be the judge when given what might be a hypothetical question.

I will go further and suggest that even if we assume that the gun is the property of your ex, the questions do not stop there. The use of self-help to recover a person's property without the permission of the one possessing the property, can be a complicated legal matter, depending, again, on the circumstances, and one, perhaps like your ex, who ventures to do so, can find himself in deep water with the authorities.

In my opinion you need expert advice from a local attorney who can help you, because there are laws out there which can not only answer your question but protect you if you get the right answer. If you feel you cannot afford that help, if you look in the phone book you will most likely find out where you can get free, or pro bono, legal assistance. One quick way to locate legal assistance for those unable to pay for it is to call the local bar association or, indeed, the office of an attorney.

I will hazard myself to offer my opinion that a forum like this is not often the place to seek legal advice.

This is itself not legal advice. I am only trying to point you in the right direction. There may be legal issues out there of which I have no conception. I am not your lawyer, nor are you my client. Consult your own attorney for legal advice. There are many attorneys out there ready and willing to take a pro bono case. Take care to not govern your actions by my personal opinions or anything else I might say.

Jim

[suthdj]

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob68.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bdickens]

Correct...a rock and a trigger locked gun are the same thing!

No children ever shot themselves with a rock.

Guns can not be child proofed.

As a matter of fact, nothing can be child proofed.

1) Trigger locks are not safe. They are illusory. In fact, they can only properly be used on guns that are inoperable anyway.

http://www.donath.org/Rants/OnTriggerLocks/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2) You will not be able to get a trigger lock off and then load the gun in time to use it to defend yourself. Can't do it. No one can. Try it some time.

Now try it under stress. At 2:00 in the morning as you've been awakened by the sound of breaking glass, adrenaline rushing, your heart pounding, hands - indeed your whole body - trembling.

http://www.keepandbeararms.com/informat ... asp?ID=312" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.handgunclub.com/trigger.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Real firearms safety with children involves gun proofing the children, not vain attempts to child proof the gun.

http://www.amazon.com/Gun-Proof-Childre ... 0936279052" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;