I actually had somthing like that happen before to me. I had bought a pistol and a day or two later I got a call asking if i minded returning the pistol because it was stolen but I did not have to if i did not want to. I decided it was probably best to return it. When I returned it they gave me the full story. Turns out it belonged to a woman who's husband had passed away and the pistol legaly belonged to her. Her soon had taken (not sure if he took it from her house or if he had been borrowing it) and sold it to the store. According to the store because the woman did not want to press charges with the police it was not officially considered stolen by law enforcement.

Well we had what I would consider a happy ending. Cabelas called again on Friday and told my son that the police were no longer interested in his gun. To his credit, he's 20 years old, he said no thanks, I'm uncomfortable with that the fact that anyone has any interest in this gun in the first place. Can I still return it. They said completely understood and said yes.

 

So Saturday morning we head out to Hamburg. The folks at Cabelas couldn't have been nicer. The story they gave us was the PA state police provided them with a list of guns they were "interested" in. So they gave back all his money including tax and PA gun transfer fees (in cash) and handed him a $100 gift card. He replaced the gun with a different make/model and ended up $30 richer. Yeah I know, not after the gas etc.

Congrats. Funny how it goes from Crime Gun to nevermind.

Glad they track these things though.

 

What does that mean?

I'm glad your situation worked out. Should a similar situation have happened to me, I would have returned the gun, then asked for why it really needed to be returned. Of course I would want a refund and at least reimbursement for costs incurred traveling. After all, had it actually been used in a crime, the police could have merely confiscated it, without compensation. Perhaps the law enforcement community in PA is a little more forgiving than in NJ, and would rather not initiate an investigation into an innocent purchaser unnecessarily.

 

Giving the dealer the opportunity to recover a potential crime gun, and be compensated for the trouble, to me seems like a win-win (the police get potential evidence they might need, the innocent purchaser does not get a gun confiscated or otherwise "involved" with a police matter, the innocent purchaser receives a refund and additional compensation, and the dealer gets to save face).