My husband has a gun

As long as you are a MA resident there are only two legal processes available to you.

1. You get his mother to send a notarized letter stating that as the executrix of his father's estate, the gun (with appropriate Make/Model/Serial number) is left to him.

Then your hubby goes to the local PD and gets the paperwork to apply for a Lic. to Carry (which is required to own/possess any handgun in MA) and he fills out the paperwork and pays his $100 and then he waits and hopes the local Chief of Police approves it. If it gets approved he picks up his LTC.

Then he goes to the MA State Police WWW site and downloads a copy of the firearms registration paperwork and fills that out and attaches a copy of the notarized Estate paperwork and you send that to the State Police and hope they accept it.

Provided he gets a LTC and the State Police accept the registration he can now legally own/possess the handgun and he can legally sell it to either a used firearms dealer or another private party as long as they also have a proper LTC.

or....

2. You hide it and hope Boston has another "Turn in a gun and get a gift card!" amnesty promotion and quietly show up at any Boston Police Dept office and turn it over. In return, they'll give you a $25 gift card to Target. (which somehow just seems like the appropriate store... )

Are you still planning on moving out of state? If so I'd just hold onto it and sell it there (unless you happen to be moving to IL or Hawaii)

btw, MA requires that it be stored in a container approved by the State and it can't be stored in a shed or vehicle.

Thanks - I thought you could just drop it off at the police station - I don't care about any money from it and I'd rather just get rid of it than sell to some one to use.

Yes, we are moving next summer to Texas. I figure in Texas it is legal for my 5 year old to carry the gun. How would we transfer it to TX? I wouldn't imagine the moving company would want to move it. If we fly down when we move can we check it? If we drive we would then have it in the car.

I don't know where you live, but if it was me I'd hand it to the police. Guns are dangerous in the wrong hands and if the shed caught fire the ammo could go up if there is any, or if there is a round in the breech likewise.

In my experience the moving companies have no problem with including firearms in shipments. I've done it several times. They just list the firearm seperately on the inventory sheet with it's serial number and you have to make sure it is unloaded and properly locked up. It get spacked on the truck with everything else.

You can also get an airline approved carry case and check a firearm as checked baggage on most domestic flights. You declare it when you check in and pick up your tickets and they put a HUGE orange tag on it. I never really understood that since they just put it on the baggage carousel at the other end so anyone that knows whan that orange tag means could snatch it and take off before you even got to the baggage claim area. There are a few airlines that won't allow you to check firearms though so you'd need to check before you show up at the airport.

Driving with it isn't a problem either as long as it is unloaded and secured in a non-passenger portion of the car (i.e. the trunk).

There is no ammo - just the gun locked in a case that no one has a key for. I am more concerned about some one stealing it and using it. I am also afraid that he has had it stored up in the closet some where and forgot about it. I do know in Mass you are supposed to have a license for a gun so I am also concerned if we just walk into the police station that we get in some trouble for even having it in our possession.

I guess another part of the problem is the gun is locked in a case that we don't have a key and no one knows where the key is.

Bascially we just want to get rid of it, legally and safely and so we don't get in trouble either.

Any thoughts?

I just thought of another thing - if your husband was a pistol instructor he should know how to strip the weapon. He could force open the case if the key is missing, and make the weapon safe by removing essential parts and disposing of them e.g. in a river or by widely separated burials. Even better, having dismantled it and having made sure there is no ammo, ruin it (cut it up) with hacksaw, file or angle grinder or whatever and then take a blow torch to the bits and pieces to further ruin them and mess them up and thus reduce the thing to chunks of useless scrap metal and then dispose of them as above.

Thanks, but after leaving the Marines he gave up his life of being Rambo.

And we live in a condo so we don't have all that cool equipment like blow torches and the like.

It is not necessary to have a license to own and possess a firearm in most places. We are guaranteed that right in the Bill of Rights, and though various restrictions on gun ownership exist, I doubt that you have violated any laws. One of the most common restrictions is that a person is forbidden to carry a concealed handgun without a State license, and the requirement for such a license vary from State to State.

From your posting, it would appear that the pistol may be regarded as an heirloom and memorance of your husband's Dad. That may give the pistol value beyond its utilitarian purposes. Without knowing more about the weapon, its not really possible to know its monetary value, but a operable .45 APC, Model 1911, (a pretty common souvenir for the Greatest Generation) maybe worth several hundred dollars. Weapons turned into police are supposed to be destroyed, but have been known to end up in personal gun collections. To destroy a rare firearm for some people is akin to destroying any other antique.

If you should decide to keep the pistol, and that is what I'd personally do, then you need to take several precautionary steps. First, document it with detailed photographs and whatever history of the piece you might know of. Second, store the weapon as securely as possible. That might mean putting it into your safe deposit box, or left secured as it is now and kept on a high shelf in the masterbed room closet. A light coating of gun oil is a good idea to preserve the finish. In any case, never leave the weapon loaded, nor stored with ammunition handy. If it is an semi-automatic, never leave rounds in the clip/magazine.

If you have children, I would advise letting them see, touch and handle the weapon. Teach them that it is only a very dangerous tool and not a toy. Show them how to check to see if the weapon is loaded. Stress the importance of never, ever pointing any weapon (loaded or unloaded) at anything, or anybody. If the children are mature enough and the right size to handle the weapon, take them to a firing range and let them shoot the weapon. The idea is to demystify the firearm and insure that if the children ever happen upon a firearm they will know how to behave safely with it. Knowing about firearms won't turn little Jack and Jill into killers, but it has a good chance of preventing terrible accidents that come from ignorance.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that a USMC pistol instructor would even consider storing an operable firearm in a low-security shed. Who better to instruct you and the children in the "Does and Don'ts" of firearms safety than an ex-Marine instructor. Your husband also should have a pretty good idea of what State gun laws are. Being a Marine isn't necessarily mean being a Rambo-like cartoon figure. Knowing about weapons and what they can and can't do says nothing about a person's disposition towards violence. Most career military folks I know and have known aren't Rambo-like either. Indeed, some most are more reluctant to violence than the public-at-large because of their knowledge and skills.

Well, ya know... If I came home and found it on my doorstep...

Do you know anyone that owns a boat? Maybe they'll be going out into deep ocean at some point soon...

My husband is not originally from MA - he is from Montana where guns laws are not so strict. He also never really used guns much until he went into the Marines. He became a pistol instructor because he had a natural talent for it - excellent marksmanship.

I do know that it is .45, I really don't know much else about it - never seen it as we can't open the case.

Of course I was joking about the Rambo-like thing.

Chances are very good that it is a 1911 .45ACP. Considered obsolete these days, it is still an extremely reliable weapon. Open the lockbox, and see what sort of condition the pistol is in. Your husband can break it down and clean it up, before you guys decide what to do with it. As I said above, my personal inclination would be to keep document it in detail and then store it in a secure place, unloaded and without ammunition in the same storage location. Nor was I kidding about the value of teaching young people about weapons for their own safety, and to demystify what is ultimately just another specialized tool. Being able to hit targets safely and accurately is a very satisfying thing to do.

A .45ACP is a little too heavy and the grips are too large for children, so this pistol isn't a good choice for teaching actual shooting. I was taught shooting with a .22 rifle, graduated to .306, but was never very good with a pistol until I was an adult. Currently I own a S&W .357, but haven't fired in well over a decade. I would swap the .357 for a .45APC (1911) in a heartbeat, even though the Smith is worth more money. The .45 Gold Cup is more accurate, and the Colt Commander is smaller/lighter, but the 1911 is like the Energizer Bunny, it's just always reliable.

I suggest you get a gun and shoot the lock open.

Just like in the movies??

Would a blow torch open it?

<Imagines a kid trying to shoot a .45. Imagines recoil tossing the tot on his or her rump....>

Put it on the "free" section of craigslist.

I'm with Farmerman. Why would you ever just drop off the gun to the police, when you have no idea what it is? It might be worth some money. Get it opened and find out what it is.

To open the lockbox ... take it to a locksmith, and have new key made. Duh. Shooting locks off like in the movies is hooey, don't go there.

If the piece is a .45ACP 1911 in good and operable condition it's probably worth between 300 and 500 dollars, but to pass on a legacy can't be calculated. Why did your husband's Dad keep the pistol, and what is the story about how he came to own it? Did he carry the sidearm in combat, or just buy off a drunk at the local poolhall? These old pistols aren't in great demand because new-fangled 9mm with zillion round clips are sexier. Don't sell off a bit of family history for a few bucks that almost certainly won't buy anything of similar sentimental value.

1911? $200 sight unseen. May go $400. Not much involved in a transfer within New Mexico - not sure about interstate transfers.