I have a concern, not sure what to do.

[cheeseburger1976]

My neighbor was never really a gun guy but expressed interest A few years ago. Around one year ago he bought through a friend of his an AR and also a tactical shotgun privately(assuming not registered)I offered to store them for him until he had his own safe. A few months ago he began divorce proceedings. He has since than moved out, his wife (who is still my neighbor) has approached me and told me she is scared of him and to keep an eye out for anything strange if he shows up to the house. To me he is a normal dude, a doctor and good father to his kids. He just now bought a safe and asked for his guns back. I'm a little hesitant to do so with his divorce and his wife feeling threatened. I'm not sure what to do, any personal/legal advice would be appreciated. FYI, his wife has NO idea he owns guns

[MT1]

I'm curious about some of the details you've included. What do you mean by, "assuming not registered"? There is no registration process in PA. Why did you offer to store them until he could get a safe? Were you just being a nice neighbor or are one of you under the impression a safe is a requirement? Why did he buy the AR "through" a friend? Do you mean he bought it FROM a friend or are you implying he made a straw purchase?

By the timeline,you've had these guns for multiple months. He's a doctor so I assume he has a decent income but it took months for him to buy the safe?

There are two sides to every story. You got the wife's side. The firearms are not your property and you have no legal justification to keep them. If I was the owner and you didn't turn them over immediately I'd have the police making a visit to your house. Remember, YOU made the offer to keep them. This could quickly turn into theft by deception.

For what it's worth, your whole story sounds kinda fishy.

[fuzzywuzzy]

"His wife has no idea he owns guns".

Since they were keeping those kind of secrets from each other the impending divorce action was inevitable.

[cheeseburger1976]

I'm curious about some of the details you've included. What do you mean by, "assuming not registered"? There is no registration process in PA. Why did you offer to store them until he could get a safe? Were you just being a nice neighbor or are one of you under the impression a safe is a requirement? Why did he buy the AR "through" a friend? Do you mean he bought it FROM a friend or are you implying he made a straw purchase?

By the timeline,you've had these guns for multiple months. He's a doctor so I assume he has a decent income but it took months for him to buy the safe?

There are two sides to every story. You got the wife's side. The firearms are not your property and you have no legal justification to keep them. If I was the owner and you didn't turn them over immediately I'd have the police making a visit to your house. Remember, YOU made the offer to keep them. This could quickly turn into theft by deception.

For what it's worth, your whole story sounds kinda fishy.

Nothing fishy , he bought them privately. Trust me he has the money for a safe, he just didn't want to have the guns at home without them being secured because of the kids, also I don't think he thought ahead about where he would put them without the wife knowing. I totally intend to give them to him I'm just asking if there's any responsibility on my part God for bid he does something stupid with them through the divorce proceedings, especially because for some reason she feels threatened by him.

[God's Country]

Don't make other peoples problems your problems, which BTW includes safe keeping someone's guns you barely know.

If he wants his guns give them to him. It's no more your problem than the problem of a FFL, or private seller, if a person intends to do something illegal. It's the same argument anti's will make for background checks.

[Bang]

Doctor hides guns from wife (the real reason you stored them) is an indicator of something wrong in that marriage. My money is on her. She is afraid of guns for all the usual reasons and he has to work around her issues which is probably not the first time he has done this. She is the one to be feared. One day or night he may need his guns to protect himself from her. He wants them back is all you need to work with.

[daschnoz]

Women do crazy things when "their man" leaves them **. The soon to be ex-wife (hereafter referred to as "the wife") could be a certifiable whack job living in an alternate reality.

Every story has 2 sides. Could your neighbor (the dude) be perfectly sane just wanting this crazy woman to go away? Yup. Could he snap at any time? Sure.



Now to the firearms in question:
Possession is 9/10 of the law, but where firearms are concerned, for some reason, the law gets blurred because emotion gets in the way.

IF (you deny him his property == TRUE
AND 
he has a way to prove that the firearms are his == TRUE
AND
he presses charges for theft == TRUE) 
{
  you're_going_to_jail = TRUE;
}
elseIF (he has a way to prove that the firearms are his == FALSE)
{
  transfer_the_guns_to_him_through_an_FFL();

/*
- The guns are in your possession and with no paper trail to him, he has no way to prove ownership.
- Explain the conversation you had with the wife and your "dilemma".
- Offer to pay the x-fer fees (it's cheaper than a lawyer).
- If he has no ill intentions, he should be agreeable since you're picking up the tab.
- If she took out a PFA on him, PICS should catch it.
*/
}

I have no idea what the legal ramifications would be for you if you returned his property after having that conversation with the wife, then he used his property in a bad way.









**True story - One of my ex-girlfriends threatened suicide after I broke up with her (yes, I stuck my dick in crazy). Her father called me and left a message on my answering machine (if that tells you how long ago this was) telling me to stay away from his daughter (which was exactly my intention anyway).

[Bang]

I have no idea what the legal ramifications would be for you if you returned his property after having that conversation with the wife, then he used his property in a bad way.

I do. None.

[RenoV8]

You might seek advice from a lawyer and not some random thread from guys who happened to sleep at a Holiday Inn.

[Gunsnwater]

Give them to his friend and go sin no more.