Q: Is there a common recourse for an FFL holder to recover funds lost due to a transaction where the FFL unwittingly purchases stolen firearms that are then seized by law enforcement (ie. insurance claim, civil suit against the seller, etc.)? Details of this specific situation. We purchased 5 guns over the course of about an 8 month period from an individual who worked at another FFL (we were unaware of this fact at the time). This individual was stealing guns from that business and selling them to Blackstone. At the time we purchased them, the other FFL was not aware the guns had been stolen and therefore had not reported them as such. As a standard practice, we use an online resource of user entered stolen gun information (www.hotgunz.com). This resource is obviously not complete as it is entirely dependent upon victims of gun theft entering information about their stolen guns. It is not a law enforcement database. To our knowledge, we don’t have access to a law enforcement supported database. The guns weren’t stolen from us, but instead seized from the customers who bought them from us. We are refunding those customer’s. The result is that we are out approximately $2500. Because they weren’t stolen from us, it seems as if an insurance claim is not an option. The option of a civil suit seems to likely be that the offender will likely not have the means to make us whole. We suspect you guys have likely seen cases like this in the past. Any insight would be helpful.
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