Very tough to hear this happened.

When I was living in Western NY a friend of a friend passed and his wife was not gun-knowledgeable.

Her husband had a number of pistols on his NY concealed carry permit (in NY pistols have to be listed on the permit) so after about a week you can guess what happened. The NY state police showed up because the wife did not have a NY concealed carry permit.

They did a superb job of intimidating her into surrendering all of his pistols "to keep them safe". They ended up with a local gun shop that promised to sell them for her.

She was taken advantage of bigtime. One 1911 he had was evidently a 1943 Ithaca and the dealer gave her $350 for it.

The lesson I took away from that situation was to encourage folks who live in unfriendly states to by all means have your wife get her concealed carry permit. If you don't have this in place in many states these days they will come for the pistols on the permit. Also have a list of your firearms by description, serial and have an estimated value for each.

Originally all NFA items I bought were bought as me as an individual. Now anything I buy is done as a trust; thanks HeavyD! I now have to start working on and paying to transfer the individual items into my trust so if I die they don’t have to be destroyed and anyone on my trust can possess them.

Can any attorneys in Texas address the issue of getting ripped off by Cabelas? I know Louisiana is strange, but we have protection against making a deal that is too lopsided. Maybe there is something in Texas law that would offer some relief? I would at least contact the manager of that Cabelas--it's certainly bad publicity to be ripping off a widow.

Anyone who deals in merchandise tries to buy low and sell high, but there really is a line that can be crossed, and it sounds like it was crossed here.

Shame, I doubt he only had $500 in firearms.

Thanks for helping with the ammo.

Not to detract from the OP, but it occurred to me.

While a "will" is a good thing to have, so may be a "contact the sigforum in case I go before you" sort of note in the safe, safe deposit box, the "if I should leave this world before you, list/book" of things to do.

There are enough good folk who could help those loved ones in a time of need, helping to deal with the collections of things they may have no knowledge or desire to keep, and letting some "eager to make a buck" outfit, pawn shop, guns store or even a not-so-nice family member take advantage of someone.


And my respect to those who have offered to step up and help.

Please tell Martine that I always enjoyed Jallen. His intellect and demeanor will be missed.


We are all diminished by our loss of him.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
I really wish I could have sold the firearms for her and would have done it here. During my last visit with Jim before he passed away he was asking me about me trying to sell his firearms, but Martine wasn’t in the room and I didn’t expect him to pass away so soon. I didn’t want to ask Martine about selling them for her. I left it to be for her to contact me if she needed any help with anything. I am sure Cabela’s could tell her and his son did not know about firearms and took advantage of them, which is a shame.

It is utterly shocking that Cabela's would take advantage of them like that.

Please keep telling her how much we liked Jim and enjoyed his post. I always learned something from his post.

It's terrible about his guns. Reminds me of a local ham here that had cancer and only had a few months left. He got his close ham friends to sell his radio equipment for him before his death. He didn't want his wife to get ripped off after he died.

Yep we miss Jim.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Not to detract from the OP, but it occurred to me.
While a "will" is a good thing to have, so may be a "contact the sigforum in case I go before you" sort of note in the safe, safe deposit box, the "if I should leave this world before you, list/book" of things to do.
And my respect to those who have offered to step up and help.

That's a good idea! (and a great attaboy)

You're a good man StorminNormin.

Stormin' thanks for taking on this task and I'll add my name to the list of those who are pissed that Cabellas took advantage of this family.

I am actually going through this situation for a friend of mine in our car club. My friend passed a few weeks ago of a massive heart attack. His wife had to be put in hospice as a result of her medical conditions. His sister called me and asked me to help sell his '86 Porsche 930 Turbo.

When I started putting the word out I had people offering me peanuts to what the car was worth. We are in the process of selling it to another member for almost four times some of the lowball offers...
It just pisses me off that someone would take advantage of a person like this...

Yes, I miss JALLEN, too. Enjoyed his posts and contributions.

Truly sad to hear about how Cabela's ripped her off over his guns. I wonder if some publicity might get them to make amends.

Just wondering here, but I think it is possible that some employee at Cabela's ended up with the collection.

But then, I quit doing any kind of business with them some time ago.

Stormin, very nice of you to help settle. I know if I was gone my wife would be at a loss to dispose of ammo & Arms in a fair way.

I asked a guy I know at a gun shop in MI what he does in cases like this, the grieving widow brings in some firearms? He said he offers a fair price, knowing that in a smaller town word will soon be out about his trading. He does keep some margin in his offers so he can resell at a price to move them. I believe him, bought a 1954 Browning ‘Sweet Sixteen’ off him that came in under those circumstances.

The $500 number does sound low. It’s likely water under the bridge, but we’d 1st have to factor in exactly what firearms were in the mix, and condition? Of course it wouldn’t take much to get to that figure.

I applaud you for helping Mrs Jallen.

Good on you. I did this a couple of years ago for a friend that passed. Let me know where to send some $$ and consider it a gift for the family.

I have to say I have no idea of how many guns they took to Cabela’s or what condition they were in. I know at some point he must have had multiple pistols and at least one rifle, but it is possible he could have sold some before he passed. $500 sounded really low to me, but it could be possible Cabela’s gave what a dealer would give and I am thinking more along the lines of what they should have gotten from a private sale. I just figured that even if it was just two guns, it should have been more than $500, but I could be wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
I have to say I have no idea of how many guns they took to Cabela’s or what condition they were in. I know at some point he must have had multiple pistols and at least one rifle, but it is possible he could have sold some before he passed. $500 sounded really low to me, but it could be possible Cabela’s gave what a dealer would give and I am thinking more along the lines of what they should have gotten from a private sale. I just figured that even if it was just two guns, it should have been more than $500, but I could be wrong.

Hard to say without the specifics but that's pretty much what gun shops do. If they are decent they will pull out a book values and show the person exactly what their fire arm is worth retail, private and gun store price


My wife shoots and has an idea about values. She also know that I have two friends that are willing to take care of the selling if she prefers. But I am going to do an inventory for insurance and death purposes. I am going to do a ammo inventory as well!!

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
Originally all NFA items I bought were bought as me as an individual. Now anything I buy is done as a trust; thanks HeavyD! I now have to start working on and paying to transfer the individual items into my trust so if I die they don’t have to be destroyed and anyone on my trust can possess them.

Personally-owned NFA items don't have to be destroyed when you die. They can be transferred, tax-exempt, to a beneficiary of your estate by the personal representative/executor of your estate using an NFA Form 5.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
Originally all NFA items I bought were bought as me as an individual. Now anything I buy is done as a trust; thanks HeavyD! I now have to start working on and paying to transfer the individual items into my trust so if I die they don’t have to be destroyed and anyone on my trust can possess them.

Personally-owned NFA items don't have to be destroyed when you die. They can be transferred, tax-exempt, to a beneficiary of your estate by the personal representative/executor of your estate using an NFA Form 5.

Good to know!

I sure hope Jim did not have much of a firearm collection at the point of his death. $500 is one or two maybe.
It is sad his son did not have more interest in it in terms of what it was.
Many here would of bought it surely.

The first time I lunch with Jim, it was to buy some ammo he no longer needed. I live close, in Wimberley. I would be interested.

Everything is now posted in the Classifieds. https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/8950046054