Found Gun In Car

John E. writes: I am in a desperate situation, at least I think I am. Two weeks ago I went to a concert and when I got back to my car one of the windows had been broken out and I didn't think twice about it. I was pissed, of course, but what can you do? Can't possibly fingerprint a million pieces of broken glass. But that's not the big deal. The next day, when I went out to my car in the morning I noticed a gun sitting on the floor of the back seat of my car and so I picked it up with a glove on to see it more closely. When I put it back down on the floor of my car I could see red streaks on the glove -- I think it's blood. I haven't told anyone yet, but I wondered what I should do. What if the gun has been used in a crime and now it's in my possession?

First of all, John -- today's police investigators can actually take a thousand broken pieces of glass and pull fingerprints from them (I mean, you do watch CSI right?). Of course, the perpetrator probably used an item to break it or a fist or possibly even the gun itself so on this point we must move on -- that's not the serious issue here. The serious issue is the gun that someone tossed off into your car.

There are two ways you can go with this, John. First, I will give you my advice as a lawyer. My advice is that you contact your local police immediately and give them a statement. Tell me exactly what happened, when you noticed it, how you touched it -- EVERYTHING. They will be able to investigate and examine this firearm with exceptional detail and may possibly be able to connect this gun to a crime of some kind. The fact that there is blood on the gun itself is also another clue the police lab can use to check DNA and see if such DNA connects with anyone in the database. This would be the right thing to do on almost all counts.

Now I would like to give you my advice as a LAWYER. (The caps mean that I am giving you advice as someone who has seen many situations go in the wrong direction due to the flaws in the legal system.) My advice as a LAWYER would be to take that gun, wrap it in cloth, put it in a locked box of some kind, put that box in a bigger box and fill it with concrete, let it set, and take that concrete slab and rent a boat... Take that boat into the middle of a big ocean or lake (lake is preferable because it probably won't wash up to shore like it would in the ocean) and drop it into the water. The chances that anyone will ever find the gun and/or connect it to you is extremely rare. I tell you this because there have been instances in which people have come to the police and "said they found items such as this gun" and then have indirectly been prosecuted for crimes they did not commit. The chance this happens to you is rare, again let me say that -- but I suggest that the "getting rid of the gun in a slab of concrete in the middle of a dark lake" is the better choice.

I wish you the best of luck in your decision.