...only 28 were stolen...

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I wonder if this guy stole them himself or unknowingly purchased a previously-stolen gun? After about the first 400 or so it must be tough to keep track.

Bond Posted In Gun Discovery Case

ENFIELD, Conn. -- A man who police said had 601 guns at his home in Somers is due in court at the end of the month after posting bond this weekend.

Eyewitness News has learned that Brian McClelland, 63, posted bond on Saturday.

State police and federal authorities said they found the weapons last Friday night at McClelland's home on Mountain View Road. Police said at least one of the guns they found was a stolen rifle and 27 of the handguns seized were stolen.
State police charged McClelland with 28 counts of stealing a firearm and first-degree larceny by possession. Police continue to trace the origins of the weapons.

http://www.wfsb.com/news/13480416/detail.html
 
Here's some more dirt on the guy...

SOMERS - A local man is to be arraigned today on multiple weapons-related charges after state and federal authorities searched his house on Friday, seizing 601 guns - 28 of them stolen, state police said.

The man, Brian H. McClelland, 63, of 159 Mountain View Road was being held today on a $1 million bond in pretrial detention at the Hartford Correctional Center.
He was expected to be arraigned in Vernon Superior Court today.
He has been charged with 28 counts of stealing a firearm and one count of first-degree larceny by possession.
McClelland was arrested Friday after a search of his home by a state police task force assisted by agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Authorities seized 601 firearms, among them 27 handguns and one rifle that had been stole, state police say.
Lt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman, said today that the search began Friday afternoon but stretched into the early morning hours of Saturday because of the number of guns that had to be removed.
"With the volume of weapons," in McClelland's home, Vance said, police "have got to move slowly."
Vance added that he expects more details about the case, such as where McClelland's weapons came from and why he amassed such an arsenal, will be revealed in court.
Vance said that the arrest was the result of an "extensive" investigation into the theft of firearms.
Click to expand...


http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18457574&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=569430&rfi=6

From reading that, it appears that he stole the guns himself (at least that's what he's being charged with).
 
I just worry about all those poor, innocent guns - what happens to them? Hopefully they find their way home to their rightful owners. If not, I'm willing to adopt!
 
Maybe he is a bad guy. No idea.

One has to wonder what precipitated the search in the first place. These things don't tend to be spontaneous.

I imagine that they might automatically charge anyone in possession of a stolen firearm with the theft, and then use it as a lever to force information out of the person. Stolen weapons make me a little nervous about FTF purchases.
 
Doesn't sound legit to me... 600 firearms and only 28 have been reported stolen at some point in time. I'll wager they don't like his arsenal.
 
Vance said that the arrest was the result of an "extensive" investigation into the theft of firearms.
Click to expand...

Just not enough to go on to take one side or the other. He could be an innocent victim or a criminal. Hopefully the truth will win out in the end.
 
adweisbe said:
Doesn't sound legit to me... 600 firearms and only 28 have been reported stolen at some point in time. I'll wager they don't like his arsenal.
Click to expand...

Maybe they do, maybe they don't. What I wonder is what led them to this guy. Maybe they nabbed some punks for B&E who said they sold stolen guns to the guy. I do not know what, if any, legal procedures CT has for private party handgun sales.
 
adweisbe said:
Doesn't sound legit to me... 600 firearms and only 28 have been reported stolen at some point in time. I'll wager they don't like his arsenal.
Click to expand...

Maybe it is possible he thought he was buying guns from a legitimate
source (eg, like an estate) and the reality is he was buying from a
criminal who stole them or obtained them from other
criminals, or maybe from an a**h*** informant/stool pigeon... who
knows.

Either that or the media has munged this all up and the stockpile he has
is mostly of stolen guns, but even that doesn't make any sense. I mean if
you're running guns illegally, would you really have that much "inventory"
laying around?

It would be interesting to know what the outcome of this is, course the
media tends to just drop the cord on stuff like this.

-Mike
 
Emoto said:
Stolen weapons make me a little nervous about FTF purchases.
Click to expand...

Even if a gun is sold through an FFL there is no guarantee that it wasnn't
stolen, as generally speaking the FFL has no way of running the serial
number of every gun they log into their books. I can agree that the
probability would be lower (mainly because they usually record who they
got a gun from) and you would also get "plausible deniability" WRT
buying from a dealer, with the presumption that everything they sell is
legitimate, but it's still not impossible. Criminals are mostly idiots and
one of them selling a stolen gun to an FFL would not surprise me in the
least.

-Mike
 
Maybe he collected C&Rs, and some former Nazi has reported his Mauser and Luger "stolen", or his SKS was reported "stolen" by some disgruntled Chicom.

Probably not, though.
 
Wonder if he's got my bro's Colt Diamondback... it was stolen back in 79 or so in a break-in and it's never been reported found. [sad]
 
What if he legitimately collects guns?

I think most of us here could only dream about having 601.

What if he bought 28 of them and they ended up being stolen?

I'm still learning about MA/CT laws, but when you buy a gun and file your paperwork with the state, is the serial number verified?
 
I doubt that anyone verifies the S/N when CHSB scans the forms in.

Running a stolen check on guns is a real nightmare! Not something you'd ever do a second time unless you were really sure that you had a hot one! The computer system setup to do this seems to have been something developed in the 1950s on the Univac (used to be a quiz show on TV in the 1950s or perhaps 1960s that showed one of these monsters) and never updated to be a useful tool.
 
LenS said:
I doubt that anyone verifies the S/N when CHSB scans the forms in.

Running a stolen check on guns is a real nightmare! Not something you'd ever do a second time unless you were really sure that you had a hot one! The computer system setup to do this seems to have been something developed in the 1950s on the Univac (used to be a quiz show on TV in the 1950s or perhaps 1960s that showed one of these monsters) and never updated to be a useful tool.
Click to expand...

I thought NCIC 2000 had a means in it to search for guns reported as
stolen.... something makes me think though, that the database is not
fully inclusive. (eg, does EVERY stolen gun end up in NCIC?)

From what I have heard, though, it still is a pain in the ass. I doubt SN's
are ever checked unless it involves a criminal investigation of some
sort.


-Mike
 
Whenever I get back up to the station, I'll ask the Lt. But here's how it worked years ago when I tried running S/Ns.

You requested a stolen search on a S/N ONLY (it didn't take brands, etc.) and then you had to pour over the output looking to see if the brand and model matched! A huge PITA and the accuracy was based strictly on your eyesight!

LOTS of lost/stolen guns are never reported into that system. Here are just some reasons I can think of off the top of my head:

- Most people have no idea of the S/Ns of their guns,

- If bought FTF in free states, there is no paperwork to fall back on to find a S/N if stolen, [NOTE: Also true in MA on guns pre-1998 transfers as CHSB database is only semi-reliable back to that date.]

- Laziness . . . getting something added at a PD after the fact is like pulling teeth. Many don't report to the Fed systems at all for most crimes. [I once found a record where a $5K larceny was entered erroneously as a "misdemeanor" warrant by our agency. I even offered to enter the correction and the detective said "nah, let it go"!]
 
Rumor has it that the "bulk" of the "stolen rifles" were Winchesters.....all in the box. Now, from that one could come up with a ton of senarios including he bought them as a lot not knowing that the seller had stolen them from the factory or 100 others situations. It may have seemed like a legitimate deal for him since the other 561 weapons were not illegal or stolen. He had quite a collection.

This guy evidentally had some bucks and invested in firearms. My suggestion is that we all give him the benefit of the doubt initially until we get more info. If he's guilty or was stupid, then he'll hang. If not, and he was "duped", well we'll either owe him an apology or tell him he was a fool to thing he could get "such a deal". We'll see.....I hope. If I hear more, I'll post back.

Rome
 
Last edited:
You would think that they would either mostly be stolen or not... this sounds fishy to me.

Why out of over 600 guns would only a handfull be stolen?

Why would a real gun collector take that risk?

It would not suprise me that the SP would knowingly sell him stolen guns simply to nail him with the stolen guns so they could take all of his firearms.

I have bought most of my guns FTF... I have my copy of the paperwork... I have (to my knowledge) no way of knowing if the people I bought them from filed the proper papers.

It would be very easy for someone to fill out the form with me, not send it in or even send in a different form claiming the gun they just sold as stolen.

I hope if the guy is legit.. that this works out for him... and if he knowinly bought stolen guns... then eff him and lock him up.
 
Firearms do not have unique serial numbers so the data entry requires many more fields then just a serial number. Make, model and SN must be entered. When I was the TAC officer, I would have to thmb through a 600 page manual to find the corrent entry codes. It is a pain.
 
Strange... he could afford them but chose to steal them. Kleptomaniac?

And now he won't be able to have ANY guns ever again.
jpshakehead.gif
 
That is true... obviously he didnt care about the law in the first place.. so after whatever lame sentence he gets is completed... He can surely start right back up again...

Sad part is... I think that he can still sell off all the ones he Legally owned. Correct me if Im wrong...

I know HE will never get them back in his possesion... but if it is his legal proerty. the PD can not keep it... legally. So he could sell off his collection.
 

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