Hoover returns antique German shotgun to 84-year-old man who brought it to Hazardous Waste Day

Officials with the city of Hoover today were able to return an 1892 antique German shotgun to an 84-year-old man who dropped it off at the city’s Household Hazardous Waste Day three weeks ago.

The man had decided he didn’t want to keep the gun but had no idea it might be worth several thousand dollars when he dropped it off with some old paint and tires at the city’s annual hazardous waste collection at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on April 22.

Hoover Councilman Gene Smith, a co-owner of Hoover Tactical Firearms, estimated the antique 16-gauge double-barrel shotgun is probably worth at least several thousand dollars and maybe as much as $10,000.

Police officers and city officials on the scene at Household Hazardous Waste Day initially thought they would have to destroy the gun by melting it, like they do with other guns collected at such events.

A state law does require law enforcement officials to destroy guns bought or turned in at gun buyback days or similar events, but after further research, city officials determined the shotgun was exempt from the law because it was made prior to 1898 and defined as an antique firearm.

City officials didn’t know the gun owner’s name or how to find him, but they were trying to do so when the man saw a news report about the gun and learned of its potential value. He and his family contacted the Hoover Police Department, which was able to sign the gun back over to him today.

“Y'all did good, and I appreciate it,” said the 84-year-old man, who did not want to share his name with the public because he doesn’t want people to know he has the gun in his possession.

The gun has been in his family for generations, he said. It belonged to his great-grandfather and more recently to his father, who died in 1996, he said. He has had possession of it for about eight years, he said.

He recently had taken the gun to two gun shops to inquire about finding shotgun shells for it and was told the barrel was slightly bent and the gun was unsafe to fire, he said. He didn’t want anyone else to get hold of it and try to fire it and hurt themselves, so he decided to dispose of it, he said.

But when he read in the news report that it might be worth thousands of dollars, he had a change of heart, he said. “That’s just like throwing a lottery ticket in the garbage,” he said.

Now that he has the gun back, he’s not sure what he’ll do with it, he said. “I’ll probably entertain some attractive offers.”

David Buchanan, the city painter who accepted the gun from him at the Hazardous Waste Day, today advised him he might want to get it appraised and see if he can learn more about the history of the gun.

The man’s daughter, who came with him to the Hoover Municipal Center today, said he needs to keep it as a family heirloom and a good story to tell.

Ben Matthews, a property clerk with the Hoover Police Department, said police have had a few guns older than this one turned in before, but usually they get melted down. He recalled someone turning in a semi-automatic antique Colt pistol that everybody was drooling over, Matthews said.

Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice said city officials didn’t feel right about following typical procedures and destroying the shotgun. They felt the best thing to do was to seek out the owner and make sure he understand exactly what he was surrendering to the city, he said.

As it turned out, “whether it has any value or not, it was important to them,” Rice said. “It’s his to do with as he pleases.”