House Passes Bill to Keep Creditors From Taking Guns

CBSNEWS Politics July 28, 2010 5:36 PM http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20011999-503544.html

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...The House this afternoon passed a bill that would change the law to allow someone going through bankruptcy proceedings to retain their rifles, shotguns, and pistols so long as they are worth less than $3,000 combined

Excellent

I am glad to hear it. mixed feelings on the $3000 limit, hoewver, if your over the $ limit, you still get to keep one, even if it is over $3000 for the one.

cabbitone said:

So if you're going to declare bankruptcy you sell everything you own buy ONE very expensive gun and call it a day?

Wonder if you get to keep your ammo...

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So... a Krieghoff K80?

In states like here in WA where there is no registry, how would they know that you have guns and just how many, which ones and how much they are worth?

I am not a lawyer, but I am familiar with bankruptcy laws (at least as they pertain to WA).

As I understand it, a creditor does not have the right to confiscate your personal property unless it is directly related to the debt... in other words, they could only come for your gun if you bought it with a credit card recently and then filed against that credit card.

They can take your home, but only if you owe them money on it and do not intend to pay it.

Same for your car, though the value of a vehicle can come into play and make it available for confiscation if it is worth substantially more than your economic standing allows. So you can't file bankruptcy and keep your new Mercedes... more than likely.

I am unaware of a case here where firearms were confiscated due to bankruptcy.

daddy4count said:

As I understand it, a creditor does not have the right to confiscate your personal property unless it is directly related to the debt... in other words, they could only come for your gun if you bought it with a credit card recently and then filed against that credit card.

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Creditors can only act on items in which they have a secured interest, but in certain types of bankruptcy the court can order assets liquidated, even those that aren't under credit liens, in order to divvy up among creditors. Some things are excluded from such orders; you have to be left with a place to live and reasonable transportation.

This would put guns up to $3,000 among the excluded items.

I suppose anything over $3000 then would have been "sold" to a friend of mine "long ago"