So a dude orders a pistol online and it gets shipped to his LGS.  LGS attempts to contact person who ordered said pistol to do transfer and leaves several messages to come do the paperwork.  Later phone is disconnected.  LGS does searching internet and finds another number and this number is of a neighbor of the dude.  Dude that ordered gun tried to steal said neighbor’s identity.  Neighbor also states that the dude got hauled off to jail because he threatened another female neighbor with a firearm.  Turns out, the dude is in jail awaiting trial in an adjacent county.  Sounds like the dude is a real dirt bag.

This supposedly happened well over a year ago and the dude is still in jail and LGS still has the pistol.  Obviously the dude would fail the background check, assuming everything went according to procedure and since he’s in jail that isn’t going to happen.  LGS says no way in hell would he transfer it to the dude even if the State and NICS check came back with a proceed.  So the question is what to do with the pistol, it cannot be returned for refund because it has been too long.  Does LGS put it on the shelf to sell or what exactly?  Sell the pistol and give the money to the dude in jail?

I have interest in the pistol and LGS does not know what to do or what obligation they have to the dude in jail.  Just curious if this has ever happened to any other dealers out there and what did you do?  I sort of doubt this happening to any other dealers as it is a unique situation.  Thanks for any input.

Happened at a shop I worked at as well.  Pistol was bought and shipped to us.  Buyer never showed.  We checked and returned info as a felon.

Gun still sitting at the shop well over a year, maybe 18 months.

Visit the guy in jail and ask to buy the gun off of him. I did the very same.  I hired an attorney to draw up a bill of sale that disclaimed duress and paid extra for the jailbird's attorney to be a witness on the bill of sale.  

<---FFL
Every state has laws that regulate abandoned property.
I have a policy that storage fees begin to accrue after thirty days unless prior arrangements are made. Once the storage fee exceeds the value of the firearm.....I can sell it to recover my storage fee. If the idiot were to show up a year later he would owe storage fees before I would refund him the invoice price of his firearm.

I've had two instances of this in seven and a half years. One guy was denied by FBI NICS and lied to me about filing an appeal (he waited several months to begin his appeal. Once I found out that he dropped the ball I gave him him some incentive and he paid over $200 in storage fees.
The second was a guy who ordered two AR lowers.....and then kept coming up with excuses as to why he couldn't pick them up. He lived less than a mile away. After a year I sold them. I have never heard from him again.

I would contact him and offer to sell it on consignment.

I have a firearm in my safe now for maybe 8-10 years. Owner never came to pick it up, cannot find him at any of the numbers/addresses he left. No big deal. It will just sit there.

<-- FFL

This is from our policies web page:
If the FBI NICS denies the transfer, the buyer has several choices:
- We will hold the firearm while the buyer appeals the denial. If the buyer files the appeal within 30 days of the denial, no storage fees will accrue as we will not penalize buyers for the government's delays. If the buyer does not file the appeal within 30 days we will charge a storage fee of $10 (ten dollars) per week to store the firearm. Once the storage fees have exceeded 50% of the firearm's value we will sell the firearm, deduct our storage fees, and return the remainder to the buyer.
- Arrange with the seller for the return of the firearm and pay us for return shipping.
- Consign the firearm with us.

I did some research a few years ago for a friend and his wife that own a shop.  Half of one of their storage safes was filled with handguns for no shows and disappeared folks.  Some were in there for 7 or more years.  

Under our state's business laws, they're abandoned and they can sell them and keep the money.  I suggested one last letter with notice that they would be sold off.   No different than leaving a car at a body shop and not paying or coming to get it for a year.  They simply sell it to recoup costs and it's perfectly legal.

Thanks for the replies.