So I've been looking at getting rid of some old guns, ones I no longer need, or will never shoot again.
I know we're in the "Trump Slump" (no fear of new federal gun laws, so no demand, causing a market glut and low prices). But it's worse than that.
I brought a bunch of guns into a Petaluma gun store to see if they were interested in any. They weren't. They didn't want any of the pistols, at any cost. The guy said, "They don't have optics cuts, so I couldn't sell any of them." The stupid optics craze on pistols is so prevalent now that guns without them literally have zero value. (Chock up one more reason I fracking hate them.)
Rifles, they'd offer about 10% of their value. (on all but one, which was worth about 40%)
So what about selling to private parties? Well, because this is California we have to do a PPT (private party transfer, at an FFL). And while the state mandates that FFLs do PPTs, they don't let them charge more than $10 for it, so it's a guaranteed money loser for them, as they have to pay an employee to spend at least half an hour doing paperwork. As a result, the gun stores say they do PPTs, but they do everything they can to make you just go the frack away. I asked at a gun store in Petaluma, and the guy said, by appointment only, and on Fridays only, and they are currently booked up more than 2 months out. That's a hard no without saying so. So you can't even give a gun away right now. Crazy.
So that gun collection you were going to leave to your heirs? If they aren't a gun nut like you, it's just a burden, worse than all your other crap that they need to hire a dumpster for. They'll have to bring it all to a police station for destruction. It's a sad state of affairs.
I've heard there are some charities in other states that take guns. I will have to investigate that.