Guest Left Firearm - Case Open Against Me

[Logan55]

I had a situation last week where a guest left a firearm at my home (which we use full time for AirBnB and other rentals, so I have no personal belongings there.) The guest informed me they called a local enforcement officer to go retrieve the firearm shortly after checkout. I didn't hear about this until after my guest checked out, and law enforce had already gone to retrieve their firearm. The guest informed me in a message on AirBnB. In my opinion, this was a very responsible action on the part of my guest and it did not bother me the guest was carrying a concealed firearm in my home. This is common in the area. My reply to the guest was a simple "thank you."

This morning I got a note from AirBnB there is now an open investigation and case into my rental. They are asking me for 1) a photo or video of the weapon, 2) a photo of whether the weapon is secure or unsecured, and 3) additional information. Aside attempting to explain the situation (#3) which is obvious by reading 1-2 sentences in my interaction with the guest, I clearly have none of this information!

Has anyone experienced something similar to this, and is it possible the case was opened simply because my guest sent me a message (on the BnB platform) with the phrase "My husband did forget his gun there, but an officer went and got it for us?" Are the conversations monitored simply for the word "gun?", and if not, why would they open an investigation into this? My guest clearly didn't open a case against me because it was their own firearm, and anyone reading our conversation would be able to see there was no problem between the two of us. 

[Anonymous]

@Logan55  I have no idea, but it does sound like a compelling possibility that your suspicion is correct. Words like "gun" or "firearm" might automatically trigger (har har) what passes for an investigation (unfortunately, some boilerplate text sent your way without review by a human who is paying attention).

This is a pretty sensitive issue, so just to make sure you don't have to have your case processed by an outsourced drone, I recommend getting an Airbnb agent on the phone line instead of emailing. 

[Rene-and-Thomas0]

OMGosh, do I have a similar story - hold on and I'll tell it. 

Gun + guest + investigation just happened to me a few weeks ago...

[Rene-and-Thomas0]

Okay - so back in March, we had a blind gentleman go to the wrong house thinking it was his Airbnb. Someone "pulled a gun" on him, and when he called Airbnb to report it, he reported that I WAS THE ONE who pulled a gun on him.

I didn't hear about it for a few days, well after Airbnb had started the investigation.

The reason it was cleared up is because the guest had called the cops on location to where the incident happened, which was so not my house (it was on the other side of the neighborhood). 

And unfortunatly or fortunatly for the guest, it was also determined that the guy likely did not pull a gun on the guest either, but rather had a cell phone in his hand as he pushed him out the door. Ooops..

The police report cleared it all up, nothing was determined weird with us or hosting with the Airbnb findings, and the guest was apologetic for getting us wrapped up in it.

[Janet1267]

I had a guest recently leave an empty ammo box in the recycling. I’m uncomfortable about the liability of guest bringing firearms to our property as we have a number of acres of walking trails. How to set rules firmly but kindly?