Far too many people are running around right now with stolen guns. Most of them are criminals. Others bought them from criminals and might not know it, though there are often warning signs--the phrase "hotter than a $2 pistol" comes to mind here--but stolen guns are floating around all over the place.

And if you want to have an interesting time, just let the police catch you with a stolen gun.

That's what happened to one Tennessee man.

Mt. Juliet authorities found a stolen gun from Nashville during a traffic stop Thursday morning, marking at least the third such incident in just over a week.

According to the Mt. Juliet Police Department (MJPD), officers made a proactive traffic stop at Murphy Oil for a seatbelt violation on Thursday, Oct. 31, which led to the discovery of a stolen handgun and a ski mask.

Officials said the firearm was reported stolen in May after a vehicle break-in at a hotel parking lot near Rosa Parks Boulevard in Nashville.

Police said a 35-year-old Nashville man was taken into custody for possession of the stolen firearm. No additional details have been released about the man’s identity or his arrest.

Of course, they don't know how he came in possession of the firearm. He may have stolen it himself or he may have purchased it from someone who he believed to be selling him a legally owned firearm.

Unfortunately for him, receiving stolen property is illegal. If it's a gun, law enforcement is really going to take it seriously, too, so this is just his lot in life at the moment.

We don't know a whole lot about this arrest, of course, and it may be that he didn't know it was stolen, but right now, he's the one in hot water. If he stole it, that's as it should be and all is right with the world.

If not, then there are avenues for him to get out from under this. All we know is that someone was charged. Nothing else.

Something to be aware of. If you buy a gun and you're unsure if it's legit, you can get law enforcement to run the serial number to determine if it's stolen or not. If it is, they're going to take it, but guess what? You're not going to jail.

The downside is that now they know you have a gun, so if that bothers you, you should probably be very careful who you buy firearms from in the first place, then you shouldn't need to worry in the least.

Besides, I know if I ended up locked up because the gun a supposed friend of mine sold me was stolen, I know I'd be arranging for them to chat with the police about just where that firearm came from in the first place. There's no reason I should do time for something they did or can at least direct the police toward who did.

If they didn't know it, they can sort out it with the cops themselves.

But maybe you should be very careful either way just to make sure you don't end up being pulled over for a traffic violation and end up with a set of matching stainless steel bracelets with a tasteful chain connecting them.