Widows sell gun collections all the time. Quite a few of my guns have come from such collections, or from the husband who wants to make sure that his collection brings in what it is worth when he knows he is getting older, and is thinking of those he will leave behind.
That being said, the moon rock sting seems to be about going after easy prey. If they go after a violent criminal, it could be dangerous, or the criminal might escape.
Edit- Sort of OT, but I think the method my Dad taught me is worth noting. Someone calls him about a gun collection that they are selling. He will go over, take inventory and photos. Then, he would get offers on each gun by two or more reputable dealers. He would show the offers and photos to me, in case I wanted to top the dealer’s offer on some of them. Then he would take the written offers to the owner, along with any offers he wanted to make.
What happens is that the widow or veteran gets a reasonable price for their collection, so they are happy. Dad and I get first crack at collections that may be rare and have never been on the market. Also, since the owner is happy, they tell all the other ladies at the bridge club. So we get lots of calls. Sometimes it is someone who is just uncomfortable with guns in the house, because the boyfriend moved out or grandpa is going senile.
As a bonus, we know the gun laws here, and always follow them and provide documentation.
We also get some aviation and space collections. No moon rocks, yet.
