Pawn shops are like any other small business, they will vary in how good they are. I had a local pawn shop that was in business for over 30 years, and I became friends with the owner. He dealt heavily in guns and I scored some good buys from him. Of course he knew that I was a serious repeat buyer and he treated me well. As far as stolen goods are concerned, he reported everything that he took in to the police department at the close of business everyday and I never had a problem. I made other good purchases from him other than guns. Tools, guitars, cameras etc. He retired about 2 years ago and I miss stopping there everyday to see if anything new of interest showed up.