I read posts on other gun forums by police officers about the widows that come into the police station to dump their deceased husbands gun collection. Most women don't like guns and these old widows are just relieved to get them out of the house. Alot of times these are quality vintage guns that were taken care of, but the department policy is that all surrendered weapons must be destroyed.
The "gun buybacks" are all about getting inherited gun collections in for destruction.
If one is going to the nursing home or hospice, it really may be a good plan to sell that gun collection first.