cmort666
Member
Law trumps policy. When it doesn't, it's because people let themselves be bullied. Bullies NEVER stop being bullies because they get what they want by BEING bullies.
Confiscation after a shooting?
- Thread starter Trailryder50
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Law trumps policy. When it doesn't, it's because people let themselves be bullied. Bullies NEVER stop being bullies because they get what they want by BEING bullies.
Self-defense is not a crime. I know of nowhere in the USA, including the totalitarian state of CA, that will not return your weapon that was use in protection of your life or the lives of others.
ColbyBruce
Member
Step over to Sigforum and ask for "ReplacementTommel". He was arrested and lost a C&S worked over BHP when he was accosted by a knife wielding street person in Philadelphia a few years back.
Doug M.
Member
*
While it won't be destroyed, in Washington, a vehicle used in a DUI offense by a person with at least one prior may in fact be seized and forfeited by judicial process. See RCW 46.61.5058. I just did a bunch of work on this issue for my (LE agency) client; researched the process, developed the paperwork, etc. Firearms do not have to be destroyed here, but after certain offenses can be forfeited and sold. See RCW 9.41.098. If our criminal division DPAs forgot to do that paperwork at resolution, I clean it up for the client so the agency is not stuck with the guns sitting in evidence forever.
BTW, unless the data has shifted a lot, impaired driving collisions are the single most common form of criminal homicide in the US.
OP
Trailryder50
Member
That has been my thought too, along with others that I shouldn't share. This has been an enlightening thread with first hand knowledge from the LEO folks. I'm not really surprised over the info. I suspected as much.
TomkinsSP
Member
Different zip codes, different laws, different policies. Where I worked if an officer fired his weapon it was taken, examined (to ensure it had issued ammo, was unmodified and in good mechanical order) test fired and returned before the officer was finished filling out paperwork, giving interviews, and seeing the department mandated mental health professional.
Of course the officer was being paid to NOT do his job while he waited to be cleared. As a private citizen there is no impetus to expedite the process.
TomkinsSP;139926400 As a private citizen there is no impetus to expedite the process.[/QUOTE said:
There is no way to answer your question until after the event has passed.
It all depends on the laws of the Jurisdiction that you live in and exactly how judge rules.
It all depends on the laws of the Jurisdiction that you live in and exactly how judge rules.
These types of questions, made apparent by the answers, shows every jurisdiction and based upon the events will be different. All I can add is I unfortunately had a shooting at work many years ago. My weapon was taken as evidence. Since I had carried it for a few years and it had saved my *** I asked if I could get it back after all was said and done. New pistol issued and eventually back to work. Fast forward a few years after the wrongful death time limitations past. I asked up the chain asking for my pistol. Several blank stares and emails, I picked it up from the property room, signed the form, and was happy to have it back. No marks or numbers etched into it, just as the last time I saw it. A few years later we transitioned to .40's and I was able to buy it back. Moral of story...even on the inside you gotta do leg work
okiegtrider
Member
Exactly how it works in our little corner of rural OK. I work for the local prosecutor and have facilitated the return of a lot of weapons over the years. Unfortunately, its a pain in the tail for citizens and for the agencies involved. Mostly because caseload far exceeds staffing levels and therefore a low priority task. Our police department has a full time evidence custodian, but he doesn't make a move on returning evidence till he he hears from the prosecutor's office. Most of the other rural agencies have tasked evidence to some already pretty busy deputy or officer. So, even if they have heard from the prosecutor, they get around to it when they get to it.
Not really fair I know. But it is a fact of life in rural places for sure. I guess the short answer to, "will I get my gun back?", is yea, probably, some day. YMMV
TomkinsSP
Member
IMHO (full disclosure I was a cop for 22+years) the delay comes from the State's Attorney Office. And they ARE the law. The PD just keeps it in evidence until the DA asks for it (theoretically for trial, although I have never personally heard of a legally possessed or used in self defense gun being actually entered as evidence) or the DA agrees to release it to its owner (or it becomes abandoned or 'lost').
TomkinsSP
Member
Hence my snarky, "or your heirs" will in #3.
That seems to happen quite a bit. It seems in my state a lot of out going sheriffs end up with very nice gun collections pretty quickly. Not from shootings, but just confiscated guns. One city policeman told me he was well aware of quite a few that became "lost", including a cheapo 25 automatic that ended up at his house rather than being turned in.
Weimar
US Veteran
When I lived in Pennsylvania, north of philly 40 miles, I know of a friend threatened and the system turned it around on him because he was the one who had a legally carried pistol.
Although he was found guilty of a traffic violation (other charges dismissed), his seized pistol was not returned. After he asked for it back, the evidence officer stated that it had to be a request from a judge, and a request done by a lawyer, so the cost involved was not worth it. Had he asked the judge in person for any property seized to be returned, I would imagine he would have gotten it back. However, stirring the pot seemed more dangerous than asking at that moment....
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Many officers used to do this in order to positively identify firearms. Every time I saw it done, I'd get the dry heaves.
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It's how we were trained, but not how I normally did it. When there was a factory applied serial number, it went in my report and on the evidence tag.* When the factory number was defaced or had never been there I followed the instructions. Defaced #: it isn't going anywhere, anyway. No original number: I was discrete.
A man shot his wife/cohab (forget which) TWICE in (non-vital parts of) the chest with a Winchester .30-30 lever action during an LSD induced hallucination involving Martians coming out of the toilet. He claimed accidental discharge and she backed him up. Went clear to trial and resulted in my certification as an expert witness in order to demonstrate to the jury that whether or not a single AD had occurred, a deliberate action on his part was required before the second shot was fired. In that case, while there was no question as to whether that rifle fired the shots, it was still needed as evidence.
He was convicted. She demanded the rifle back. Although it looked like 40 miles of rough road, the SN placed it in the first few years of production and had belonged to her grandfather. Eventually, when the appeal window had closed, I convinced the DA to release it to her father (the actual owner). She waited for him to complete his sentence and they all lived happily ever after.
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I gues police work is the same the world over. Back in Feb '12 I tore my rotator cuff on duty. After surgery and a suitable period of rehab I returned to work on light duties pending a full medical clearance. One of the tasks I was given was to go through the property seized in a homicide enquiry that had concluded over 2 years prior. There was some property I had to destroy and some I had to return. Amoung it all was a nice shotgun, I can't remember the make now, that had belonged to the victim and had been stored in a 20' container in the car park used for overflow storage instead of in the gun room. It was covered in rust. I spent half a day with some solvent, oil and a brass pot scrubber cleaning it up before arranging to return it to a relative.
In the below case, not even used in any shooting, contested or otherwise . . .
Wright v. Beck - USDC-CD Cal (LAPD firearms retention policy) - Calguns.net
It's pretty much impossible for me to provide a TLDR summary of the above 130 post thread, so I'll just copy the first post of the thread linked above:
I should note that this post is from an associate at the Michel law firm, headed by Chuck Michel. C.D. Michel represents the NRA, the CRPA (Cal Rifle and Pistol Association - he's also the president of the CRPA), and is one of the leading litigators and civil rights activists focused on the 2A in California.
The case described in the above thread has not yet been resolved.
Marshal Tom
Member
OK, I am a retired Chief of Police in Colorado with 36yrs as an LE. I was involved in a shooting at my current job as a security officer for John Hendricks, Discovery Channel Owner at a fancy resort in Colorado along with his houses and properties that we protect there. I responded to an active shooter on the highway near the resort in Sept. of this year. I fired my custom Stag LH AR-15 that was worth over $2000. I kept the suspect pinned down with my AR until LE arrived on scene. They confiscated several guns from me and my partner. I teach gun classes at the resort so I always have multiple guns with me. I got back all the other guns after a couple of weeks but they still have my AR-15 in evidence. I meet with the DA on the 21st of the month and will ask about my gun. The guy was not hit, by some miracle and is in custody. for many years I carried a hand built 1911 that was worth about $2600 at the time. I never thought that it would be taken as evidence and luckily that never happened. It has made me re-think what I am willing to give up in the event of a shooting. I was the good guy in this case and am without my rifle for who knows how long. Makes one think about getting involved in any situation knowing how the process works.
