What should I do to Get my Confiscated Gun back?
There are two heavens forbid, you got in a traffic accident and was sent to the hospital. The police who is/are in charge of investigating the accident would check and inventory everything involved in the scene, including your gun/s inside your car.
Another essential reason is to serve it as evidence in an active criminal case as part of any investigations. This happens when you unlawfully possess and use firearms or when someone uses it against someone else other than yourself.
Whether for safekeeping or as a piece of evidence, the questions that many would possibly ask might either be if the firearms can still be returned and how to get them back. That depends on different situations and how firearms are involved. The following would help you a lot.
Notification of Release
In most cases, you’ll receive a letter notifying that you can get your firearms back. This happens after the officer in charge of the case, which you’re involved, will send a notification, usually via email, to the Property Division stating that there is no longer a need to hold your firearms.
Requesting for a Written Determination
You need to submit a Law Enforcement Gun Release Application (LEGR) in order to request for a written determination. This form is downloadable online from any law enforcement websites of the state in which you belong.
You need to fill in your personal details, information about your firearms, as well as the information of the law enforcement agency that has the custody of your firearms. Make sure to include the report number of the law enforcement.
When submitting an LEGR application, make sure that you will have your own copy and mail the form through Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested. This will serve as a proof that you sent an application and the Department of Justice of your state would receive the mail. Also, include a money order for the mandatory processing fees.
If you didn’t receive any feedback after 60 days, you can use the letter certified return receipt requested and call the agency. If your LEGR application is approved, you can take back your firearms. If you didn’t take it/them back within 30 days, you need to send another LEGR application again.
With a criminal conviction
If you’re a respondent of either a permanent or domestic violence protective orders, who specifically surrendered his or her firearms, you can get your firearms back once these orders expire, unless the protective order is extended or you’re prohibited from owning or possessing firearms.
Still, you will receive a notification. After which, the Property Division will also send you, the owner of the firearm/s, a certified letter and an Application for the Return of a Handgun/Shotgun/Rifle with details about what you need to do to have the firearm returned.
Then, you need to send back a completed Request for the Return of Handgun/Shotgun/Rifle application, proof of ownership, as well as a copy of the government, issued identification to the Property Division.
After the Property Division receives your documents, they will perform a criminal background check of your identity in order to ensure that you’re allowed to possess firearms under state or federal law, as well as to ensure that no existing order has been extended and no new order has been issued.
They’ll also issue a specific date and time for you to appear for a gun hearing after receiving your documents. This hearing should happen with a property custodian or a designee who will be the one to consider all the details in the case file such as the type of weapon involved in the incident, as well as your eligibility to possess firearms.
If they’ll deny returning your possession, you can petition the court for a Show Cause Hearing during the 30 days of the denial. You should also give some paper works to the Property Division in order to request this kind of hearing. The judge will be the one to make a final judgment. Note that the denial is not made by only a single officer, but by a group of 10-12 various law enforcement officials.
Other states in America don’t really have a very strenuous process of returning firearms to the owners. For example, in California, you just need to acquire legal documents and/or specific requirements that can be presented to specific departments or legal agencies.
First, you must be eligible to possess firearms and can be able to prove it to the court or agency by presenting a proof of eligibility to possess a firearm or written determination from the Department of Justice.
Second, your firearm/s must be registered in the Automated Firearms System under your name and shouldn’t be labeled as stolen. If stolen, the law enforcement agency would notify the right owner, who should also be eligible to own firearms. You need legal aid in order to process this case safely. You can consult any Legal Aed Fresno Criminal Lawyers for some professional and reliable pieces of advice.
You’ll be given a 180-day period to respond; other states like Maryland would only give you 30 days. If you’re unable to contact the Property custodian after the expiration of the given period, the law enforcement agency and the court would dispose of your possessions. They’ll either destroy, sell at an auction or reuse them for official duties and military purposes.
Takeaway
When your firearms are lost or damaged, you have to know that you have the right for just compensation when a government agency, such as the police, will damage one’s personal property, which includes your firearms. The law enforcement knows the significance of protecting the properties of the people, so if things like losing or damaging firearms will happen, they should be held accountable for it.
