Quote:
Originally Posted by pex
When is an officer allowed to go beyond Terry in the course of citation or detainment, confiscating the firearm for some period of time, where:
1) The event is a summary offense where a firearm plays no part in the offense but is somehow discovered through Terry or otherwise
2) The event is a summary offense such as disorderly conduct where the firearm is the object of the criminal act but is not a cause or potential cause of harm but only of public nuisance
3) The disorderly conduct is upgraded to misdemeanor if it persists, for example, during legal OC where one refuses to bow to illegal demands
4) Reckless endangerment alleged in a legal OC which is simply a misdemeanor
Further, in all of these situations, if a firearm is confiscated legally, given the nature of the crimes, may the firearm be subject to testing to the state or municipality's contentment?
Of course, for me, due process always comes to mind, and such afterthoughts as preventions against illegal seizures. Simply that one is cited with a summary offense does not give the Man leeway to search your house and car without scrutiny, or perhaps even your person, or to interrogate you or your family and friends under penalty of perjury or unsworn falsification...that any specific allegation of a crime is not a forever and freely opened door into your life.
I am out of touch with reality, however, so I'd prefer if someone could suggest where due process and seizure legalities begin and end.
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I think your question is too broad.
Give a hypothetical situation (or a real one) and we can go from there.
For example, you mention a Terry stop where the cops discover a gun. Was it a good stop?, etc. Was it lawfully carried, etc. What exactly was the offense (it will make a big difference if it was a simple assault in, say a bar argument that got a little heated versus something else -- I'm not sure if I were a cop I'd hand the gun back to some guy who was just involved in an altercation and maybe passions remain high in the combatants -- same with, say, public drinking or drunkedness; would you hand the gun back to the drunk? Let him come down to the station for it when he sobers up -- that sort of thing).