PHILLY COPS TAKE GUN AFTER SHOOTING.

[rugerp95]

HEY GUYS QUICK QUESTION. MY BROTHER IN LAW WAS WALKING FROM HIS CAR TO HIS HOUSE AND 2 PIT BULLS RAN AROUND THE CORNER ANT RAN OVER TO HIM BARKING. SO HE PULLED HIS GUN AND SHOT BOTH DOGS. THEY THEN RAN AROUND THE CORNER. HE THEN FOUND HIS SHELLS AND CALLED THE POLICE FROM HIS CELL. A COP COMES AND THE CALL DETECTIVES. THEY TAKE HIM IN AND TELL HIM IT WAS A GOOD SHOOT BUT THE HAVE TO KEEP HIS GUN FOR A YEAR TO RUN BALLISTICS. HE IS A ARMED GUARD AND NEED HIS GUN. ANY THOUGHTS?

[Montanya]

Was he arrested? If not, they should have no need to take the gun period. The only reason I can see they would need it is for evidence against him, if the shoot is justified by them and no charges are pending, should be no need for them to have it. Did they give him a reciept? I would call the local chief and inquire, especially about the time frame they gave....a YEAR to run ballistics?

[bogey1]

HEY GUYS QUICK QUESTION. MY BROTHER IN LAW WAS WALKING FROM HIS CAR TO HIS HOUSE AND 2 PIT BULLS RAN AROUND THE CORNER ANT RAN OVER TO HIM BARKING. SO HE PULLED HIS GUN AND SHOT BOTH DOGS. THEY THEN RAN AROUND THE CORNER. HE THEN FOUND HIS SHELLS AND CALLED THE POLICE FROM HIS CELL. A COP COMES AND THE CALL DETECTIVES. THEY TAKE HIM IN AND TELL HIM IT WAS A GOOD SHOOT BUT THE HAVE TO KEEP HIS GUN FOR A YEAR TO RUN BALLISTICS. HE IS A ARMED GUARD AND NEED HIS GUN. ANY THOUGHTS?

sounds like nutter was the cop.... no, but it sounds like BS to me.. ask the gun lawyer guy thats here, somewhere... one year to do a ballistic check? opra can have a town built in Africa in less time...

[Garpman]

Yes, the police take guns after a round has been fired (in public) or reported. I did a short internship with the PPD, that is where I get my info from.

They even take cops guns after they've been fired, of course, they replace it temporarily with another one but they still take it the one that has been fired. I don't know how long they would keep it for in your case, since you didn't commit a crime with it, but call the Firearms ID Unit, that's where it goes.

[LittleRedToyota]

call a lawyer who knows gun laws.

i think there was a thread recently where someone in or near philly had their LTCF revoked and a specific lawyer who had been recommended by danp helped him get it back. anyone remember who the attorney was or remember what thread it was?

just because the PPD does something as a matter of policy does not necessarily mean it is legal.

i don't know the answer, but if it is actually legal for them to keep the gun for a year when no charges are even filed then we are in an even sadder state of affairs than i thought (and i'm pretty dang cynical ) it is clearly a violation of the 4th amendment (then again so are many things the government routinely gets away with).

[Steve in PA]

There is no real legal reason or requirement for them to take the gun to test it for ballistics other than them probably having some type of policy. which is not a law.

Since they did not recover the bullets, the only thing ballistics will show is that the cases that were recovered where fired by that particular gun.

I'm willing to bet Philly PD is doing this for two reasons;

1) To get the ballistics for that gun on record
2) When the ballistics are done, they will want to see if that gun was used in any other shootings.

Will a lawyer do you any good? Don't know, doubt it. With all the gun related incidents in Philly, I'm sure they would be able to convince a judge of the need to do what they are doing.

[XD45]

doesn't really suprise me that they would take it, not to sure why it would take a year that sounds like BS to me, unless they send the recovered bullet to the FBI to get nationally tested or something?! but even if you where to try and take it to court, on the offchance you win your still looking at a few months i'd bet before he gets it back so if he needs one for work he's gonna need to go get a new one

[MarcS]

here are your options judging by past stories involving PPD confiscating firearms
A) spend $500 on a new gun and write this one off as a loss.
B) Spend $20,000 in legal fees and up to 2 years of your life to get your gun back.

[LittleRedToyota]

here are your options judging by past stories involving PPD confiscating firearms
A) spend $500 on a new gun and write this one off as a loss.
B) Spend $20,000 in legal fees and up to 2 years of your life to get your gun back.

yep, isn't america a wonderful country...i mean with rule of law and equal justice for all and all that.

the truth is that the PPD (much like the gun grabbers in new orleans) can do pretty much whatever they want without worrying about ever being held accountable or facing justice. in reality, us lowly citizens have no recourse.

[ExCopInPhilly]

+1 to Steve, as a policy, because of the number of guns on the streets of Philly, they take the gun to test, and see if there were any unsolved crimes commited with it. Although they tell you a year, they generally don't take that long with it. They simply follow the policy of under promise and over deliver. If the gun is clean, he will get it back sooner, rather than later. As a matter of record, this is also one of the fallouts of not having a gun registry in PA. Not saying it is good or bad.