Somewhere between 2 and 3 years ago a gun was confiscated during a domestic violence call at my parents’ house. I bought the gun new and it is registered during my name. I was living in another town at the time. The gun was in no way used during the domestic violence, it just happened to be in its case on a table in plain sight. As it was explained to me, New Mexico law requires that any handgun at a crime scene must be sent off for ballistics fingerprinting. Now I have no idea how to get my gun back. Does anyone have any idea?
I don’t know the gun’s serial number either. Do gun stores keep records of that information for a certain number of years? If I had the serial number could I see who the gun is registered to now?
I have a sneaking suspicion that some LEO’s son got a nice target pistol for Christmas that year.
Contact the local law enforcement agency that had the gun to begin with. The police report on the incident is public record, so you should be able to find the serial number from that, if necessary. The cops should know exactly where the gun is, and how you can retrieve it. If it disappeared, you have a nice little lawsuit, along with charges of “misappropriation of evidence” and a few things like that. But I’ll bet it is setting in an evidence locker right now, gathering dust. I just hope you can provide the necessary paperwork to prove that the gun is yours.
Several years ago an idiot roommate managed to get one of my guns confiscated. (He hid it in a box from his visiting daughter, forgot it was there, put laundry in the box, put the box in his trunk, and the car was searched even though it had nothing to do with the suspected drug deal going down nearby. Yeah, I believed him. As much as I believe in the Easter Bunny.) I was never contacted by the police.
I had to contact the LAPD and file a claim for the return of my property, and then wait six weeks until they sorted it all out. I eventually did get my Ruger Mk.II back, with a couple of minor scratches but without the case, lock and spare magazine.
I have heard a lot quite a few stories like yours on THR. It’s sad to say, but a lot of LEOs and departments are crooked.
Here’s what I would do. And I am serious: Go to your local police agency and file a theft report. On the report, indicate that you know who stole your gun (the LEO that was called out to your parent’s house).
I almost forgot all about it. The thought crossed my mind of buying a .22 target pistol for plinking. Then I remembered, “Hey, I already did that.” I’ll trot down to the police department Monday afternoon and see what I can find out.
And if I don’t get this gun back (a Beretta something .22 target) I’ve always wanted a Ruger MkII.
I don’t quite suspect theft yet, we’ll see where the local PD gets me first. It’s a small town, so I imagine I could find out quickly what sort of reputation the officer in question has. In my mind the gun passed through many hands and someone along the line couldn’t resist the temptation of a gun, brand new, in the case with extra mag.
Me too. One thing though: I’ve found my Mk.II is particular about ammunition. I have a bunch of Remington .22LR, and I often have failures to feed. I mentioned this to Ruger when I called them about getting a part for a Ruger rifle I have, and they told me that all Mk.IIs have ‘target chambering’, which is tighter than ‘sport chambering’ used in their 10-22 and other makers’ firearms. They suggested I use a different brand of ammunition, as they said Remington’s tend to be a little oversized for their chambering. (I don’t remember what they said. Winchester? Federal? IIRC they said something about ‘XX’.)
Even if the gun wasn’t all that valuable, this is as much about principle (and law!) as anything else. So be ***very ** * assertive, and demand your gun back.
When someone inquires about their confiscated gun, a lot of departments will say, “Oh, I’m sorry. The gun is gone. It’s our policy to destroy all guns we confiscate. Have a nice day.” If they tell you this, don’t buy it; it likely means one of the LEOs stole it.
Again… be assertive, demand your gun back, and file a theft report. If you still don’t get it back, have an attorney write them a letter.
I had a friend who was the police property custodian for a medium sized western U.S. city. He once gave me a tour and I was surprised at the amount of stuff in there. Many guns as well as other quite valuable items. There may be theft in some departments, but I’d bet that it’s the exception, not the rule.
I suppose I left out that little detail: I was living in Texas when I bought it. I assumed gun registration was a federal thing. Maybe it isn’t registered to me after all… :smack:
Make your demands in writing, send it by Registered Mail, to your local Chief Of Cops.
Include your attorney’s business card (if you have an attorney).
Include photostats of all documents.
If no result, go to the District Attorney’s Office to file criminal charges.
Those forms are kept by the FFL that sold the firearm. They are not given to the BATF unless the FFL goes out of business. It was intentionally setup that way so that the BATF would not have a database of firearms owners at their fingertips.
I believe you’re thinking of Eley TenEx (sometimes erroneously known as “Ten-X” or “10-X” or any other possible bastardization you can imagine.) Along with Lapua Midas, this is about the best ammunition on the market (or at least was a decade ago when I was into shooting). This is rather pricey stuff for mere plinking, though, and I usually preferred basic CCI ammo, which provided reasonable accuracy and good function. I don’t know about Remington being oversized, but I do know that Remington rimfire ammunition had a reputation for large variations in propellent charge, which will definitely impact the reliablilty of straight blowback autos like the Ruger. I personally had very few problems with the Mark II, other than that it was a serious plain in the ass to field strip (requiring a punch and a vice to get it apart and even more forcing to get it back together again), the obtuse grip angle, and the unwieldy balance of the thing. It wouldn’t be my first choise for a target-grade pistol, but as a relatively inexpensive, reliable, and accurate plinker it served well enough.
I’m not sure what crawled up your ass, but I’m failing to see here where Crafter_man has “spew[ed] a bunch of crap.” The o.p. is within his rights to demand his property back, and it often takes a significant amount of assertiveness to push through the bureaucracy. And while many peace officers may be above the board with regard to helping themselves to confiscated property any cop will tell you that there are a significant number of law enforcement personnel who consider taking home confiscated/abandoned property just a perk of the job. Gun buy-back programs are rife with officers picking through the stock of guns turned in–paid for with public money with the stated intention of being destroyed–and taking home a few choice examples. Evidence lockers frequently have to clean out their stock to make room for new evidence, and all the stuff marked “destroy” does not always get destroyed.
This is ATF Form 4473. Although the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives can inspect dealer records, and the “bound book” is supposed to be turned into the BATFE when the dealer surrenders his Federal Firearms License, federal law prevents the information from being entered into a database. The o.p. could go back to the dealer and ask him to look it up; I don’t think there’s any prohibition against the dealer providing information on a sale to the sellee. But there’s no centralized Federal record of firearms sales.
No, it wasn’t TenEx. It was Winchester, Federal or CCI. In this area it appears only to be available at Wal-Mart, a place I avoid, so I haven’t looked for it. Something else I vaguely remember (I spoke to Ruger about two or three years ago) was that it was packaged differently. Normally .22LR comes in 500rd bricks. These bricks were said to have more (550rds?).
The Mk.II isn’t as simple to field strip as other pistols, but I haven’t found it to be especially hard. There’s a step that I remember being a little finicky, but ‘It’s Easy! Once you know the secret!’ (I don’t remember where that’s from.) Mine is the basic fixed-sight model with a four-inch barrel; not a target model. However according to Ruger all Mk.IIs have ‘target chambering’. I assume that’s to reduce costs, as they would not have to have different chambering tooling for their target models and non-target models. I will say it’s more accurate than my Walther P.22. I find mine balances quite well, and I like the angle of the grip.
