# Firearm discharge by a cop: "paperwork?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firearm-discharge-by-a-cop-paperwork/705250 "2014-11-21T15:34:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firearm-discharge-by-a-cop-paperwork/705250/21 "2014-11-22T00:11:40Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Another thing they don’t show on TV/movies is, if you shoot a human, weather they die or not, you’re going to lose your gun. It’s evidence in a homicide/attempted homicide. Even though the use of force was justified. And you’re probably not going to get it back. > > … Didn’t Zimmerman get his gun back? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firearm-discharge-by-a-cop-paperwork/705250/22 "2014-11-22T00:12:51Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > As for animals, we euthanize them if need be. No report necessary. The dispatcher just has to note it in the computer entry for that call. Do you shoot them or euthanize them by some other means? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firearm-discharge-by-a-cop-paperwork/705250/23 "2014-11-22T00:24:36Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Didn’t Zimmerman get his gun back? He might have. YMMV and I said you “probably” won’t get it back. I know a couple guys that have been in shootings. One was in 5 shooting over 38 years didn’t get any of his guns back even though only 2 ended in death. the other guy was in 2 shootings. Got one of his guns back but the other is still sitting in evidence 12 years later. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firearm-discharge-by-a-cop-paperwork/705250/24 "2014-11-22T15:53:02Z")
IANA LEO, but for a while I worked closely with some. One such guy mostly worked in the office. Before I knew him, he had a brain fart one day and shot his desk. The official investigation was the usual thorough departmental one. The unofficial crap he took from his coworkers was much worse. And no, I don’t know the rest of the story well enough to share it. Something about forgetting to clear his weapon at the front door & doing it after he got to his office, but momentarily losing focus on the steps of the task at hand. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firearm-discharge-by-a-cop-paperwork/705250/25 "2014-11-22T21:50:01Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Didn’t Zimmerman get his gun back? He would have, but the [DoJ put an evidentiary hold](http://www.dailypress.com/news/os-george-zimmerman-gun-20130718-story.html) on it, probably for the [deprivation of civil rights action they were contemplating filing](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/george-zimmerman-not-expected-to-face-civil-rights-charges-in-trayvon-martin-death/2014/10/01/4cd2ebd2-498e-11e4-a046-120a8a855cca_story.html) against him. AIUI, whether one gets their firearm back after a shooting depends greatly on the charging jurisdiction. Which is another reason why it’s a good idea to have one’s concealed weapon be easily replaceable. A [Keltec PF-9](http://www.keltecweapons.com/our-guns/pf-9/pistol/), at an MSRP of $333, certainly qualifies. As to the ND at the desk that **LSLGuy** mentions, I wonder if he’d seen [The Other Guys](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=948-2Vzgi3w)? I mean, who here _hasn’t_ had a ‘desk pop’? Given that the dis-assembly procedure for striker-fired handguns, like those that most police carry, requires that you pull the trigger to take the gun apart, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firearm-discharge-by-a-cop-paperwork/705250/26 "2014-11-23T03:57:20Z")
In my department (New York State Department of Correctional Services) any time a firearm was shot was an automatic report to Albany. The only exception was for routine training. It didn’t matter if you shot a prisoner, shot a deer, shot yourself in the foot, or shot a wall by accident - it was all reported and investigated. And like falling sparrows, we paid attention to every bullet. We took inventories of all of our bullets six times a day and anytime ammunition was passed from one person to another it had to be counted and signed for. If the count was off and a bullet was missing, we would track it down to see if it had been fired somehow without anyone reporting it. Or to see if somebody had just lost a bullet without shooting it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firearm-discharge-by-a-cop-paperwork/705250.md?page=1)