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I wonder how long it's going to take to get his gun back from police.

healthinsp wrote:http://www.koco.com/news/homeowner-in-w ... d=18738900

I wonder how long it's going to take to get his gun back from police.

The news story said the police took his gun for evidence. Why would they need to do that?

tomtexan wrote:

healthinsp wrote:http://www.koco.com/news/homeowner-in-w ... d=18738900

I wonder how long it's going to take to get his gun back from police.

The news story said the police took his gun for evidence. Why would they need to do that?

They probably have to run the incident by the prosecutors office to see if there are any charges worth filing on the homeowner before returning it and if there is anything then the gun will be used to build the case. If you discharge your weapon, even lawfully, expect to lose it for a bit. (IANAL)

And if they get overzealous, it's not a bad idea to have a spare EDC at an undisclosed location.

gringo pistolero wrote:And if they get overzealous, it's not a bad idea to have a spare EDC at an undisclosed location.

So if I am in my home in the middle of the night and someone busts down my back door and enters my home and the end result is they gain weight from all the lead I unload into them, then the police can take my other guns that I have safely stowed in my safe? I don't see it if those guns were not used in the incident.

tomtexan wrote:

healthinsp wrote:http://www.koco.com/news/homeowner-in-w ... d=18738900

I wonder how long it's going to take to get his gun back from police.

The news story said the police took his gun for evidence. Why would they need to do that?

Ballistics evidence. It is standard procedure when a firearm is used in a homicide.

Carzan wrote:

gringo pistolero wrote:And if they get overzealous, it's not a bad idea to have a spare EDC at an undisclosed location.

So if I am in my home in the middle of the night and someone busts down my back door and enters my home and the end result is they gain weight from all the lead I unload into them, then the police can take my other guns that I have safely stowed in my safe? I don't see it if those guns were not used in the incident.

I remember seeing something a while ago that said the police have the power to seize all weapons during the course of an investigation for "officer safety". I don't think it was Texas but it probably applies here nonetheless. The case I remember it was the local Sheriffs office assisting the FBI and the FBI specifically called in the Sheriff to seize the weapons a day prior to the FBI executing a search warrant on the house IIRC.

WildBill wrote:

tomtexan wrote:

healthinsp wrote:http://www.koco.com/news/homeowner-in-w ... d=18738900

I wonder how long it's going to take to get his gun back from police.

The news story said the police took his gun for evidence. Why would they need to do that?

Ballistics evidence. It is standard procedure when a firearm is used in a homicide.

There was no homocide in this particular case. The news story said the intruder jumped the fence and took off running.

The story says he has a backup gun so I'd guess they didn't take all his guns.

CoffeeNut wrote:

Carzan wrote:

gringo pistolero wrote:And if they get overzealous, it's not a bad idea to have a spare EDC at an undisclosed location.

So if I am in my home in the middle of the night and someone busts down my back door and enters my home and the end result is they gain weight from all the lead I unload into them, then the police can take my other guns that I have safely stowed in my safe? I don't see it if those guns were not used in the incident.

I remember seeing something a while ago that said the police have the power to seize all weapons during the course of an investigation for "officer safety". I don't think it was Texas but it probably applies here nonetheless. The case I remember it was the local Sheriffs office assisting the FBI and the FBI specifically called in the Sheriff to seize the weapons a day prior to the FBI executing a search warrant on the house IIRC.

The OP's news story aside, your post demonstrates one good reason why we need a law like the one just passed in Idaho, which bars any state or local LEO from doing the feds' dirty work when it comes to guns (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=72047). In the case you mentioned, it sounds to me like the FBI asked for the Sheriff Dept's cooperation so that any heat from the confiscations would fall on the locals instead of the FBI. Devious, n'est pas? Sometimes those feebs seriously lack moral courage.

As far as the OP's story goes, what I gleaned from the linked story is that the handicapped guy fired his gun through a window. That's all we really know. Looking at it from the cops' perspective:

• He claims that an unknown guy jumped his back fence.
• He claims that this guy was looking at him through the window.
• He claims that the "bad guy" drew on him, but that he beat the bad guy to the draw.
• He claims that he fired first, before the bad guy could.
• He claims that the bad guy did not fire his weapon.
• He claims that the bad guy escaped over a back chain-link fence into a field and ran off.

Here's what the police do know:

• A homeowner fired a bullet through his sunroom window, within city limits. (Judging by the size of the hole in his window, it looks like it was a sufficient self-defense sized caliber.)
• They don't have the bullet, and they don't know where it went.
• There were no other witnesses.

Pending a captured bad guy with a bullet hole in his person, what they have is a guy who discharged his gun inside the city limits, and made up a story to cover his butt.

Now, I'm not saying that's what happened. I actually believe the guy. But because I can see it from the cops' perspective, I understand why they confiscated his gun. In the end, they'll have examined his history, probably conclude that he's innocent of any wrong-doing, and they'll give him his gun back.......but it will take a while before it all gets sorted out.