handing over a gun to police after a justified homicide.

[O.F.Fascist]

I've read about and know how after any shooting, justified or not, the police will seize your weapon and hold it pending and investigation.

I was just pondering what if you did not hand over the weapon. Say you shoot someone, call up the police and then go lock up your weapon somewhere safe, and demand they get a search warrent or something first before you just hand it over to them.

 

[mnrivrat]

And from this action you expect to accomplish what ?

 

[el44vaquero]

just play along with them

don't do anything that will hold up the investigation

 

[Biker]

You'll fight a fight you can't possibly win and you'll make things harder for yourself in the long run, including the civil trial which is quite likely to follow.
What's the point?
Biker

 

[Hkmp5sd]

Say you shoot someone, call up the police and then go lock up your weapon somewhere safe, and demand they get a search warrent or something first before you just hand it over to them.

At a minimum, you will totally piss off the people that decide whether or not the shooting was legal and you will give the impression you are hiding something.

The gun is evidence in a homocide, whether justified or not. The cops will take the gun as part of the investigation. They even take a LEO's gun after an officer involved shooting as part of the investigation.

It would be about as stupid as taking your vehicle home and locking it in your garage after being involved in an automobile accident in which you decided it wasn't you fault.

 

[FPrice]

I was just pondering what if you did not hand over the weapon. Say you shoot someone, call up the police and then go lock up your weapon somewhere safe, and demand they get a search warrent or something first before you just hand it over to them.

I think that my first impression, "if" I was an investigating officer, would be that you were trying to hide something. Not exactly a good way to start off (for you).

 

[Lupinus]

Don't bother it isn't worth it because it increases your chances of going to jail. It will give the prosecutor more ammo if you are charged, and if not charged for murder you will likly be charged with some form of evidence tampering and obstruction of justice.

 

[GhostRider66]

I would think that the officer(s) could go to nearly any means to collect it at that time even without a warrant based on the fact it was during the investigation. Similar to how they can enter your home to investigate during a crime or immediately afterward.

 

[yucaipa]

demand they get a search warrent or something first before you just hand it over to them.

It's evidence in a homicide Justified or not, you would look pretty stupid telling the boys in jail "I bet the murder rap,but I'm doing two years for obstruction of justice"

 

[Pilgrim]

I would think that the officer(s) could go to nearly any means to collect it at that time even without a warrant based on the fact it was during the investigation. Similar to how they can enter your home to investigate during a crime or immediately afterward.

A smart homicide investigator, if he does not have the full cooperation of the homeowners(s), will secure a search warrant before continuing his investigation.

 

[Standing Wolf]

What if you stood on your head, wiggled your ears, and whistled your favorite Christmas tunes?

In all seriousness: if you're intelligent enough to keep and bear arms, you should be intelligent enough to understand the importance of cooperating with law enforcement after you've defended your life. That would be no time to start fooling around.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

handing over a gun to police after a justified homocide.

A self defense weapon should be a standard model
no overly tactical modifications, safe trigger and a
gun with no sentimental value, easily replaceable
because it may end up tagged, bagged and stored as
evidence even in a clean clearly justifiable homicide,
depending on policy in your jurisdiction.

And you should cooperate with authorities without going
motormouth: if you are truly in fear of your life, the
stress and adrenalin will alter your perception and
memory even to the sequence of events. Be prepared
to lawyer up and accept that as the price of your life.

The last thing to do is convince the investigators you're
hiding anything, especially the gun. Be prepared to give
it up as evidence. Under the circumstances, they can
easily get a warrant to search for it, and if you make
them do it, it can only reflect bad on you.

 

[Logistics]

>>>handing over a gun to police after a justified homocide<<<

Just as the po po pulls up.......drop the mag and lock the slide back....set on ground and give a minimum of details till YOUR attorney arrives.

Let the cops connect the dots until you have representation.

 

[Mark in California]

Armed and Dangerous

Let me get this straight, after shooting someone you are going to leave the scene of the shooting, go some where else, hide evidence and then demand the police get a search warrent to recover the weapon. After shooting someone you want to play games?

Hope you like prison, because that where you are going. There will be a warrent issued for your arrest for leaving the scene of a crime. (Other charges pending) This will hold you in jail. Also, it will make getting search warrents easy for the police. Search warrents to seach your property and the property of almost everyone you know who could have hidden your weapon for you. You are the suspect, and the police will look no further because you ran.

Forget bail because you ran. You will stick in jail until the trial. Forget self defense because you ran like the guilty. After the trial you will spend a good part of your life in Prison. Not for a bad shooting, but for being stupid.

 

[O.F.Fascist]

Let me get this straight, after shooting someone you are going to leave the scene of the shooting, go some where else, hide evidence and then demand the police get a search warrent to recover the weapon. After shooting someone you want to play games?

Actually I was thinking more in lines of locking it up in the trunk of my car and not mentioning where it was at or anything until I got something more significant that someone's demand to "give me."

 

[Ryder]

I have several guns. Why should it matter if the cops need to borrow one for a while?

 

[Jeff White]

O.F. Fascist,

Let's get one thing straight right from the start. No matter how justified you feel the shooting was, there is going to be an investigation. And until the states attorney says it's justified by failing to file charges, or takes it to a grand jury and they no bill the case or a coroner's jury rules it justified (all these outcomes are possible, depending on the jurisdiction) it's not.

"It was a fair fight sheriff, he drew first" only works in the Western movies. I don't think it worked that way very much in the old west in real life.

Just expect to surrender the firearm you used. Plan for it. Have a backup so you won't be unarmed while the investigation is ongoing..provided you aren't arrested, then being armed most likely will be against the conditions of your bond.

Like Pilgrim said, if you're uncooperative, they will just get a warrant as a matter of course. It won't be that big a deal to the investigating officers. It's probably going to set off some alarm bells when they start evaluating your story.

Jeff

 

[Hkmp5sd]

Not to mention, if they have to get a warrant to enter your house for your firearm, they might have enough cause to get a warrant to search the rest of your house to see what else you might be hiding.

 

[O.F.Fascist]

Not to mention, if they have to get a warrant to enter your house for your firearm, they might have enough cause to get a warrant to search the rest of your house to see what else you might be hiding.

Hmmm I thought search warrents were supposed to be used to look for specific items.

 

[Jeff White]

Hmmm I thought search warrents were supposed to be used to look for specific items.

They are for specific items. It wouldn't be unusual for a warrant to search your home in a situation like that to include your computer and personal papers to investigate the possibility of some tye of relationship between you and the intruder. If the intruder was known to the police as a drug dealer or addict, it might not be out of the realm of possibility for the warrant to specify illegal drugs, after all he could have been there to make a deal.

Either one of those items on the warrant will give the police the right to look into every nook and cranny of your house. Any evidence found while searching for a specific item may be admissible. So instead of handing over your gun, you may have given them access to everything, not just your gunsafe.

That doesn't mean that if you do give your firearm up and other things in your story don't add up, they won't seek a warrant and look anyway. If you are involved in a defensive shooting, expect a police investigation and expect to be intitially treated like a suspect in a criminal case.

Jeff

 

[SomeKid]

After you surrender the firearm...

...how do you insure that it will be returned?

Is the whole reciept thing a movie idea, or is it real?

Cop: 'Give me your gun'

Citizen: (What to put here?)

Wrong as it is, they will take your gun. So, how to make sure they don't add it to their collection?

 

[Camp David]

I've read about and know how after any shooting, justified or not, the police will seize your weapon and hold it pending and investigation.

I was just pondering what if you did not hand over the weapon. Say you shoot someone, call up the police and then go lock up your weapon somewhere safe, and demand they get a search warrent or something first before you just hand it over to them.

O.F.Fascist: Words of wisdom for you... if this happens, the first thing you need to do is Find the Weapon's Bill of Sale...Turn over the weapon to police as requested. Do not delay... But obtain a receipt from them or a piece of paper from them that indicates that police took your weapon. Then keep this receipt with your Bill of Sale for weapon. You'll need both.

All too often weapons disappear during investigations. Further, if you don't have Bills of Sale for your weapons (or legal transfer records) police can make returning weapon to you difficult. Also obtain name of person taking weapon and don't forget to be sure to enter weapon's registration # (on side of gun) on all official correspondence...

A few minutes to be sure all this is done will pay big dividens later....

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Hmmm I thought search warrents were supposed to be used to look for specific items.

And suppose they are looking for "a gun."

At this time, they don't know WHAT gun. They may not even know what caliber. So they go to your house, open the gun safe, and see row upon row of nice, shiny GUNS.

"Which one are we looking for, Sarge?" says the cop.

"I dunno, so we better take 'em all" says the sergeant.

Somehow, I think it just be lot easier and less painful to let them borrow the one you actually usd, and leave the rest of 'em at home.

 

[WT]

Put it in your car trunk and the coppers will hook it up, tow it to impound, then get a search warrant. 6 or 7 weeks later they may release the vehicle.

 

[ARperson]

They even take a LEO's gun after an officer involved shooting as part of the investigation.

Yeah, but I bet the LEO is probably going to get his gun back fairly quickly after it is determined that the shooting was justified. And without much hassle.