callmeconfused
Member
California -
Hello. I was stopped by police recently in California for jay walking across a busy street while the red hand was still red at the cross walk. The officer I.D'd me and asked if I was on probation which I replied NO. He then asked if I was carrying a firearm or had drugs in my back pack. I informed him that I had an unloaded Civil War model cap and ball revolver, 44. caliber Pietta brand made pistol that was locked securely in a safe. I was then ordered to the ground at gun point by two officers. (I found this action to be somewhat reasonable, given the fact that the officers had no true way to determine at first whether the firearm was trully secure, or unloaded, since they had stopped me for an infraction, under ca. law, perhaps? So the stop and frisk and investigation into the guns secure status while on me is not what this post is about.) After the officer discovered that the gun was in a safe, they requested that I unlock the safe, because they wanted to see it. I declined saying that I did not have the key on me. They got restless and said they wanted to see the make and model and to demonstrate that it was really unloaded. When i said I didn't want the safe opened they got a bolt cutter from their car and cut the lock and then both handled the firearm saying how cool it was, and how they love these type of antique guns. (Like a couple of kids at Toys R Us during the X-mas holiday, they were.) Anyway's, the officers had ran my name and shortly thereafter they discovered that I had an out of county warrant for misdemeanour�s and I was arrested and booked into the county jail. The officer told me that the gun was to be kept at the police station, but in order for me to retrieve it, I had to produce evidence that the gun was actually mine after I handled my court case for the warrant. This is the problem, the gun was given to me by my grand father before he died, but no receipts were handed over for the gun, and I have no other family able to verify how I came to own the gun. Now, the police department refuses to give me back the gun because I cannot produce receipts for the antique pistol. It will eventually be sold at an auction or destroyed or laid claim to by the officers, soon? I assume. HOGWASH? The cops probably just hope I fall for this trick so one of them can lay claim to the gun when I am unable to retrieve it. Literal highway robbery, if you ask me. This type of handgun does not need to be registered once it is purchased. It was being transported in a legal and safe manner. I have a right to carry and bear arms under the 2nd amendment? It was locked in a safe and unloaded for a soon to occur sale. I could sell this gun and the buyer would not need to notify the authorities of the transaction. Furthermore, is not being forced and compelled into demonstrating to the towns police department proof that I am the actual owner of the firearm a way of by passing the law that does not require me to register ownership of the gun to authorities that I indeed possess the gun? Since possession is 9 tenths of the law, the fact that police have, with all apparent intents and purposes, stole this gun from me at gun point, rendering them the objective possessors of the firearm, as it now stands, what am I able to do to get my gun back? Any advice is greatly appreciated, and may help me alleviate me from having nightmares that my grandpa is rolling over in grave from grief at the loss of this family heirloom. Thank You.
Hello. I was stopped by police recently in California for jay walking across a busy street while the red hand was still red at the cross walk. The officer I.D'd me and asked if I was on probation which I replied NO. He then asked if I was carrying a firearm or had drugs in my back pack. I informed him that I had an unloaded Civil War model cap and ball revolver, 44. caliber Pietta brand made pistol that was locked securely in a safe. I was then ordered to the ground at gun point by two officers. (I found this action to be somewhat reasonable, given the fact that the officers had no true way to determine at first whether the firearm was trully secure, or unloaded, since they had stopped me for an infraction, under ca. law, perhaps? So the stop and frisk and investigation into the guns secure status while on me is not what this post is about.) After the officer discovered that the gun was in a safe, they requested that I unlock the safe, because they wanted to see it. I declined saying that I did not have the key on me. They got restless and said they wanted to see the make and model and to demonstrate that it was really unloaded. When i said I didn't want the safe opened they got a bolt cutter from their car and cut the lock and then both handled the firearm saying how cool it was, and how they love these type of antique guns. (Like a couple of kids at Toys R Us during the X-mas holiday, they were.) Anyway's, the officers had ran my name and shortly thereafter they discovered that I had an out of county warrant for misdemeanour�s and I was arrested and booked into the county jail. The officer told me that the gun was to be kept at the police station, but in order for me to retrieve it, I had to produce evidence that the gun was actually mine after I handled my court case for the warrant. This is the problem, the gun was given to me by my grand father before he died, but no receipts were handed over for the gun, and I have no other family able to verify how I came to own the gun. Now, the police department refuses to give me back the gun because I cannot produce receipts for the antique pistol. It will eventually be sold at an auction or destroyed or laid claim to by the officers, soon? I assume. HOGWASH? The cops probably just hope I fall for this trick so one of them can lay claim to the gun when I am unable to retrieve it. Literal highway robbery, if you ask me. This type of handgun does not need to be registered once it is purchased. It was being transported in a legal and safe manner. I have a right to carry and bear arms under the 2nd amendment? It was locked in a safe and unloaded for a soon to occur sale. I could sell this gun and the buyer would not need to notify the authorities of the transaction. Furthermore, is not being forced and compelled into demonstrating to the towns police department proof that I am the actual owner of the firearm a way of by passing the law that does not require me to register ownership of the gun to authorities that I indeed possess the gun? Since possession is 9 tenths of the law, the fact that police have, with all apparent intents and purposes, stole this gun from me at gun point, rendering them the objective possessors of the firearm, as it now stands, what am I able to do to get my gun back? Any advice is greatly appreciated, and may help me alleviate me from having nightmares that my grandpa is rolling over in grave from grief at the loss of this family heirloom. Thank You.
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