PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Removed from table
Last Action Date: May 1, 2024
Cops Take Gun From Car Crash Victim, Refuse To Return It :: 02/03/2015
Sara Warren is a law-abiding citizen. She has a permit for the Ruger SR9 she carries for personal protection. Not long ago, she was involved in a car accident in which she received minor injuries. As she lay in the ambulance, Fort Collins, CO police took custody of her firearm. Even though she has committed no crime, the police will not return her lawfully owned gun.
It’s not that the police want to keep Warren’s gun, the weirdly worded Colorado gun transfer laws are preventing them from returning it. As part of the hastily passed guns laws that came in the emotionally charged wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, all gun transfers must be performed by someone with a Federal Firearms License. The Fort Collins Police do not employ a FFL.
Based on advice from the city attorney’s office considering the Colorado gun transfer laws that recently went into effect, the police have been unable to return her property.
“We had an opinion from our city attorney and district attorney not to return firearms without a (Federal Firearms License) check, and we don’t have an FFL person in our office,” said Fort Collins deputy chief Jim Szakmeister.
Meanwhile, Warren, who works as a maid and uses the gun to protect herself when entering stranger’s homes, is SOL. She has contacted Fort Collins PD on numerous occasions only to be told her property cannot be returned to her.
“I’m a lawful citizen. I use my gun legally. I need my gun … this is ridiculous to me. There are people out there who can’t get their guns back. They haven’t done anything wrong,” said Warren.
To fully understand what is going on here, you need a little background on the unpopular gun control laws that were recently passed by the democrat-led Colorado legislature. In addition to banning magazines with a capacity greater than 15 rounds, it is also now mandated that any gun transfer include a background check from someone with a federal firearms license. Because of the way the law is worded, this includes reacquiring your own legally owned property.
“I’m told there are other people in this situation. It’s terrible when a law-abiding citizen gets caught up in something like this and it causes them to lose faith in their government,” said Sheriff Justin Smith.
“This is an example of the kind of things we predicted would be a problem. It’s an unfortunate reality,” said Smith who has been a vocal opponent of Colorado’s new gun laws.
Smith has said the law states that if a gun is seized by an officer and turned into evidence, an FFL background check is required on both the officer and the evidence custodian.
“The city attorney is not able to interpret the law and how to carry it out, which I would take as an indication that it was terribly written,” Smith said. “As written, it is simply not workable.”
Fort Collins is working on a solution to this problem which could involve having one of their employees getting a firearms license. Until that happens, Sara Warren is left without her gun and is utterly defenseless.
Once again, we have liberals passing a gun control law that does nothing to make the world safer but does manage to punish law-abiding citizens. As a small consolation, two democrat lawmakers have lost their jobs over passing this stupid law.
http://downtrend.com/71superb/cops-take-gun-from-car-crash-victim-refuse-to-return-it
