The Good News Is

[HadEmAll]

I had a Ruger SP101 stolen from a van in a vehicle burglary in San Antonio. I settled with the insurance company and got another one.

9 years later, I was contacted by a San Antonio police officer who told me that the DEA had contacted them. The pistol had been confiscated in a drug raid in Houston. The case was over, and they actually wanted to return the pistol to me, checking with the SAPD first to make sure i was an upstanding citizen. I was given the name of the DEA agent to contact.

I tried everything I could think of to get him to meet me somewhere between SA and Houston, but end result I had to drive to Houston and pick up the pistol at the DEA headquarters.

It looked like it had been used as a hammer, but with some light polishing, it looked like its former self.

I contacted my insurance agent and asked how to proceed, and was told to just forget about it.

It's now protecting my son and his family, and I have better vehicle security, both electronic and physical.

I was surprised by the fact that a Federal agency would be interested in returning a firearm to its original owner.

[Jeremiah/Az]

Re: my daughter's model 60

It has been about 7 years ago. She was given the names of two detectives to contact to get the gun back. She called & even went to the station many times. They were always conveniently unavailable.

[WGSNewnan]

go over to the court house and file a small claims case against them. they have no right to your property unless they know it was used in a crime. a simple lawsuit will get your weapon back. BTW - my BIL is a captain over at one of the dekalb precincts .he said it happens all the time. its no wonder he has a closet full of confiscated weapons. im not sure but i think i remember him telling me that you only have a certain amout of time after notification to claim/sue before forfiture or something. like i said - "a whole closet full of them".

[jlottmc]

See I must be the exception. My old man had borrowed my 1911 then got busted for DWI. Abilene (of all places, these guys are about as snooty as Austin) actually let me come pick it up. I had to do another background check (even though I told them I had a CHL), and a 4473, and they wouldn't give me the ammo on the same day, but I got my pistol just that easy. I also had to sign an agreement that I wouldn't sell or dispose of it for a year, but considering that I still have it, you get the idea. All in all it was relatively painless.

[getsome]

I'm starting to see how this whole thing works now....Don't get me wrong here, I support the Police and am glad they are out there but when I called Dekalb Police back which is what the told me to do several weeks ago and talked to another officer in the property room he said they have over 2000 weapons that have to be ballistic tested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the GBI had stopped testing in 2009 due to funding and backlog and there was no plans in the works to start back....I called the GBI and talked to a nice lady in their firearms section who said that its up to the individual Police agency as to if testing is needed on a firearm not related to an active case (mine isn't) so it seems Dekalb Police is happy to sit on it forever and hope the rightful owner gives up and goes away... I called Dekalb back and talked to the same officer who said the same thing again and when I informed him I had contacted GBI and found out that wasn't true he got angry and said thats how Dekalb operates and there isn't anything I can do about it and hung up....I am off on vacation next week and will go down to the station and see if I can talk to a supervisor and hopefully face to face can get some answers but it is starting to look like I'm going to have to take legal action to get my pistol back...I'm starting to wonder who the bad guys really are and when the day has come that a citizen has to sue the police to get them to do the right thing it's a sad day indeed!!!...

[Bawanna]

Don't give up getsome. I expect Dekalb is a big agency and ought to know what the rules are. Alot of small towns just don't or make up their own rules. Some property officers just thrive on not giving back guns, they think they are making the world safer. Doesn't look like the case here but could be. We have one who I backup who feels that way but she does follow the rules and gives them back if she has too. We're total opposites. She tries everything to not give it back, I try everything to make it happen. If they can't follow thru on their own policy due to budget there has to be a path around that even if you have to pay for the test or whatever.
Where is Dekalb anyhow, what state? I'll see if I can find anyone that knows anyone down there and rattle some cages.

[Chowser]

6 months plus???? Last year I took an old Colt Delta Elite 10mm off a guy which had the serial number filed off. We sent it to our state lab. Within a month, I got a report back, serial number and all. Contacted the original owner and advised him that we had it but that it's been used in a few crimes. He said he sold it to a pawn shop years ago and didn't care what we did with it.

I just sent off a Czechoslovakian CZ-83 in .380 from a shooting and we'll see how long they take this time. We did get a notice that they were getting back logged. Good thing for the victim, the first round missed and the gun failed to extract.

[TheTman]

I think it's a convenient way for big brother to confiscate guns and thus "make the world safer". That is one reason my buddy started looking into a Kahr, he sure doesn't want to see his Kimber Ultra Carry Crimson II go into the evidence wasteland and never be seen again. A Kahr at less than half the price of the Kimber would be a lot easier to let go of.
I've been talking up the Kahrs a lot to him. I worry about him with that light SA trigger. He has a lot of nerve damage and loses his balance and falls down a lot, and I fear he might accidently pull the trigger when he didn't mean too. They measured the trigger pull the other day and it was right at 4lbs. Nice for a target gun, a little light for a SD weapon, for guys like me and him. Maybe an even better choice might be a SA/DA semi with a decocker. That would give him a nice long and fairly heavy DA trigger pull for the first shot.
Any one have any suggestions on a reliable DA/SA pistol with a decocker that's about the same size as his officer sized Kimber?

[Bawanna]

The Smith & Wesson 4516 would pretty much fits that criteria. I had one and liked it real well. Several in that series that might work in either DA/SA or DAO (which I don't really like).

The Para LDA series would feel and look very much like his Kimber but with alot more take up in the trigger. Very light take up, then resistance and it's then just like a 1911. Much more forgiving. Hammer is always down. It's the same trigger pull everytime alot like a Kahr but lighter.

[getsome]

Any of the Gen 3 S&W pistols are great shooters, very safe and can be had a a very good price most anywhere...Lots of Police trade ins available...

[O'Dell]

Don't give up getsome. I expect Dekalb is a big agency and ought to know what the rules are. Alot of small towns just don't or make up their own rules. Some property officers just thrive on not giving back guns, they think they are making the world safer. Doesn't look like the case here but could be. We have one who I backup who feels that way but she does follow the rules and gives them back if she has too. We're total opposites. She tries everything to not give it back, I try everything to make it happen. If they can't follow thru on their own policy due to budget there has to be a path around that even if you have to pay for the test or whatever.
Where is Dekalb anyhow, what state? I'll see if I can find anyone that knows anyone down there and rattle some cages.

How about rattling some cages in Gwinnett County which is right next door to DeKalb about my SIG P220 which they've been holding for nine months.

[O'Dell]

Any of the Gen 3 S&W pistols are great shooters, very safe and can be had a a very good price most anywhere...Lots of Police trade ins available...

I agree about the great shooters part. I have a CS45 and 457S which I bought in March, but they were both over $600 because they were brand new. These are both TDA, ie DA/SA, but the 4043 I had was DAO and not too pleasant to shoot. I traded it on the HK45C.

[Bawanna]

How about rattling some cages in Gwinnett County which is right next door to DeKalb about my SIG P220 which they've been holding for nine months.

Are you still being the squeaky wheel O'Dell? I'd be calling them till they are sick of hearing your voice. There's no reason to be holding yours. Often times in a case like yours, (if they have a suspect or anticipate trial) the lawyers want a physical object rather than a picture. They think it makes more of an impact on the judge and jury if there is one.
If theres not suspect a picture in the case packet should more than suffice and give your gun back. Usually it's the prosecutors call.

So Dekalb is in Georgia huh? Guess I need to refresh my geography skills.

I'm putting the word out to see if anyone here knows anyone in Georgia.

[OldLincoln]

getsome, can you talk with a city councilman or mayor. Sometimes these things resolve when political influence is gently administered. Espeically if you are a veteran.

[TheTman]

Thanks for the tips on the pistols guys. I hadn't thought about those 4516's since they quit making them a few years ago. Looked at some prices on some sites and they seemed pretty reasonable.

Good luck on your pistols guys, hope you get em back before they get to rusty.
Like Bawanna says, make em sick of hearing your voice and maybe they'll give em back.