How Long Does LEGR Take

[RSmithJr89]

so a little over a year ago me and my wife went through a bad break up she started using crystal meth and started doing all types of crazy stuff. Well on of the things she did was go to court and lied to get a emergency restraint order fed against me to get me out the house so she could do watever she wants. according to the courts because she flied under emergency the judge had to take watever she said as truth and grant a temporary restraining order for 21 days after the 21 days we had to go back to court and she had to prove her case for the restraining order to hold up. Of course after the 21 days she never showed up to court because she was lieing and had no evidence so the straining order was dropped. after the restraining order was dropped I have no idea why but the police confiscated my firearm say it was due to the restraining order (which was not in place at the time) but told me I could get it back. So soon after I filed an LEGR with appropriate fees through money order and never received anything back called the doj and never could get a hold of a live person. About a year later now I decided to try again and just sent the LEGR in again with another money order for the appropriate fees. It's been 21 days since and still haven't heard anything. O and don't know if this matters but I have changed addresses since the firearm was taken. But does anyone know how long the LEGR takes or what might be going on or what I can do to get my pistol back. It's a Beretta PX4 Storm with like 50 or 100 rounds through it it's practically brand new. O yea forgot they also took 3 of my magazines which was on the LEGR form as well.

[Oceanbob]

I am guessing a bit more than 60 days.

You should check to make sure your gun is in storage at the Police Department.
I've heard they only store them for 6 months.

Good luck

Bob

[Monster]

I've heard stories where firearms were never retrieved by original owners.

[HKMadness]

I've also heard where owners get bull**** and the run around (lies from the department "the person that releases legrs is on vacation for a few weeks, come back later", etc.), and then the gun gets destroyed or the owner is told it was destroyed.

Anti gun pd's don't want you to get your gun back. They want to "take guns off the streets", not "put them back on the streets". Cuz guns kill people and such.

As for your q, I had a Navy vet neighbor that got his back from lasd after like 6 months, probably only bc he was a vet. He had discharged into the ground outside one night to break up a fight at a party at his previous residence. He did get arrested, but ultimately he got cleared of everything.

[RSmithJr89]

I live In San Bernadino county which is not anti gun at all pretty easy to get a ccw out here too but what's funny is I never received anything from the DOJ not a denial not anything and I did contact the police department and they still do have my firearm

[HKMadness]

Go to the dpt in person and don't leave until you are given a GOOD reason why you can't leave with your property. Remain calm at all times and ask to speak to the watch commander if you have to.

[RickD427]

Go to the dpt in person and don't leave until you are given a GOOD reason why you can't leave with your property. Remain calm at all times and ask to speak to the watch commander if you have to.

Please don't do this.

As messed up as the LEGR process is, it's mandated by law and there isn't anyone in the law enforcement agency that has the power to override the requirements of the statute.

Your quarrel is with the folks that created the law, not the folks who are charged with enforcing the law. Take it up with your elected representatives.

[pacrat]

First mistake was not standing up to the cops on the porch a year ago. If the RO was not in force, they had no right to be there. And you should have made that clear when they showed up. Showing them the court docs should have sent them on their way, with your pistol still secure in your possession.

Please be aware that the US Supreme Court has declared it is perfectly OK, for cops to lie to citizens. It is up to the individual citizen to know their rights, and stand up for them.

Oh well, that was then and this is now.

Do you still have the receipt for the original MO you sent with the LEGR form? {LAW ENFORCEMENT GUN RANSOM}

Do you still have the receipt the cops are required by law to give you when confiscating your property?

Did the DOJ cash the MO? If so, that proves they received the MO and form.

I suggest you go to the station where your pistol is being held. Firmly but politely ask to speak to the watch commander. Don't let them foist you off on a Sgt. Show him the Court Order, and the receipt for your property dated "after" the order was no longer in force. Make it clear to him that his officers screwed up.

This is of course if all you have recounted here is true and accurate.

Then politely ask him what he can do to rectify the situation you find yourself in, due to his officers screw up?

If you moved within a few months of filing the LEGR. Your approved DOJ-LEGR may be sitting in a dead letter file at the PO. A change of address filed with the USPS is only good for a limited time. State government employees move at the speed of government. Which is to say slightly faster than the average glacier.

[pacrat]

RickD427 is correct that LE did not create this LEGR fiasco.

But they are paid to deal with it. If the system as set up, is so screwed up that communications between Courts, DOJ, and LE is so slow that officers are belatedly showing up knocking on doors. After the reason for them being there no longer exists.

Then the boss needs to be made aware of that. That boss is the Watch Commander. That's what he gets paid to do. Deal with problems within his organization.

JM2c

[kyle.]

My LEGR took exactly 22 days to get back. After you get it back, with the "Golden Seal" you must get the firearm back within 30 days, otherwise the LEGR is null.

Do not give up. I had a $3k rifle stolen from my car and recovered in a PCP manufacturing lab in 2012. SBSD had the rifle for 4 months before I knew they even had it. It took another 3 years to get it back (had to track down the evidence locker key holder, who always seemed to be on vacation). I got it back. It looked exactly like it did the last time I saw it.

[RickD427]

RickD427 is correct that LE did not create this LEGR fiasco.

But they are paid to deal with it. If the system as set up, is so screwed up that communications between Courts, DOJ, and LE is so slow that officers are belatedly showing up knocking on doors. After the reason for them being there no longer exists.

Then the boss needs to be made aware of that. That boss is the Watch Commander. That's what he gets paid to do. Deal with problems within his organization.

JM2c

Having been a watch commander for many years, and at many different stations, I would be very interested in learning if my deputies did, in fact, make an error when seizing a firearm. There are processes in place to address such acts of misfeasance.

Those processes however, do not include the return of a firearm without the LEGR being completed.

But also, just to put things into historical perspective, folks often claim that restraining orders against them are not valid. Probably four times out of five they're wrong and the order proves to be valid. The fifth guy (or gal) proves to be right. I've got no basis to determine if the OP fits in the group of four, or the group of one. The LE agency watch commander is the right person to figure it out. But even if you're the one, it's not going to get your weapons returned without the LEGR.

You may have the making of a good court case to test the statute, but that's going to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Just so that everyone understands, all that happens when you submit a LEGR is that a DOJ employee queries several records systems to determine if there is a record that would make you ineligible to possess the firearm. Then they issue the letter and the gold seal. It's only valid for a limited time because there's a potential for you to become prohibited after the letter is issued.

But every single one of those record systems are available to the LE agency possessing the firearm. I can do everything in less than five minutes while you're standing at my counter that is accomplished with the LEGR. And I can do it with information that current right up to the moment the weapon is released.

[Bainter1212]

OP, I am sending you a PM with the direct number of the DOJ person responsible for LEGRs.

At least, the number was good back in 2013. I kept the number on my phone.

This should get you talking to a real live person. Hope it is still good.

PM inbound

[HKMadness]

LE will lie to you about things like this, it is to be expected. The fact is, many of them will lie to keep a gun from going back out.

I still say talk to the watch commander if you are given bs. I had a car broken in to at a metrolink station parking lot once. Lapd said sheriff handles train stuff, sheriff said they only handle stuff on the actual train. Neither dept wanted to help or take a report. Once I asked for the lapd watch commander, things changed just as the deputies said it would if I did. Lapd magically said it was their jurisdiction after I was told by several underlings that it wasn't.

[HKMadness]

Please don't do this.

As messed up as the LEGR process is, it's mandated by law and there isn't anyone in the law enforcement agency that has the power to override the requirements of the statute.

Your quarrel is with the folks that created the law, not the folks who are charged with enforcing the law. Take it up with your elected representatives.

What's wrong with asking what parts of the statute haven't been met? What's wrong with asking for his property if he can't be given a legitimate reason why he can't have his property back ? What's wrong with asking to speak to the boss if nobody can give him a straight answer ? His elected representative doesn't have his property in his custody, the dept does. Also, the info we've been given is that the ro has long been dropped and the necesary paperwork has been completed.

[RickD427]

What's wrong with asking what parts of the statute haven't been met? What's wrong with asking for his property if he can't be given a legitimate reason why he can't have his property back ? What's wrong with asking to speak to the boss if nobody can give him a straight answer ? His elected representative doesn't have his property in his custody, the dept does. Also, the info we've been given is that the ro has long been dropped and the necesary paperwork has been completed.

There is nothing wrong with asking for an explanation of how the officers reached their decision.

There is nothing wrong with asking for property to be returned.

There is nothing wrong with elevating an issue up the chain of command if subordinates have been unable to address it (but there is something wrong with elevating the issue if it has been addressed and you're unaccepting of that fact).

Let's look at your original statement to see what I took exception to it. Here is your original statement with the offensive part in bold font:

"Go to the dpt in person and don't leave until you are given a GOOD reason why you can't leave with your property. Remain calm at all times and ask to speak to the watch commander if you have to."

The context of this statement would have the you sitting in the lobby for a very long time. The LEGR statute is quite clear. You don't seem to grasp the statute and I doubt that any level of explanation would change that condition.

There is no person on duty in any law enforcement agency that is empowered to change the terms of a statute regardless of how well an argument is presented for change. That function can only be accomplished through the legislative process to change the law, or the judicial process to invalidate the law. That's why I suggest contacting the elected representative. They're the only folks that can offer the OP the relief that is being sought without the great expense of a court case.