Returning Guns from Police to Owner

[eltee]

Old guy, in a wheelchair, taken to the hospital and ambulance folks see a couple of guns and the police seize them. Owner is released from hospital, fills out forms and the police willing to return guns to him through me as an FFL. I've not done this before intra state.

I don't think he has a Firearms Safety Certificate so I advised him to get one. I did a search here but I still need the following details from more experienced FFLs, please.

• Enter in bound book as received from the police dept.?
• Process DROS and 4473 as Dealer Sale or?

If I am missing anything, advice appreciated.

THANK YOU.

[taperxz]

Old guy, in a wheelchair, taken to the hospital and ambulance folks see a couple of guns and the police seize them. Owner is released from hospital, fills out forms and the police willing to return guns to him through me as an FFL. I've not done this before intra state.

I don't think he has a Firearms Safety Certificate so I advised him to get one. I did a search here but I still need the following details from more experienced FFLs, please.

• Enter in bound book as received from the police dept.?
• Process DROS and 4473 as Dealer Sale or?

If I am missing anything, advice appreciated.

THANK YOU.

LE could have released them to the owner with all the paperwork in order. Just sayin'

[eltee]

Could have, but their practice is to go through an FFL.

I've had two instances where two different PD's would not return to owners directly and passed them on to me to process. One was a guy passing through the state so I had to ship to his FFL where he lived out of state, now this one. The owner thought, hoped, the PD would just hand them over when he was discharged from the hospital.

[dummykid]

what if the handgun is off roster, can owner still get it back through FFL?

[GnomeMoney]

You can call the des. I think they might have you dros it as a return to owner.
I am not sure. Just call them and tell them the story. They will help you.

[caliguy93]

My assumption this is you enter into your bounds book acquired by police department and disposed to owner. No dros record.

Reason I say that is because the last time I went through something similar which included off roster handguns, (it was court order to dispose from criminal to family member) was to process it as a private party transfer. The DOJ rep simply told me I am only possessing it on behalf of the person, but it is still theirs until otherwise transferred.

[kemasa]

If it goes through your business, the DROS is required, with the exception of gunsmith work.

For a prohibited person, a POA can be used to transfer it as a CA PPT, but if it comes from the police, that could be an issue.

[caliguy93]

If it goes through your business, the DROS is required, with the exception of gunsmith work.

For a prohibited person, a POA can be used to transfer it as a CA PPT, but if it comes from the police, that could be an issue.

just relaying what the DOJ told me...


I accepted 3 firearms from PD. Bounds book reflected acquisition from PD. DOJ told me to conduct a PPT from the person the guns were confiscated from to his brother with both parties present. For my situation the original owner was not convicted of a felony but struck a settlement with the DA for a 3 year prohibition on possession along with his misdemeanor.

I'm not sure how this plays out when the off roster firearms are going back to the original owner since you can't dros them. But why wouldn't the same principle apply to my situation to allow a PPT? its still theirs and we are only hired to pick it up and make sure it goes back to them.

and any firearms that go through consignment for less than 30 days and back to owner does not need a DROS either.

[broadside]

my stolen pistol was returned to me directly from the PD after I brought in the DOJ paperwork saying i was okay to possess a firearm (background check for $19) via a single form i mailed in with copy of letter from PD. this was 15-20 years ago though

is the PD only going to release to an FFL?