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Richmond Sheriff seizes guns of citizen with no criminal record & without legal cause

IanB

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I smell a lawsuit. I hope he gets rich off this and buys twice as many guns with his "winnings".
 

VAopencarry

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HOLY COW!!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!

What does it matter how many he has, he is legally allowed to own them or not. If he is legal then what the Sherriff did is illegal. I hope this guy gets a lawyer. People need to lose their jobs, at least, over this. *%&^$(*#^%$
 

Mike

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And if the guns are stolen or somthing, this seizure without cause will probably result in suppression of the evidence and inability to prosecute this guy.

Why not just follow the Constitution, and do an investigation, and get a warrant if the investigation leads to probable cause?
 

vt357

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Richmond, Virginia, USA
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[sarcasm] Well there is one bright side to this - the Richmond Times Dispatch considers 38 rifles and 28 handguns to be a "small arsenal." [/sarcasm]

My first thought when I saw this on the news last night was lawsuit. They are going to run the Serial #s on every one of those guns= basically forced registration of his entire collection. Not to mention the embarassment causedby this.
 

BobCav

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Holy Crap! It's the corrupt mentality that even THINKS this was a correct course of action that maddens me. Whoever ordered that and everyone involved need to be hammered on this one. What a bunch of crap!

I'm a book collector....I had better be careful, the mass book burnings are just around the corner!!
 

Highlander

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Guys, if the sheriff's department had to be there when the movers arrived, the owner of the weapons wasn't there.

From what I understand, when the sheriff's department does an eviction, they go in, with the owners consent, not the renter, and do a sweep to make sure no one is there or any illegal contraband is located. If weapons are located, they take them for safe-keeping and make sure they aren't stolen. They will be put in a property room and the owner can retrieve them there.

If it got to the point where the sheriff's department was doing the eviction and had to bring in movers, the owner of the guns brought this on himself. He had at least 30 days to get his belongings out....

Not trying to make excuses, but this is what I have been told in the past. If the sheriff's department acted wrongly in this, they should be investigated. But I think this will be the fault of the gun owner.
 

psmartin

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I must agree on this.. (I am a landlord on a small scale)

Anytime you get to the point of the sheriff arriving for an eviction, a lot of time has usually transpired.. Enough time to the former tenant to sells a few guns to come up with some rent money.

At the very least, the guns are more easily converted to cash to pay the debt than anything else.

...Had the police shown up for any other reason(ie: loud music) and found the small arsenal, then we would have a serious problem with a "weapons check"

Highlander wrote:
Guys, if the sheriff's department had to be there when the movers arrived, the owner of the weapons wasn't there.

From what I understand, when the sheriff's department does an eviction, they go in, with the owners consent, not the renter, and do a sweep to make sure no one is there or any illegal contraband is located. If weapons are located, they take them for safe-keeping and make sure they aren't stolen. They will be put in a property room and the owner can retrieve them there.

If it got to the point where the sheriff's department was doing the eviction and had to bring in movers, the owner of the guns brought this on himself. He had at least 30 days to get his belongings out....

Not trying to make excuses, but this is what I have been told in the past. If the sheriff's department acted wrongly in this, they should be investigated. But I think this will be the fault of the gun owner.
 

BobCav

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If the owner wasn't present for the eviction, then yes you're correct the sherrif's did the right thing. However this statement in the article leads me to believe he was present:

The owner of the guns told deputies he is a weapons collector, according to a statement released by the sheriff's office. Officials said he has no criminal record.

If he was the legal owner and was present, then I stand by my original statement!
 

Hawkflyer

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BobCav wrote:
If the owner wasn't present for the eviction, then yes you're correct the sherrif's did the right thing.  However this statement in the article leads me to believe he was present:

The owner of the guns told deputies he is a weapons collector, according to a statement released by the sheriff's office. Officials said he has no criminal record.

If he was the legal owner and was present, then I stand by my original statement!

+1

They call 38 rifles and 28 handguns an arsenal? They need to get out more. That is barely enough for trading material to a collector.
 

LEO 229

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This is unreal!!!

From what I read, they had no justification to take the firearms. They could have ran all the serial numbers right there and did not need to take them. Then, they still needed some articulable reason to believe the firearmswere stolen.

I think that what sparked their interest was the sheer volume he had. It is a shame that this has happened and he has a good lawsuit waiting to be filed.
 

DrMark

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LEO 229 wrote:
This is unreal!!!

From what I read, they had no justification to take the firearms. They could have ran all the serial numbers right there and did not need to take them. Then, they still needed some articulable reason to believe the firearmswere stolen.

I think that what sparked their interest was the sheer volume he had. It is a shame that this has happened and he has a good lawsuit waiting to be filed.
If the owner was there, why run the serial numbers without cause? Did they have reason to believe they were stolen?
 

ProtectMd

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I think that what you all are trying to say is that even if they were confiscated, as apart of routine process I don't understand why this is even "news worthy" because nothing illegal transpired here??? No crimes were committed? Then whats the big deal as far as the news paper is concerned?

As far as the police taking the mans firearms, im not sure I understand why they would do that? What if he has a concealed carry permit? If they take his guns and he gets robbed, can they be held liable?

I hope the VCDL and the NRA attorneys jump all over this...

TIMES DISPATCH = LAWSUIT ADVERTISEMENT!
 
D

Desertdoc

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Why would the VCDL jump on this? The man was being evicted from his home for failer to pay his rent. He had that many guns but could not pay? I think not. He had plenty of warning since it takes more than two payment to go into evicting statues. After that it takes 30 days for the police to move in with a moving company. Even if he was not present they would take everyone in the home and the owner would not have chance in hell to get it back. It would become property of the state and be actioned off. This guy had over 3 months to move his crap out. Why should anyone fell sorry for him? Should have sold a gun or two to pay for rent. Me personally could sale just the toys on the guns to pay for rent.
 

danbus

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Desertdoc wrote:
Why would the VCDL jump on this? The man was being evicted from his home for failer to pay his rent. He had that many guns but could not pay? I think not. He had plenty of warning since it takes more than two payment to go into evicting statues. After that it takes 30 days for the police to move in with a moving company. Even if he was not present they would take everyone in the home and the owner would not have chance in hell to get it back. It would become property of the state and be actioned off. This guy had over 3 months to move his crap out. Why should anyone fell sorry for him? Should have sold a gun or two to pay for rent. Me personally could sale just the toys on the guns to pay for rent.

That is true...

However, we don't exactly know what his situation was. Maybe he DID try to sell the guns, but no one would buy them. So many different things and variables and such.

Should the sheriff dept be held accountable for their actions -yes.

I hope this guy learned his lesson. I also have learned from his lesson as well.
 

ProtectMd

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Yes the sheriffs office should be held accountable. Ok I can understand them supervising him leaving the premises, however confiscation of firearms is unacceptable. It could happen to you. No crimes were committed here and there was a confiscation of guns and ammunition? why? In what other instances should I expect sheriffs to take guns from me? It could start here, and end in warrantless searches of personal private property, and you gotta stop this sort of thing before it gets out of control. Give them a yard, they take a mile.
 

Lthrnck

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Here we go again jumping off the deep end to hang the LEO's. The sheriff's office said the owner of the guns said he was a collector.

What the newspaper article does not clarify is.... "Where or When did the owner tell them this information.

Was the owner on the phone across town at work,one of his neighbors could have called him, informing him that the Sheriff's department was there taking his stuff. So he called the house and talked to aofficer on the phone, or did he call the S.O. and they called theofficer at the house, who then called theowner back.

Did he arrive at his home to find the Sheriff's officers already done loading his stuff and then advised them he was a collector.

Way to much missing information on the actual location of the owner of the guns to make even a proper, informed answer.

Comments at the moment on this are nothing but SWAG's (Scientific Wild Ass Guess), so let's not hang the sheriff's office until all the facts are revealed.

BTW.. ProtectMD.... A crime had been commited. The guy didn't pay his rent. Was warned several times about oweing the rent and continued not to pay it so he got evicted. Not sure what you would call it... Maybe Defrauding an Innkeeper. but he did commit a crime.
 

rlh2005

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Lthrnck wrote:
A crime had been commited. The guy didn't pay his rent. Was warned several times about oweing the rent and continued not to pay it so he got evicted. Not sure what you would call it... Maybe Defrauding an Innkeeper. but he did commit a crime.
Breech of contract (lease/rental agreement).
 
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