imported post
pullnshoot25 wrote:
OK, let me step in before I go to bed to correct you.
Police have the AUTHORITY but not the OBLIGATION to conduct a 12031 check. What they CANNOT DO is take the gun to their car and run a serial number check. IF they happen to MEMORIZE the serial number during the perfunctory unloaded check and then run it AFTER handing the weapon back to the owner then that is OK.
Here is a letter I wrote to the local PD on that.
. . . The tape over the serial number is not a crime and the mere "hunch" that the person bearing the weapon may be a criminal or have a stolen weapon is not relevant.
. . .
. . . it would be a 4th amendment violation to remove tape or accessories from a firearm to uncover and run a serial number.
-----------
There you have it.
I wish to correct one problem that I've seen more than once here. In order to avoid the illegal behavior advocated by the LA District Atty's memo re open carry, some members have advocated covering the firearm's serial number with tape so the serial number would not be "in plain sight" and the officer would have to "conduct a search" by removing the tape to find the serial number. I don't think this would be an impediment. The problem with this is that under California law,
putting tape over the serial number is likely against the law:
Penal Code section 537e states that:
Any person who knowingly buys, sells, receives, disposes of, conceals, or
has in his or her possession any personal property from which the manufacturer's serial number, identification number, electronic serial number, or any other distinguishing number or identification mark
has been removed, defaced,
covered, altered, or destroyed,
is guilty of a public offense, punishable as follows:
(1) If the value of the property does not exceed four hundred dollars ($400), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months.
(2) If the value of the property exceeds four hundred dollars ($400), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year.
Clearly the statue is MEANT to apply to stolen property, BUT the way it is written it would directly be a violation of the statute to cover the serial number with tape. If anything, covering the serial with tape would probably amount to reasonable suspicion or perhaps probably cause to remove the tape and inspect/search the serial number to see if it was stolen property.
The better argument regarding running the serial number is that, given the way firearm inspection statute is written, it would amount to an unlawful detention and seizure to keep the gun long enough to write the serial down, particularly if they kept it long enough to run a search. The extra time you were detained would be unlawful and would constitute grounds for a suppression motion if you were charged in connection with the gun.
The LA DA's argument that it's OK to run the serial number because it is "in plain sight" is specious because that legal doctrine only applies to evidence of a crime that is "in plain sight". Clearly, a serial number, by itself without the aid of a computerized search, does not evidence a crime. But given the way some LEOs and DAs operate, it more along the lines of "do the search, we'll justify it later if something turns up."
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