I was in a similar situation, in Fort Worth, TX, back in February.
The SHORT version is that I had my weapon sitting in my vehical at work. I normally went to the range AFTER work on either Friday or Monday, after payday. My going to the range wasn't exactly a secret.
The Head of Security for Uniden North America started checking my vehical for a weapon. One day he saw something that looked like it might have been part of a weapon. So he called the police.
I consented to the search, which shows just how stupid I truly am, and they located the weapon. Now ultimately it was determined that I'd done NOTHING illegal, and even the officers on hand stated that they didn't think it was illegal. But, in the words of one officer, "It doesn't matter if it's legal or not. Our police is to confiscate it anyways and let the Attorney's Office hash it out."
In the time that they had my weapon they test fired it for ballistics purposes. They transferred the case to 3 different department 'regions', not to mention the 'Intelligence Division'. Intelligence is the group in Fort Worth that handles Homeland Security, Terrorism, Anti-Semiticism, and Gang Activity. I was advised later that they were checking my 'file' to see if there was ANYTHING they could charge me with.
After a few months of chasing my case, and my weapon, I was allowed to pick it up. No appointment was necessary. I simply verified the hours of operation and went to Evidence Storage. I passed no checkpoints on the way in, and simply presented a valid picture ID to start the processing.
I signed SEVERAL receipts for my items. They looked at me funny when I refused to sign for my weapon until I had actually recieved my weapon. But I ultimately recieved it, and signed for it, and was on my way.
They DID allow me to take my ammunition when I picked up my pistol, which is not the normal policy. They told me later that I was allowed to do so because of my 'positive attitude'.
All in all, getting my weapon, my holsters, my athame, my ammunition, and bag took approximately 2 hours. This was because the items were stored in several areas throughout the building. If it had only been my weapon and ammunition it would've taken approximately 45 minutes, I was told.
A side note. If you want to get some funny looks, be standing outside of a police station with a full sized firearm in your hand, a box of ammo in the other, while smoking a cigarette. The funny thing is, the police never batted an eye.
I have always been told to get the following information on PAPER.
The officer who takes your guns:
Full Name
Badge Number
Department
Name of Superior Officer of that Department
Serial Number/make/model of weapon
And make the officer SIGN it. And NEVER LOSE IT.
If possible, have the officer list the CONDITION of the equipment as well, as best as he can determine.
When I recieved my equipment from the FWPD, I found that it had been seriously mistreated.
The handgun looked as if an extremely sugary liquid, such as coffee or sugar, had been spilled into it and not cleaned out. Gunk covered the chamber, the firing pin, the grip, the safety, the mag well, the recoil spring, the guide rod, the hammer and hammer mechanism, the trigger, the front and backstrap, the barrel, and the dust cover. It had been seriously scratched, predominantly on the dust cover, the right side of the slide, and the grip. The grip itself had been wrapped in industrial packaging tape, to prevent the property tag from coming loose. The extractor was damaged. Additionally, my rear sight had been gouged and the sights were knocked out of alignment.
One of the magazines had been wrapped in tape, once again to keep the property tags intact. The feed lips on the other were bent, as if it had recieved a somewhat hefty impact. The same gunk that was on the pistol was inside of the factory magazine.
My beautiful Tucker Gunleather 'Texas Heritage' had a cut in it, over an inch wide, that punctured the holster.
My range bag had a very small puncture. My range bag was also stained.
I don't know what they did to the ammunition, but it was dented, coated in something that almost looked like cosmoline. I refused to fire it.
What really hacked me off was the fact that my Athame, which was stored in a seperate container in the back of the vehical, had been confiscated as well. When I recieved it back it had been etched with the confiscating officer's initials and badge number on both the blade and the scabbard.
At this point I almost ALWAYS have a camera on me, just in case something like this happens again.
)
