Sorry - could not find an appropriate category - new to the forum.
The new York State police “stole” my pistol!
My brother was accused and acquitted of a domestic violence charge in New York State. After he had been taken away for questioning, two officers told my brother’s wife they needed to confiscate any pistols on the property. They made specific mention any rifles and shotguns were OK to keep. She handed them two modern pistols and a family heirloom owned by my grandfather (I am 58) since he was pretty young.
They told my brother *when he found out about them taking them) that he had broken the law because he did not have a permit to OWN a pistol. I was shocked when hearing this b/c, living in PA at the time, I had never heard of such an obviously unconstitutional “law.” I use quotation marks b.c the Constitution is the self proclaimed LAW of the Land and gives no authorities to states to limit our freedoms in this manner.
I had allowed my bother to borrow the .22 revolver (heirloom_ pistol (when in PA - so totally legal) and he was using i to teach my nephew gun safety.
I am in the process of going through proper channels to get my revolver back. The conficating officer first told me it was the DA’s responsibility my property back to me. After a lot of time giving them info etc.; them saying it was being shipped; they did not ship it and did not notify me it was not shipped; numerous phone calls back and finally talking to a person again; they all of a sudden said it was all a mistake and that they were not the proper avenue to go through - they could not help me, and instead I had to contact the officer who had confiscated it. I asked the DA why we had spent so much time on the phone getting all of my information (and shifting me to their Victims department) etc, and reminded them I had been told by that office that the issue was taken care of and they were shipping the pistol. The DA simply replied it all was just some sort of mix up on their part and I had to contact the officer who confiscated it.
I contacted the officer and I told her what had happened. She tried to tel me it WAS the DA’s responsibility. I engaged her in information about the pistol’s family history and asked her why she had not tried to return the pistol to its owner anyway. She assured me she was not aware it did not belong to my brother and if, at some point he had let hew know this, that she would have gotten it back to the owner. I led her around talking about the court case and she made the mistake of saying, “Well I was under the impression this pistol was not your bother’s, but your fathers, and he is dead right?” My immediate response was, “why would you say you think the pistol is my father’s considering my brother would have had to tell you that and yet you said he never told you it was not his property?”
After a small silence I was transferred to an official “Investigator.” I relayed all of this to him. He said he could send it to me through an dealer with an FFL. Of course I would have to pay postage and the FFL dealer’s handling fee. I told him nicely this was not acceptable b/c the definition of theft is someone taking my property without my consent. Add to that that there was no attempt to get the property back to the legal owner, by a legal organization, and the situation seems unjustifiable. He said I was absolutely correct, but the knew there was no way the department would pay the fees.
Since the DA had actually offered, and I did not ask, me to ship back all of the pistols they had gotten from my brother. I told the investigator if he did this, then at least I could sell the other ones and pay the fees, so go ahead and do what the DA had said they would do.
He said he needed to run background checks on the pistols so he knew whose property they actually were.
And this is where we stand.
All of this as background to say:
Is there actually any organization currently fighting getting rid of the ridiculously unconstitutional “law” in New York state which requires a person to pay for a permit to OWN a pistol?
If not - then why not? This is a cancer that will spread if people roll over and allow the “law” to be kept in the books.
Every organization I have tried to contact so far more or less has said they want money before we will say anything. I was under the impression that places like the NRA exist to find and fight these tyrranical laws. How did something like this get passed to begin with? and how do we as Americans get rid of it before it spreads?
Is a grass roots gofundme needed - and who would the issue be taken to?
I don;’ trust places that worship the almighty dollar in the pocket before patriotic matters will even be discussed.