[Overkillphil]

I had been working on a purchase of a nice Colt .45 from a very good friend. Unfortunately, my friend suffers from depression and pulled a stunt recently where he "forgot to open his garage door" while sitting in his vehicle with the engine running. As a result, the local police confiscated this Colt so my friend didn't have any more "accidents".

Now my friend wants to retrieve it so we can complete the sale. Problem is, the local Police do not seem to know the procedure for releasing it. They will not release to my friend, which I completely understand. They told him he would probably need to "hire a lawyer or something". Who is going to pay a lawyer a fee which will undoubtedly cost more than the value of the firearm?

There must be some simple method involving filling out some form and perhaps having it shipped to a local dealer to complete the sale or something? If the Colt is in the possession of the police for 3 years they will destroy it, allegedly.

We both live in Pa.

[The Boss]

Forget the gun, take care of your friend.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. If your friend has gone through the thought process to figure out how he would do it and has attempted it - he's going to do it. Get him into some serious counseling, call suicide prevention for him, don't take his word that he's not going to do it, because he will.

[Overkillphil]

Thanks, but he's already gone though the programs and is doing much better. Part of his new outlook on life is completing all old business which is why he went to the local PD in an effort to finalize this issue. Thankfully, he has long since sold/disposed of his firearm collection with the Colt being the only one left. He is irritated that the PD is going to destroy the Colt and doesn't seem to know how to avoid it. He could use the money as well right now.

Based on previous history, I think he is in more need of an electric car.

[656769gto]

In New Jersey the local police can only return a firearm after getting authorization from the county prosecutor's office. Furthermore, the local police can only destroy a firearm after getting permission from same P.O. I would have your friend call the P.O. and they will have a procedure he can follow.

[stimpy]

get hold of the P.A. as mentioned and explain to them the terms of sale prior to his action and make sure everything is on the up and up ,and make sure to tell them the reason behind this is monetary ( the pistol is going into your posesssion and he will recieve monetary compensation to help your freind ) and if needed fill out the 4473 transfer paperwork or get a FFL to do the transfer if needed ( should be about $50) you might have to pay some legal costs as there is going to be some paperwork involved . I wish you luck as in Illinois the only way to get a firearm released is with a court order .

[4dblnkldude]

They cannot destroy it!!! Even after 20 years. You should be able to just go and talk to cop, if the evidence room guy doesn't get you anywhere demand his superior. Long story short I had several guns confiscated from me around halloween and after several attempts and regular cops blowing me off I finally took a day off work and went there in person, it took a coupe of hours but I got them back 3 months later. This is PA overkill phil, they are just giving you the run around, go and talk in person and tell them your intentions.

[bastard]

Unless the friend is a convicted felon or has been found to be mentally incompetent, the friend should be able to get the gun back himself.
Here they sell confiscated guns at public auction as long as it wasn't used as a murder weapon.
From the perspective of the court system, what would make them believe Phil isn't trying to do his buddy a "favor" by trying to get the gun back to his buddy? That is probably their biggest concern if the friend is not legally supposed to get it back, and the reason they have it in the first place. There would be some serious liability issues for them and Phil if the friend were to be found in possession of this gun again under unhappy circumstances, and we all know what a courtroom mess there would be in such a situation.
Phil might get good results if he went with the friend so that Phil could explain that he is genuinely interested in buying the Colt to keep. If there were a notarized affidavit stating something to the effect that Phil intends to keep the gun and not sell or give it back to the friend, then that couldn't hurt matters any and would help the prosecutors feel like all their bases are covered.
I hope the friend pulls through okay, and I hate the thought of a Colt getting destroyed.