Application of section to firearms required to be registered in
National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record; return of
firearms to rightful owners; unreturnable firearms; registry of
firearms; disposal
Sec. 3. (a) This section applies to firearms that are required to be
registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
(b) Firearms shall be returned to the rightful owner at once
following final disposition of the cause, if such return has not already
occurred under the terms of IC 35-33-5, and if such owner remains
lawfully entitled to possess such firearms according to applicable
United States and Indiana statutes. If rightful ownership is not
known, the law enforcement agency holding the firearm shall make
a reasonable and diligent effort to ascertain the rightful ownership
and cause the return of the firearm being held, providing the owner
remains lawfully entitled to possess such firearms.
(c) Firearms that are not returnable under this section shall be at
once delivered to:
(1) the sheriff's department of the county in which the offense
occurred, unless subdivision (2) applies; or
(2) the city or town police force that confiscated the firearm if:
(A) a member of the city or town police force confiscated
the firearm; and
(B) the city or town has a population of more than two
thousand five hundred (2,500) and less than two hundred
fifty thousand (250,000);
following final disposition of the cause.
(d) When firearms are sent to a law enforcement agency under
subsection (c), the law enforcement agency may upon request release
the firearms to the state police department laboratory or other
forensic laboratory administered by the state or a political
subdivision (as defined in IC 36-1-2-13) for the purposes of research,
training, and comparison in conjunction with the forensic
examination of firearms evidence.
(e) The receiving law enforcement agency or laboratory shall
cause the registry of such firearms in the United States National
Firearms Registration and Transfer Record within thirty (30) days
following receipt from the court.
(f) The court may order such firearms as are not returnable
destroyed, specifying the exact manner of destruction and requiring
the receiving law enforcement agency or laboratory to make due
return to the ordering court the time, date, method of destruction, and
disposition of the remains of the destroyed firearm.
(g) No portion of this section shall be construed as requiring the
receiving law enforcement agency or laboratory to retain firearms
which are inoperable or unserviceable, or which the receiving law
enforcement agency or laboratory may choose to transfer as public
property in the ordinary course of lawful commerce and exchange.
As added by P.L.311-1983, SEC.32. Amended by P.L.209-1986,
SEC.3; P.L.57-1992, SEC.8.
Last modified: May 24, 2006