Majority of Federal Gun Confiscations Are NOT for Criminal Acts

AmmoLand ^ | March 26, 2025 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Majority of Federal Gun Confiscations Are NOT for Criminal Acts

Less than one-third of guns and ammunition taken by the federal government are done through criminal forfeitures. During the Biden administration, criminal forfeitures of guns and ammunition nearly doubled, while administrative forfeitures and civil forfeitures were essentially level.  The chart shown was obtained from the Department of Justice (DOJ). It lists the three types of forfeitures for the last five fiscal years. The federal fiscal year is the time period used for budget purposes, running from October 1 to September 30 each year. The five years covered span most of the four years of the Biden administration.

Here is a short description of the three types of forfeiture listed. They are derived from longer definitions posted at the DOJ.

• Judicial Criminal Forfeiture – the procedure by which property is forfeited by a person as part of a criminal conviction. The connection between the crime and the property must be established by a preponderance of the evidence. This type of forfeiture occurs when a claimant contests the forfeiture. This type of forfeiture accounts for 31% of the federal forfeitures of guns and ammunition.
  
• Civil Judicial Forfeiture –  the procedure by which property alleged to be derived from or used to commit an offense is forfeited to the government. No criminal conviction is required, but a court has to find a preponderance of the evidence, presented by the government, links the property to criminal activity. This type of forfeiture amounts to about two percent of the forfeitures of guns and ammunition.
• Administrative Forfeiture – the procedure by which property is forfeited without a case being filed in federal court.

[marktwain]

About two thirds of federal gun and ammunition forfeitures are administrative. This is when no one opposes the forfeiture in court. The cost of opposing the federal government in court is nearly always much more than the value of a few guns and ammunition. Hence, most forfeitures are not contested.

[marktwain]

[Openurmind]

“About two thirds of federal gun and ammunition forfeitures are administrative.”

How does this even happen? EMS called to the home and police just confiscate all the firearms while they are there without probable cause related to firearms?

[marktwain]

1. Officers execute a warrant for drugs/whatever. They do not find drugs, but they find some guns. The house is owned by minorities. They ask who owns the guns. No one responds. They take the guns.

2. ATF finds some minor paperwork errors in a gun shop under the Biden administration. The shop owner is given a choice: Forfeit all the guns and agree to give up your Federal Firearms license, or face charges.

3. A state police officer stops someone in a vehicle and finds they have a gun. The state has forfeiture reform, so they cannot take the gun/guns without charges. The officers calls the feds to take the guns as forfeit.

4. Federal IRS agents seize property for failure to pay taxes.

5. FBI performs an raid on a storage facility. They take all property as forfeiture.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2023/12/11/court-grills-government-over-86m-fbi-raid-on-security-deposit-boxes/

4. Feds raid a house on a warrant for importation violations. There are guns there. They insist on forfeiture of the guns, although the guns are not related to the importation charges.

[Openurmind]

Thank you for sharing those. #1 I am familiar with. Seen it happen to innocent friends over drug suspicions and open warrants or the proverbial “Probable cause foot in the doorway/Can I come in?” tactic. Guns were automatically seized “pending further investigation” probable cause or not. “You can get these back after we have concluded our investigation”. An investigation that never ends...

Yes, It was in California...

The reason I asked about EMS is because I caught EMS videoing the inside of my father’s home and sharing it with Law Enforcement. He was a gunsmith and always working on a firearm of some sort. So he had firearms out and working on them when he had his medical emergency. So EMS basically conducted a warrantless proxy search of his home while assisting him and reported it to local LE.

Family attorney put an immediate stop to this because the EMS service was private and had no authority to even secretly gather evidence for LE like that. I wonder how often this happens...

[ETCM]

Police frequently confiscate firearms when they enter a home and find unsecured weapons. They also frequently confiscate firearms from any person who has a restraining order placed against them for stalking, domestic violence, etc, regardless of the truth. The process for reclaiming your property requires paperwork, proof of ownership, proof of registration, etc. Guns purchased person to person, gifted or inherited from family members, etc are rarely properly transferred, and sadly, frequently forfeited. Especially really nice heirlooms that the Chief/Sheriff wants.

[marktwain]

Most of those are state and local, and not federal actions.

[ETCM]

True.