Posted on 07/26/2025 5:25:42 AM PDT by marktwain
In the case of Novak, et al. v Federspiel, the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office seized fourteen guns from a cabin where a domestic violence event occurred. The cabin’s owners waited until the domestic violence case was completed. Then the owners of the cabin, who are relatives of the person charged, asserted the guns belonged to them and asked the Sheriff to return them. The guns were first taken in 2017.
The Sheriff refused to do so, saying, in part, the owners had not provided proof they owned the guns. Some of the guns were manufactured pre-1968 and were not made with serial numbers. The guns were older, and the owners did not have copies of receipts. Novak and Wenzel have filed affidavits stating they own the firearms.
The three-judge panel upheld the dismissal of due process claims.
The three-judge panel examined the Second Amendment claims. They vacated the District Court’s summary judgment against the plaintiffs and sent the case back to the District Court. From the opinion, bold added:
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Frig’ a Sheriff who says I can not prove I own something, especially when he can not prove I don’t own something.
“the lawsuits were dismissed at the state and federal level”
Just tyrants. The Sheriff needs to hurt.
There is somerhing very wrong in this country at all levels, not just the federal level.
Say what..?
So true, sadly.
“Some of the guns were manufactured pre-1968...”
Some of the very best predate this by decades. My personal favorite was made in 1914.
We know he definitely does not own them—but he was keeping them!
Corrupt sheriff.
“Firearms made before 1968 were not required to have serial numbers. The Gun Control Act of 1968 mandated that all firearms must have a serial number, but prior to this law, many manufacturers voluntarily added serial numbers for internal inventory control or tracking purposes. Therefore, while some firearms did have serial numbers, many did not, and their absence does not make them illegal to own.”
“but he was keeping them!”
Exactly. If the law didn’t require the owner to maintain a record of the purchase, or to register the guns since the purchase/transfer, what grounds does the Sheriff have for violating the owner’s presumption of innocence regarding ownership?
Most people don’t keep receipts or logbooks for a lot of what they own. This guy’s corrupt logic could be used as a pretext to take just about anything.
He was committing Theft By Unlawful Taking at that point.
A number of years ago, my best friend’s dad was a Kentucky State Police officer. While hanging out at their house, he started pulling out the firearm collection to show us.
He had 30-40 rifles, shotguns and pistols and told us the backstory for each one - whether involved in murders, robberies or whatever.
After the cases were resolved and things looked like there would be no other proceedings, the officers would just divvy them up and take them home.
I’m sure that happens just about everywhere and there is a financial incentive to seizing and retaining those firearms.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there will have to be a cash settlement because those firearms are already long gone!
One does not haave to own a gun to keep it and bear it.
I took it to a dealer to have it valued and the serial number gave up the year of manufacture.
Savage Model 99?
I don’t have anything that doesn’t have a number on it.
I’ve got a 7.65×53mm Argentine Mauser, and even it has a number.
I don’t see how a Fifth Amendment takings claim gets the guns back.
There’s nothing in the Fifth Amendment that prevents the government from taking your property. It says that if they do, they must pay just compensation.
So it is likely that even if the aggrieved parties prevail, A QUESTION THE APPELLATE BOARD DID NOT DECIDE (the court just decided the case can proceed) then the aggrieved parties get a check.
***The guns were first taken in 2017. ***
When the actual owner gets them back I wonder if they will still be in working order. Some are returned so rusted up they cannot function.
Know your jurisdiction.
The 1968 GCA required that all guns produced and/or sold in this country have a serial number. That does not mean that no guns produced prior to that date had serial numbers. The fact is that many did, most especially firearms produced for the Armed Forces. The government likes to keep track of its property, and there have been serial numbers on government owned firearms since the 1800s. The same applies to foreign produced firearms. I have a Russian produced receiver. That is well over 100 years old, which not only has a serial number, it also has the year of manufacture.
While I do not know what firearm you have, if it was produced in 1942, chances are it was first purchased by the government for use in World War II. I don’t know the exact date, but at a certain point all firearms manufacturing was required to be produced for the war effort.
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