Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Sixth Circuit: Right to Keep Arms Applies to Possession of Arms
AmmoLand ^ | July 14, 2025 | Dean Weingarten

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.

Novak and Wenzel filed several state and federal cases against Sheriff Federspiel in his official and personal capacity, including claiming violation of their Constitutional rights under the  Fourth, Fifth, Fourteenth, and Second Amendment rights, in various permutations. Eventually, the lawsuits were dismissed at the state and federal level and the plaintiffs filed an appeal to the three judge panel of the Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit.

The three-judge panel heard the case and reversed the District Court’s summary judgment on a Fifth Amendment takings claim against Sheriff Federspiel, allowing a trial court to resolve those claims.

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 ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 2a; 6thcircuit; andrebmathis; andremathis; banglist; baycity; democratscum; democratsheriff; dramacrat; dramacratpos; edmichigan; followup; joanlarsen; joanllarsen; kethledge; larsen; mathis; mi; michigan; nazibill; novaketalvfederspiel; raymondkethledge; raymondmkethledge; saginawcounty; sixth; sixthcircuit; thomaslludington; thomasludington; williamfederspiel; williamlfederspiel
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last
The Sixth Circuit three judge panel said the right to keep arms includes the right to possess arms. A sheriff may not arbitrarily take possession of firearms and refuse to return them to the rightful owners, after a case is completed.
1 posted on 07/26/2025 5:25:42 AM PDT by marktwain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: marktwain

Frig’ a Sheriff who says I can not prove I own something, especially when he can not prove I don’t own something.


2 posted on 07/26/2025 5:28:11 AM PDT by Racketeer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

“the lawsuits were dismissed at the state and federal level”

Just tyrants. The Sheriff needs to hurt.


3 posted on 07/26/2025 5:30:28 AM PDT by dljordan (The Rewards of Tolerance are Treachery and Betrayal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dljordan

There is somerhing very wrong in this country at all levels, not just the federal level.


4 posted on 07/26/2025 5:34:39 AM PDT by sauropod (Make sure Satan has to climb over a lot of Scripture to get to you. John MacArthur Ne supra crepidam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: marktwain
"Some of the guns were manufactured pre-1968 and were not made with serial numbers."

Say what..?

5 posted on 07/26/2025 5:36:34 AM PDT by unread
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sauropod

So true, sadly.


6 posted on 07/26/2025 5:36:59 AM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus….)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

“Some of the guns were manufactured pre-1968...”

Some of the very best predate this by decades. My personal favorite was made in 1914.


7 posted on 07/26/2025 5:38:35 AM PDT by cdcdawg (The Left should cry harder.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Racketeer

We know he definitely does not own them—but he was keeping them!

Corrupt sheriff.


8 posted on 07/26/2025 5:38:37 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: unread

“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.”


9 posted on 07/26/2025 5:40:10 AM PDT by unread
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

“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.


10 posted on 07/26/2025 6:06:20 AM PDT by Señor Presidente (Tyranny deserves insurrection)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: marktwain
That Sheriff should be sitting in prison for the same number of days he illegally held their property.

He was committing Theft By Unlawful Taking at that point.

11 posted on 07/26/2025 6:06:47 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

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!


12 posted on 07/26/2025 6:17:59 AM PDT by Bartholomew Roberts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

One does not haave to own a gun to keep it and bear it.


13 posted on 07/26/2025 6:27:42 AM PDT by arthurus (| covfefe | )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: unread
I have a rifle built in 1942 with a serial number

I took it to a dealer to have it valued and the serial number gave up the year of manufacture.

14 posted on 07/26/2025 6:28:18 AM PDT by spokeshave (Proud Boys, Angry Dads. Grumpy Grandads & Curmudgeons)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: cdcdawg

Savage Model 99?


15 posted on 07/26/2025 7:21:22 AM PDT by gundog (The ends justify the mean tweets. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: spokeshave

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.


16 posted on 07/26/2025 7:21:51 AM PDT by unread
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

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.


17 posted on 07/26/2025 7:26:39 AM PDT by Flash Bazbeaux
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

***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.


18 posted on 07/26/2025 7:42:06 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain
I did Nazi something like this coming from the Nazi sheriff in Sagginballs.

Know your jurisdiction.

19 posted on 07/26/2025 8:04:52 AM PDT by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: spokeshave

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.


20 posted on 07/26/2025 8:05:04 AM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." The Weapons Shops of Isher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson