§ 35-47-3-3 — 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

(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 six hundred thousand
(600,000);
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.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.311-1983, SEC.32. Amended by P.L.209-1986, SEC.3; P.L.57-1992, SEC.8; P.L.119-2012, SEC.168.