March 5th, 2009
SanFranciscostan area: Gun collector loses appeal in lawsuit against Hayward
There’s not a lot of details in the write-up and I’m totally unfamiliar with the case, but this seems crazy. Ed Barsch’s son Wayne apparently suffers from a bi-polar disorder and made a bunch of threats against a bunch of people, including his dad. When police showed up outside the dad’s house to arrest the son, they confiscated the dad’s gun collection and sold or destroyed it. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision that the police’s entry was lawful because they were performing a “protective sweep” of the area and no due process was avoided by selling or destroying the guns. The dad has apparently been charged with no crime and was not arrested at the time.
Some of the guns in the collection were apparently owned by the son or owned jointly by the father and son. The son received some compensation. The dad received nothing.
Via Ride Fast & Shoot Straight, who is trying to gather more info.
Tags: CA
