As the 2025 Indiana General Assembly session winds down, I can make a few observations. While property taxes took up most of the air-time for the session, a very important bill concerning expungement of red flag law records was signed into law by Governor Braun on 3 April… without a single no vote in committee nor in the vote on the House/Senate floor. While this is something to be celebrated, I was recently reminded that lawful gun owners are fighting on many fronts.
How many of us have a firearm that has been in the family for years? Maybe it’s the .38 Special that Grandma bought during the Eisenhower Administration. Maybe it’s the 1898 Springfield chambered in .30-40 Krag that Grandpa got in trade for fixing someone’s car in 1962. It might even be a Winchester Model 1897 12-gauge Trench Gun that saw action in World War I. No one knows how your Great Uncle came to possess it, but it was during Prohibition. All of these weapons have serial numbers (which should be kept as a record in a safe place.) I would bet a large sum of money that there is no original sales receipt for any of them.
As law-abiding gun owners what do we do if a firearm is stolen? We contact the Police! Manufacturer, model number, caliber, serial number, general description, all provided to the Police. Then what happens when it is recovered?
As with anything that is evidence in a crime, it will make its way to a property room. While the proceedings of the criminal case continue, it sits in the property room as evidence. There are certainly times that firearms would not be returned (such as altered to be illegal or used in a murder.) There are some jurisdictions that make retrieving YOUR FIREARM nearly impossible.
I will note that (while my knowledge is limited) Property Rooms in large departments operate separately from the sworn law enforcement officers who makeup the Police Force. While I don’t know a representative sample of Indianapolis Metro Police Department (IMPD) Officers, the ones I do know were quick to point out that the Police, and the Police Property Room were quite separate.
Two years ago, WISH-TV investigative reporter Richard Essex released what he had found concerning procedures in the IMPD Property Room that created significant delays in firearms being returned to their lawful owners. The report received enough attention that the IMPD Property Room changed its procedures (which dated back to at least to the days of the Nixon Administration) regarding the processing of firearms.
Unfortunately, property rooms are one of the many fronts we, as law-abiding gun owners, are fighting. A few paragraphs ago I gave some examples of firearms that any of us might own. The 1898 Springfield example? That was my grandfather, who passed away in 1974. If it was ever stolen and recovered in certain jurisdictions? Having the six-digit serial number and pictures of a rifle manufactured in 1901 wouldn’t be enough to have it returned to me, the rightful owner. Without the original receipt? You don’t get your gun back. With my example? There is no receipt, original or otherwise.
I remember a few years back Guy Relford (The Gun Guy on WIBC/The 2A Project/2nd Amendment Attorney) talking about how he was trying to get his Mom’s handgun (which was in her car, that was stolen) out of the IMPD Property Room. As of last Saturday, he was still trying to retrieve her handgun from the property room. My source (“source” in this case, is this guy who I know) tells me this kind of activity is happening in another Indiana County, and a lawsuit is coming soon.
Lawful gun owners are fighting on many fronts. While the Police Property Room front is about to be fought in the Judicial Branch, this is the time to remind our legislators we are paying attention. The Indiana General Assembly is in-session until 24 April. Go to https://iga.in.gov/information/find-legislators and let your State Senator and Representative know you want to see legislation in 2026 to prevent property room rules from confiscating the firearms of lawful gun owners.
Kelly Myers
Co-Director Government Affairs
