Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Wayne Wright, retired police officer and war veteran, filed suit in federal court July 31, 2015.
United States District Court, Central District
On behalf of war veteran and former police officer Wayne Wright, Michel & Associates filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles on Friday, July 31, against the LAPD, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, and involved employees and policymakers who conspired to destroy Mr. Wright’s firearm collection.
Mr. Wright’s firearm collection was seized by LAPD in 2004 after he was entrapped by them into allowing one of their undercover detectives to carry a firearm that was being transported to an FFL for a lawful transfer. LAPD then used this bad arrest to get a warrant to seize the entirety of Mr. Wright’s collection, some 400-plus firearms comprised primarily of curio and relic pieces.
After Mr. Wright became eligible for the return of his firearms, LAPD’s notorious Gun Unit and the City Attorney’s office put Mr. Wright through a five-year odyssey of illegal requirements to “prove” he owned the guns they seized from him in order to purportedly gain their return. While LAPD represented to Mr. Wright that his firearms would eventually be returned if he complied with LAPD’s unlawful requests for proof of ownership, the City Attorney’s office surreptitiously applied for an ex parte order to destroy the collection, and the LAPD then did so without any notice to Mr. Wright.
LAPD has been previously sued for its failure to provide basic due process or follow state law when it comes to returning firearms to their owners. In that prior matter, Sarah McGee, et al. v. City of Los Angeles, et al., USDC Central District of California Case No. 98-2043GHK, then-Chief Bernard Parks agreed to implement Special Order No. 1, making compliance with state law regarding return of firearms an express policy of the LAPD. Once again, LAPD has ignored state law as well as its own policy, and the result is the destruction of priceless collector’s items valued in the aggregate at nearly three-quarters-of-a-million dollars.
The matter filed on Friday is captioned Wayne William Wright v. Charles L. Beck, et al., USDC Central District of California Case No. 2:15-cv-05805-R-PJW. A copy of the complaint is linked here.