Maryland Gun Investigations
Maryland gun investigations are taken quite seriously by law enforcement. Firearms can pose a danger to the owners, as well as to people that come into contact with the owners. That is why if someone is the subject of a gun investigation, they should contact a skilled gun attorney. An experienced lawyer could conduct an investigation of their own, in order to collect the necessary evidence and build a person’s defense.
Circumstances That Lead to a Gun Investigation
Any number of investigative measures could lead to Maryland gun investigations and a subsequent illegal possession of a firearm charge. It would be unusual unless someone specifically called in a complaint about an individual illegally possessing a firearm. The likelihood of that happening is slim. What typically happens is that officers are investigating someone else for something completely different when it comes to their attention that there may be some firearm violation.
An example of that is an officer who is conducting traffic enforcement pulls the vehicle over for a potential traffic violation and that stop of the vehicle leads to recovery of a gun and charges relevant to that firearm. The other typical scenario for an investigation is where the police are investigating a specific crime that involves the firearm and the firearm is part of something else. For example, the police are investigating a robbery or investigating a drug-related crime and the firearm is used in committing those offenses. The majority of the time people end up being charged with gun crimes because they have the gun in their car and they are stopped for a traffic violation or they are suspected of committing some very serious violent crime and a gun will be used in correlation to that crime.
Investigation Strategies
Law enforcement probably is not going to want to tip the person off to the fact that they are being investigated for a gun charge because they do not want to give the suspects the opportunity to potentially get rid of the gun and therefore, get rid of important evidence. If a person is being investigated for a gun charge, it would be very likely they will not know until they have been charged with something. They may become aware of an investigation because the police execute a search and seizure warrant on the person’s home or business.
Search and Seizure Warrants
A search and seizure warrant could be requested or executed on somebody’s home and they are not the focus of the warrant, but the likelihood of that is slim. If there is a search and seizure warrant that is executed on a person’s home because the police sense that there is something inside that is either illegal or going to lead to them being able to prove some other type of offense, it is a usual red flag. Sometimes the police will contact the person and ask to speak with them before they charge anything.
Interacting With Law Enforcement
During Maryland gun investigations, a person may be approached by a police officer who shows up at their home or their work and asks if they would be willing to talk to a police officer. Then, during the course of that conversation with the police officer the person realizes that this has to do with the firearm. It is routine advice for a person to not have a conversation with a police officer unless they have an attorney present.
People think that they should cooperate with the police and that they are going to get in trouble if they do not. There is a reason that the constitution says that a person does not have to make any statements and that is so people can avoid incriminating themselves.
If someone is approached by a police officer and the officer has to speak with them, the best advice is to always be very polite and respectful. The individual should let the officer know that they do not want to talk unless they have their attorney present, and let the police officer know that they could have their attorney contact them at a later date. Then the person should contact their attorney and get back to the police officer, which shuts down any possibility of answering any questions without an attorney being present. A qualified gun lawyer could protect the person from incriminating themselves and can advocate for them.