This may be a stupid question.  I understand that if I were to shoot someone, the police would need the weapon as evidence, and therefore confiscate it.  What happens to it then? If the shooting was found to be justified, would I get the firearm back?
Thanks,
AIRBORNE

Probably depends on your local LE department. A friend of mine had to shoot a drug crazed burglar who was intent on entering his house in the middle of the night. This idiot broke the kitchen door window to reach in and unlock the door. He was shot in the hand with a .22 but that didn't deter him. He got the door open and came in anyway at which point he was shot dead. My friend was up the rest of the night as the police went through his whole house as if he was the guilty party. There was seemingly endless questioning, even though it was later learned the idiot was well known by LEO and had a long record of burglary to support his drug habit. The gun and my friend's PJ's, which had a little blood on them, left with the LEO. He eventually got the gun back.

The bottom line is you should get it back, but if you live in an antigun area you may have to jump through more hoops to bring it about.

The firearm would be taken as evidence (in most cases)  If the shooting was justified and the firearm legal there is no reason you should not get the firearm back.  

However, it does depend on the department and if it did go in front of a judge it would depend on the judge releasing the item from evidence.

Chances are that the firearm would be sent to a lab for testing of ballistics and then stored in the evidence room.  Very good chance the firearm will not be stored in a proper manner...rust and things like that.  Also, blood on metal is not always good.

hope this helps

medcop

Thanks,
I was just curious.

IMHO this (retrieval of weapon) is best left to your lawyer. As a youth and a true believer in the Second Amendment I was twice charged w/ illegal possession of a firearm (under seat of auto). In both instances I was informed that I would [b]NOT[/b] get my pistol back.
First time I had a male lawyer and he wanted the pistol for a part of his fee, I gave him a chrome plated 45acp, he gave me my old Sturm Ruger 41mag single action, (the seized weapon).
Second time I used a female lawyer and while she had no interest in the Colt Python the County Deputy that busted me did, but when I explained how all she had to do was claim "it was a part of her fee" to the judge, retrieval was no problem. Hence my suggestion that rather than muddy the issue, let your legal counsel handle it.

Mike