An Act To Require Firearms Used in the Commission of Certain Acts To Be Civilly Forfeited to the State and Destroyed
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0724
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: DION, PLUMMER
Amends: 15 MRSA §5821, 17-A MRSA §1158-A

Legislative Document 
No. 724 
H.P. 497 
House of Representatives, February 28, 2013 
An Act To Require Firearms Used in the Commission of Certain 
Acts To Be Civilly Forfeited to the State and Destroyed 
Submitted by the Department of Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative DION of Portland. 
Cosponsored by Senator: PLUMMER of Cumberland. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §5821, sub-§3-A, as amended by PL 2011, c. 465, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
3-A.  Firearms and other weapons.  Law enforcement officers may seize all 
firearms and dangerous weapons that they may find in any lawful search for scheduled 
drugs or synthetic hallucinogenic drugs, as defined in Title 17-A, section 1101, 
subsection 16-A, in which scheduled drugs or synthetic hallucinogenic drugs are found.  
Except for those seized weapons listed in a petition filed in the Superior Court pursuant to 
section 5822, all weapons seized, after notice and opportunity for hearing, must be 
forfeited to the State by the District Court 90 days after a list of the weapons and drugs 
seized is filed in the District Court in the district in which the weapons and drugs were 
seized.  A weapon need not be forfeited if the owner appears prior to the declaration of 
forfeiture and satisfies the court, by a preponderance of evidence, of all of the following: 
A.  That the owner had a possessory interest in the weapon at the time of the seizure 
sufficient to exclude every person involved with the seized drugs or every person at 
the site of the seizure; 
B.  That the owner had no knowledge of or involvement with the drugs and was not 
at the site of the seizure; and 
C.  That the owner had not given any involved person permission to possess or use 
the weapon. 
Post-hearing procedures are as provided in section 5822.  
A confiscated or forfeited handgun firearm that was confiscated or forfeited because it 
was used to commit a homicide must be destroyed by the State unless the handgun 
firearm was stolen and the rightful owner was not the person who committed the 
homicide, in which case the handgun firearm must be returned to the owner if 
ascertainable.  For purposes of this subsection, "handgun" means a firearm, including a 
pistol or revolver, designed to be fired by use of a single hand. 
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §5821, sub-§3-B is enacted to read: 
3-B.  Forfeiture of firearms used in the commission of certain acts.  In addition to 
the provisions of subsection 3-A and Title 17-A, section 1158-A, this subsection controls 
the forfeiture of firearms used in the commission of certain acts. 
A.  Except as provided in paragraph B, a firearm is subject to forfeiture to the State if 
the firearm is used by a person to commit a criminal act that in fact causes serious 
bodily injury or death to another human being and, following that act, the person 
either commits suicide or attempts to commit suicide and the attempt results in the 
person's becoming incompetent to stand trial or the person is killed or rendered 
incompetent to stand trial as the result of a justifiable use of deadly force by a law 
enforcement officer.  Except as provided in paragraph B, a property right does not 
exist in the firearm subject to forfeiture. 
B.  A firearm that is used in the commission of a criminal act described in paragraph 
A is exempt from forfeiture under this subsection if the firearm belongs to another 
person who is the rightful owner from whom the firearm has been stolen and the 
other person is not a principal or accomplice in the criminal act.  In that case, the 
firearm must be transferred to the other person unless that person is otherwise 
prohibited from possessing a firearm under applicable law. 
A firearm subject to forfeiture pursuant to this subsection that is declared by a court to be 
forfeited pursuant to section 5822 must be promptly destroyed, or caused to be promptly 
destroyed, by the law enforcement agency that has custody of the firearm. 
Sec. 3.  17-A MRSA §1158-A, sub-§2, ¶¶A and C, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 
657, §7, are amended to read: 
A.  Other than in the context of either subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraph (1) or 
subsection 1, paragraph B relative to murder or any other unlawful homicide crime in 
which the firearm used is a handgun, the other person, at the time of the commission 
of the crime, had a right to possess the firearm to the exclusion of the defendant; 
C.  In the context of subsection 1, paragraph B relating to murder or any other 
unlawful homicide crime in which the firearm used is a handgun, the other person, at 
the time of the commission of the crime, was the rightful owner from whom the 
handgun firearm had been stolen and the other person was not a principal or 
accomplice in the commission of the crime. 
Sec. 4.  17-A MRSA §1158-A, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 657, §7, is 
amended to read: 
4.     The Attorney General shall adopt rules governing the disposition to state, county 
and municipal agencies of firearms forfeited under this section.  A handgun firearm not 
excepted under subsection 2, paragraph C must be destroyed by the State. 
Sec. 5.  17-A MRSA §1158-A, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 657, §7, is 
repealed. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires the forfeiture and destruction of a firearm used in the commission 
of a crime that causes death or serious bodily injury by a person who then, either due to 
suicide or attempted suicide or the justifiable actions of a law enforcement officer, dies or 
becomes incompetent to stand trial. 
Current law distinguishes between a firearm and a handgun for certain situations, 
including allowing a handgun used in a murder to be returned to the rightful owner, as 
long as the owner was not the person who committed the crime.  This bill removes the 
distinction, applying the forfeiture laws equally to all firearms.