Newsclipping summary:

FEAR-List Bulletin posted by Brenda Grantland, 1-10-98
 

The S.F. Chronicle reports that S.F. Police Chief Fred Lau has ordered "an internal investigation to determine if city police used guns seized in a 1993 weapons case for private shooting sessions at the department's firing range." The guns were seized and forfeited from auto repair shop owner Norman Young in 1993. After Young pleaded guilty to assault weapon possession charges, the judge ordered the guns destroyed. But the guns were collectors items, including "a high-tech military sniper's rifle and a gold-plated semiautomatic pistol" -- and instead of destroying them as ordered, the police put them in storage.

When Young heard rumors that the police were using his former weapons at the police firing range, he and his lawyer, Terry Goggin, went back to court and got a second order from the judge last October, "directing that the weapons be returned" according to the article. (It isn't clear whether the order directs the weapons be returned to Young -- which seems unlikely if they are illegal assault weapons -- or returned to the police storage facility.)

The police department has not complied with the October order. Chief Lau says he was never served with the order. "We can't respond to an order that we have never officially received."

A hearing before Superior Court judge Jack Berman is expected soon.