A man whose gun was held as evidence in a case that is now closed wants his gun back — but the Longview City Attorney says he'll have to go to court to get it.This is absolutely wrong. Until they adopt my one-strike-you're-out law, they shouldn't be able to get away with this.
"What he's forcing me to do is take my chances or pay an attorney more than the gun is worth to get it back," said Kirk Turya, 43, of Longview, who feels his constitutional right to due process is being violated.
"I'm a hardworking, law-abiding citizen," said Turya, a long-haul trucker and a former Kelso reserve police officer. "If I had a criminal history, I could understand, but my record is spot clean."
Longview police originally took the 9mm Glock in October after Turya's brother Eric accidentally dropped it and it discharged in an apartment located in the 1700 block of Hemlock Street.
The bullet went through a table and floor and into the apartment below, where it ricocheted off a wall and the floor. Either the spent bullet or a piece of debris struck the leg of a little girl in the lower apartment, frightening her. Police said they saw no injury.
"The horror of that story is not lost on me," Kirk Turya said.
Eric Turya, 47, of Longview denied guilt, but on March 21 he acknowledged he could be found guilty of unlawfully discharging a firearm within the city limits. If he pays $568 in fines and court costs and commits no other crimes by May 21, the charge will be dismissed from his record.
District Court Judge Ed Putka did not order the firearm forfeited.
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COMMENTS ( 1 )
posted on 09 April at 21:18
'I' was asked to handle the gun at my brothers request, due to the fact that he wanted to sell the gun but would be out of town at the time, so he asked me to process the transaction on his behalf. My brother (Kirk Turya) told me that the gun was 'unloaded', but not only was it loaded there was a 'round in the chamber' making the gun ready to fire! When I picked up the gun, it seemed heavy for an unloaded gun and I was in the process of finding the clip release to make the gun safe, when the gun slid down my hand, my finger slipped past the trigger guard and caught the trigger, causing the gun to fire. I did NOT drop the gun and try to catch it in midair, the gun never left my hand. I would also like to mention that the gun had the factory trigger pull setting of 5lbs. adjusted to a 3lb. pull (which the NRA states is unsafe).
Had the gun NOT had a round in the chamber, I could have hit the trigger by mistake (which is what happened), I could have pulled the trigger on purpose, I could have thrown the gun across the room and the gun would NOT have fired, the ONLY reason the gun fired was because Kirk had left a round in the chamber!
I would also like to point out the fact that Kirk transported the gun to my home in that condition. What if he would have gotten into an accident and the gun would have fired? Could have hit someone in his car, the other car, a pedestrian, could have ruptured his gas tank causing an explosion and correct me if I'm wrong, but not only is that unsafe, but I also think it is illegal.
Kirk states in a story by the Daily News on 04/06/12, that he was a “Kelso Reserve Police Officer”. If so, then why did he store a gun loaded and ready to fire? Why did he not check the gun and make it safe before asking me to handle it? Why did he transport a gun loaded and ready to fire?
Kirk also states that “the horror of the story” (what happened to the little girl that lives below me) is not lost on him. Really? Then why to this day, has he never apologized to me for asking me to handle an unsafe gun that he told me was unloaded? Why has he not apologized or at least explained the situation (either in person or by mail) to my neighbors downstairs?
The only reason he wants the gun back is because as soon as he gets it, he's going to sell it to the buyer as he had originally planned. ANYONE who asks someone else to handle their gun and tells that the gun is safe, when it is ready to fire, should NOT be a gun owner! ANYONE who transports a loaded gun ready to fire, should NOT be a gun owner!
Posted by: Eric Turya