Contrary to popular belief, Virginia has surprisingly strict gun laws. As a result, arrests for gun offenses are quite common in Fairfax. Due to the severity of these offenses it is important for individuals who have been charged to reach out to a skilled attorney. If you want to know more about Fairfax gun arrests, speak with a qualified gun lawyer that could build a solid defense for you.
Some typical scenarios that lead to Fairfax gun arrests take place would be, first and foremost, a traffic stop. Someone might get stopped for some minor traffic case and when they are stopped for whatever reason, the officers end up searching their vehicle and finding a gun. The police may then place the individual under arrest.
Another scenario that might lead to a gun arrest is if it is an offense/situation in which a gun is actually involved, and the police arrive on the scene or if the police pursue a person and catch a person right after the act or during the act of which they are being accused. Cases like robberies or assaults with a weapon, are situations where somebody right away would be with the gun and they will be taken into custody because of the gun charge.
Virginia law enforcement generally chooses when to arrest someone based on when the crime occurred. Fairfax gun arrests are typically immediate unless it is a situation where the police do not know who to arrest and they have to take their time to figure that out.
Law enforcement will ask a person for a person’s registration information and that is a pretty specific thing that they wait for, they might run their record if they pulled them over for something and they found a gun on them to see what is going on with that. But certainly it is not a situation where they wait for anything specific to happen, as soon as they see a crime occurring, they are going to arrest a person.
A person’s guns do not have to be registered in the state of Virginia. Generally, if a person is under arrest for a gun crime, it is going either going to be because they are carrying a gun where it is not allowed, or because the gun is not theirs, or it is not the type of firearm they are allowed to carry.
One of the popular misconceptions is that law enforcement always has to tell someone why they are getting arrested. Law enforcement does not always have to say that a person is under arrest, they can sometimes arrest them if there is a cause to do so. The police do not always have to tell them why they are arrested, they do not have to tell them where they are taking them, and they do not have to tell them their rights beyond their Miranda right if they are trying to question them.
Following Fairfax gun arrests, individuals are brought in front of a magistrate and then the magistrate decides whether or not these charges need to be issued against them based on what the officer testifies to. Bond will be set by the magistrate unless they have a bad record or if the crime is very severe, in that case, they are denied any bond.
If a person is denied bond they will have a first appearance or an arraignment usually within the next business day. At their arraignment, they are advised by the judge as to what they are charged with, the fact that they can hire an attorney, or they are going to get an attorney appointed to them, and then they are going to get a court date set.
It is only after initial Fairfax gun arrests that people can call their attorneys. Usually, it is a situation where a person is not going to be able to get a chance to talk the attorney until after they have gone to talk to the magistrate. Once the magistrate has decided whether or not to issue the individual bond and they have been booked, fingerprinted, and entered into the system, then they are allowed to speak with a gun lawyer. At that stage, it is vital for those who have been charged with gun offenses to consult an experienced gun attorney that could begin to build their defense.