Confiscation and disposition of confiscated weapons

(a) (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.Law enforcement officer: includes a sheriff, sheriff's deputy, and, only for purposes of the enhancement of a crime, a deputy jailer. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106Official proceeding: means any type of administrative, executive, legislative or judicial proceeding that may be conducted before a public servant authorized by law to take statements under oath. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106Owner: means a person, other than the defendant, who has possession of or any interest other than a mortgage, deed of trust or security interest in property, even though that possession or interest is unlawful and without whose consent the defendant has no authority to exert control over the property. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105Services: includes labor, skill, professional service, transportation, telephone, mail, gas, electricity, steam, water, cable television, entertainment subscription service or other public services, accommodations in hotels, restaurants or elsewhere, admissions to exhibitions, use of vehicles or other movable property, and any other activity or product considered in the ordinary course of business to be a service, regardless of whether it is listed in this subdivision (a)(38) or a specific statute exists covering the same or similar conduct. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105(1) Any weapon that is possessed, used, or sold in violation of the law shall be confiscated by a law enforcement officer and declared to be contraband by a court of record exercising criminal jurisdiction. (2) (A) The sheriff or chief of police for the jurisdiction where the weapon was confiscated may petition the court for permission to dispose of the weapon in accordance with this section. (B) If the weapon was confiscated by a judicial district drug task force, then the director of the task force where the weapon was confiscated may petition the court for disposal of the weapon in accordance with this section. (C) If the weapon was confiscated by the department of safety, then the commissioner of safety may petition the court for disposal of the weapon in accordance with this section. (D) If the weapon was confiscated by the Tennessee bureau of investigation, then the director may petition the court for disposal of the weapon in accordance with this section. (b) Any weapon declared contraband, secured by a law enforcement officer or agency after being abandoned, voluntarily surrendered to a law enforcement officer or agency, or obtained by a law enforcement agency, including through a buyback program, shall be, pursuant to a written order of the court: (1) Sold in a public sale; (2) Used for legitimate law enforcement purposes, at the discretion of the court; or (3) Relinquished in accordance with subsection (i). (c) If the weapon was confiscated, or obtained after being abandoned and secured, after being voluntarily surrendered, or through a buyback program, by a local law enforcement agency or a judicial district drug task force and if the court orders the weapon to be sold, then: (1) It shall be sold at a public auction not later than six (6) months from the date of the court order. The sale shall be conducted by the sheriff of the county or the chief of police of the municipality in which it was seized or obtained; (2) The proceeds from the sale shall be deposited in the county or municipal general fund and allocated solely for law enforcement purposes; (3) The sale shall be advertised: (A) In a daily or weekly newspaper circulated within the county. The advertisement shall run for not less than three (3) editions and not less than thirty (30) days prior to the sale; or (B) By posting the sale on a website maintained by the state or a political subdivision of the state not less than thirty (30) days prior to the sale; and (4) If required by federal or state law, then the sale can be conducted under contract with a licensed firearm dealer, whose commission shall not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the gross sales price. How