MA: Weapon found in a Terry frisk can be seized

In a Terry frisk where a weapon is reasonably suspected, the officer has the authority to seize it until he knows what’s going on. Commonwealth v. Crowder, 2025 Mass. LEXIS 130 (Mar. 25, 2025):

To deny a law enforcement officer properly engaged in a Terry-type stop the ability to seize a firearm from a person who is reasonably suspected of being armed and dangerous unless and until the officer can confirm licensure status would unnecessarily place officers in danger as they perform their public safety responsibilities. See Terry, 392 U.S. at 34 (Harlan, J., concurring) (once officer is justified in engaging in Terry-type stop to prevent or investigate crime, “the officer’s right to take suitable measures for his own safety follow[s] automatically”). Accordingly, Vath, who properly stopped the vehicle for speeding and reasonably believed the defendant to be armed and dangerous, was entitled to protect himself by seizing the defendant’s firearm. See id. at 30-31 (when firearm is discovered during lawful stop and frisk, frisk “is a reasonable search under the Fourth Amendment [to the United States Constitution], and any weapons seized may properly be introduced in evidence against the person from whom they were taken”). See also Adams, 407 U.S. at 148 (loaded gun seized as result of officer’s “limited intrusion [of reaching into the defendant’s car where firearm was thought to be hidden] designed to insure his safety” admissible at trial). The motion judge did not err in denying the motion to suppress the firearm based on the circumstances of its seizure.