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Police Departments and the Selling of Confiscated or Surrendered Firearms

Written by Orchid

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September 25, 2013

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The practice of police selling firearms that have been obtained in gun buyback programs as well as those seized in criminal investigations has been met with controversy. In some jurisdictions these types of firearms are simply destroyed. Other agencies such as Washington State Police sell or trade in these firearms to raise revenue to supplement the department’s budget.* Opponents of the practice say that they do not want to see these guns “back on the street”. The fact is, the majority of these firearms have never been used in the commission of a crime. A 2004 report by the National Academy of Sciences titled, “Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review” stated, “The guns that are typically surrendered are those that are least likely to be used in criminal activities. The guns tend to be old, malfunctioning guns whose resale value is less than the reward offered in buy-back programs or guns owned by individuals who derive little value from the guns (e.g. those who have inherited guns).  In 1999, about 6,500 homicides were committed with handguns. There are about 70 million handguns in the United States. Thus, if a different handgun were used in each homicide, the likelihood that a particular handgun would be used to kill an individual in a particular year is 1 in 10,000. The typical gun buy-back program yields less than 1,000 guns.”** Police agencies do not tend to rent tables at the local gun show or flea market to get rid of them, either. Police agencies regularly sell homes, vehicles, boats and airplanes seized in criminal investigations without anyone batting an eye. In many instances these public auctions are announced months in advance and are heavily advertised via newspaper, television and other media. Most firearms recovered or turned in through these programs are in poor condition, obsolete and in some cases non-functional. Yet, there have been several instances where museum quality firearms have been discovered through these programs. In December 2012 a woman in Hartford, Connecticut turned in what she thought was simply an old rifle that her father brought home from World War 2. It turned out to be a Sturmgewehr 44, otherwise known as the Stg-44, the world’s first modern (and shortly lived) assault rifle. The police officers conducting the buyback recognized it for what it was and advised her it had a potential value of $60,000. Twenty years ago a similar program in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, uncovered the Colt revolver that former US President Theodore Roosevelt had carried when he led his “Rough Riders” in the charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. The revolver had been stolen from the former president’s Sagamore Hill estate on Long Island, New York, three years prior. While those two firearms may represent extreme exceptions amidst a sea of junk held together by bailing wire and duct tape, there is value in a portion of what is taken in through these efforts. Even if these firearms are given a new lease on life by coming from a police agency and being sold through a licensed dealer or distributor, they will often need to be inspected for safety reasons. Police officers are not gun smiths and may not know the inner workings of some of these firearms. Barrel lengths should be checked on long guns to make sure they are in accordance with all federal, state and local laws. Likewise the fire control groups of semiautomatic arms should be inspected to ensure that the firearm has not been illegally converted to a potential NFA (National Firearms Act) weapon. Certain states such as Massachusetts and California have limitations on what types of handguns may be legally sold and even local police agencies may not be aware of what is authorized in their own states; this burden shifts to the licensee who takes possession of the firearms. *Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 9.41.098 says the guns WSP seizes “must be auctioned or traded to licensed dealers.” **Committee on Law and Justice; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; National Research Council (2004). Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-13332-6.

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