Police departments have been selling, instead of destroying, the guns they confiscate for at least 20 years!
1987 - Virginia - Norfolk occasionally sells confiscated weapons
1992 - California - SHERIFF PLANS TO SELL CONFISCATED GUNS
1999 - St Paul - Sheriffs ready to sell confiscated guns
2000 - Kentucky State Law, Police have to sell confiscated guns
This is not a new story, however I would like to add an important twist. I will prove that
The military has been giving police departments surplus military weapons like m14s and m16s for at least 20 years.
Read this article for details of military transfer of weapons to police etc:
Why is the Federal Government Militarizing our Police Departments?
The military equipment the police department receives can become surplus equipment the police sell to arms dealers.
Here's CBS's 2009 story. I think we need to take another look at this disturbing issue. Specifically, that police departments around the country are now arms dealers, making sure that guns used in heinous crimes are recycled FOR A PROFIT!
When Police Are Arms Dealers
At the time of the Littleton massacre, local officials - including the Jefferson County sheriff - condemned assault weapons as having only one purpose: killing people.
But CBS News has learned that four of the five departments responding to the scene that day sell or trade their used weapons - including assault rifles - to gun dealers.
But the biggest bang for the buck may come from the Irving, Texas, police - the only department we found that sold grenade launchers.
The paper trail leads to a licensed firearms dealer in Idaho who is offering them on his Web site for $3,500 a piece.
Also read Part II of th CBS report:
Police Put Guns On The Street Here's a snippet:
According to documents obtained by CBS News, over a two-year period San Francisco police sold or traded more than 100 of their assault weapons, including AR-15s and Uzis.
But of all the cities looked at by CBS News, it is Detroit, once the nation's murder capital, that now ranks No. 1 in the gun business.
According to contracts and shipping records, over the last seven years, the Detroit Police Department made nearly a million dollars selling 14 tons of used weapons, mostly handguns, to a Vermont dealer.
Isn't that great. Who uses a grenade launcher for hunting?
I tripped onto this issue this afternoon while researching some EPA issues with a town. While reading the small town's December, 2010 Meeting minutes I saw this:
4. Consideration of declaration of surplus weapons and authorization to trade for goods.
Motion: Councilman XXXX made a motion to approve to declare the weapons presented by the Police Department as surplus and to authorize that department to trade the items for ammunition with a licensed firearm dealer.
Councilman XXXXX seconded the motion.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
I live in an ALEC petri dish so the above raised the question:
Is this going on nationally?
Yes, it is and has been for quite a few years, maybe more than a decade.
This is a big story. CBS covers the police gun trading quite well.
Below, I will also demonstrate that the transfer of military assault weapons to police has taken place since at least 1993 or the year before the Federal Assault Weapons Ban
This is unsettling. Beginning in 1993, the US Military began distributing M14s, M16s, and even 2 grenade launchers to police Massachusetts police departments:
Here's a list for Massachusetts showing .
Mass. police departments with surplus weapons
Some 82 local police departments in Massachusetts, many of them hamlets with little or no violent crime and no known terrorist threats, have obtained 1,068 weapons under a federal program that distributes surplus guns from the US military, records show.
Source: US Defense Reutilization & Marketing Service
Which town received which weapons? Click the link above and read through the list.
The BOSTON POLICE DEPT was approved to receive 100 m16 RIFLE, 5.56 millimeter on 3/23/2009
The WEST SPRINGFIELD Police Dept received 2 m74 Grenade Launchers and an M21, semi-automatic rifle intended for sniper use, both approved 5/31/1996
Why would the military distribute semi-automatic assault rifles, grenade launchers, and sniper rifles to city and town police departments?
The Federal Assault Weapons ban describes assault weapon
The term assault weapon, when used in the context of assault-weapon laws, refers primarily (but not exclusively) to semi-automatic firearms that possess the cosmetic features of an assault rifle that is fully automatic.
The military has been distributing semi-automatic weapons to police departments for at least 20 years, although the rate increased in the last decade.
Descriptions of the military's m14 and m16 rifles from Wikipedia:
The M14's powerful 7.62×51 mm cartridge, the weapon was deemed virtually uncontrollable in fully automatic mode, so most M14s were permanently set to semi-automatic fire only to avoid wasting ammunition in combat.
The M16 rifle, officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16, is the United States military version of the AR-15 rifle. The rifle was adapted for semi-automatic, three-round burst, and full-automatic fire.
In 2010, the M16 began to be phased out in the U.S. Army and is being supplemented by the M4 carbine, which is itself a shortened derivative of the M16A2.
The used military equipment is distributed through the
Defense Reutilization & Marketing Office (DMRO).
Maybe there are some gun laws that can never get passed, but I do think citizens can let their local City Councils know how they feel about the police recycling guns used in crimes against us.
AS A MATTER OF FACT, MANY TOWNS AND CITIES ARE DEBATING ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT TO SELL OR DESTROY CONFISCATED GUNS RIGHT NOW!
Assault weapons sold by a police department:
Perhaps Congress can pass a law BANNING the resale of confiscated guns by police departments. I don't see how that would infringe on any Constitutional rights.
Google search "confiscated guns" police
Guns From High-Profile Shootings Had Same Origin
Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.
Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.
We can stop this.
We can stop the military from putting military grade weapons in the hands of our local police, for one.
At the very least, we can stop the police from selling the military grade weapons given to them to their local gun/arms dealers. No police department should be selling grenade launchers!
And why not destroy confiscated guns? It would be great for the gun manufacturing business.
If Congress refuses to stop police departments from selling weapons, Congress can at least pass a law requiring the police to attach a Pedigree like "this gun killed a wife and three children" so the buyer knows the gun's karma.
No wonder the USA is awash in guns and semi-automatic weapons.
Some random articles:
New York -Police seize 154 illegal pistols, machine guns, rifles from Brooklyn streets, origins traced to 11 states