Posted on 03/06/2016 6:05:31 AM PST by marktwain
In 2010, Tennessee passed a law forbidding police departments to destroy valuable guns. They had to keep them or sell them. Some departments chose to keep them rather than return them to standard channels of commerce. The legislature responded by making the sale of weapons acquired by police departments through confiscation or gun turn in programs to be sold every six months. That bill, passed in May of 2015, has become law in Tennessee. It faced little opposition in the legislature, passing on voice votes. Here is a partial summation. From tn.gov: Prior to the disposal of any firearm that has been forfeited or abandoned to the state or a political subdivision of the state, the agency with custody or possession of the firearm must use best efforts to determine if the firearm has been lost by or stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained from an innocent owner, and if so, must return the firearm to the owner, if ascertainable, unless that person is ineligible to possess, receive, or purchase a firearm under state or federal law. With certain exceptions, the agency must dispose of any such firearms it receives by sale at public auction to persons licensed as firearms collectors, dealers, importers, or manufacturers who are authorized to receive such firearms under the terms of such license. The auctions may occur online on a rolling basis or at live events, but in no event may an auction occur less frequently than once every six months during any time the agency has an inventory of saleable firearms.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
It was always about political theater.
I notice that the rifles were in the back of what looks like a personal pickup truck. I wonder which fine LEO was responsible for transport (and exactly how many made it to the evidence room.)
My county Sheriff’s office routinely auctions firearms to the public that are seized from illegal owners or people that have committed crimes with them. They held the last auction at one of the local churches. :-) Guess what? Nobody complained.
Are stolen firearms returned to owners?
It’s good to hear about this. I can remember reading about when the U.K. and Australia passed their sweeping firearms prohibition and confiscation laws in the late 1990s, untold numbers of rare and valuable guns were ordered turned in and destroyed, so much to the point that apparently numerous police officers given the responsibility of receiving and destroying these guns were greatly upset and saddened over having to do this. One story I read had an officer in England mentioning that someone turned in a set of replica Colts worth thousands of pounds.
I recall taking the picture. It was a Phoenix police truck.
Sure looked like a personal pickup.....My bad if you actually took that picture.
Most police trucks are just commercially available vehicles with a paint job.
What makes you think this is a personal truck? All I see in the picture is a bed liner. They were tagging and recording the firearms, so there was some control.
This was the last set of gun turn-in/ “buy backs” in Phoenix before the new law was passed requiring them to sell the guns turned in.
I had a great time. It was a rolling gun show!
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/05/azphoenix-gun-turn-in-buyback-rolling.html
Nothing to feel bad about. Not a lot to go on in the picture.
I looked at the dirty truck bed. It’s like mine. Outside all the time and in the weather. I’d expect a police pickup to be housed in a split-level ranch all by its lonesome with 2 or 3 public-paid mechanics to baby it and Armor-all the liner twice a day. :0)
I looked at the dirty truck bed. It’s like mine. Outside all the time and in the weather. I’d expect a police pickup to be housed in a split-level ranch all by its lonesome with 2 or 3 public-paid mechanics to baby it and Armor-all the liner twice a day. :0)
Looks like an M1 Carbine, a 40’s vintage Mossberg .22, and a 50’s vintage A5 there... plus the usual stuff.
Yeah, I remember seeing the A5 and thinking what a shame it was. Heck, even all the Marlin 60 variants are nice little .22s.
I used to look down on them until I started playing with one and shooting it. Then I understood why they are so popular.
Good little rifles.
Are stolen firearms returned to owners?
Yes, they are supposed to be, if the owners can be located.
The Marlin 60 is a classic, even with the pressed squirrel on the stock. A couple years back I managed to finally achieve one of my teenage dream guns by picking up a Weatherby Mark XXII with the Weatherby scope. I’d been wanting one of those since I wore out the 1973 Gun Digest.
At police auctions I’ve been to, when GUNS are sold the buyers lose self control and will bid up and pay nearly new prices for wore out guns.
At one auction, when the guns went up for sale it was like an electric charge went through the buyers. They surged toward the gun table and went wild with bidding.
Several years later, a DISTANT pawn broker had an auction of his store and guns.
A local pawn broker decided to go and see if he could pick up some bargains. He later told me he wish he had loaded up every gun he had and had taken them to that auction as the buyers went WILD!
It can be crazy... here’s one that will make you sick.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=541504511
And where it came from...
I have seen it happen often at auctions. For some reason, guns at auction go for crazy prices.
Very, very occasionally, a gun can be picked up at auction for a deal, but it is very, very, rare.
I think the best are when the guns are mixed in with other items, such as an estate auction.
It is kinda funny, but I always wanted a .22 pump gun, since shooting one belonging to a friend’s father when I was about 14.
A couple of years ago I picked up one; (a J.C. Higgens model 33, Made by Nobel, I think) then a few others, I think I ended up with 4 or 5.
At the end of it, I realized why the .22 autoloaders superseded the pumps. Simpler and cheaper to make autoloader, and just as reliable.
The pump guns are cool, but I have to admit that the autos really are better guns overall, if your ammo is up to modern standards of quality. I read that Indian Ordinance Factory ammo, for example, does not reliable function in auto-loaders.
it’s amazing how many owners don’t have serial numbers written down, we were consigned some by a police agency to sell, the family that had stolen guns came in and said that’s our gun, we called the police agency they said family didn’t have any serial numbers or pictures go ahead and sell it.
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