Recovered/unclaimed firearms being cut up

[Jcole]

Apparently Indiana/Indianapolis is destroying recovered firearms that go unclaimed again. My dad just found out 2 of his that were recovered didn't make it onto the stolen list due to some one screwing up the paperwork and they got destroyed. I'm sure they weren't making a killing selling or auctioning them off but it was still a source of income for the city/state.

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

Apparently Indiana/Indianapolis is destroying recovered firearms that go unclaimed again. My dad just found out 2 of his that were recovered didn't make it onto the stolen list due to some one screwing up the paperwork and they got destroyed. I'm sure they weren't making a killing selling or auctioning them off but it was still a source of income for the city/state.

Indianapolis Metropolitan PD doesn't auction off seized/recovered firearms, so your statement about them making money by selling them off is false. Sorry your dad lost his guns. It would go a long way for him to complain to the Chief of IMPD to ***** about how firearms are treated once they are in the property room.

 

[rmabrey]

Indianapolis Metropolitan PD doesn't auction off seized/recovered firearms, so your statement about them making money by selling them off is false. Sorry your dad lost his guns. It would go a long way for him to complain to the Chief of IMPD to ***** about how firearms are treated once they are in the property room.

I read here a little while back that someone bought one of the guns in an auction and used it in a crime out of state so they quit doing it. Sorry about your dad's guns.

 

[millsusaf]

I would be much happier if all police depts sold seized/recovered firearms versus destroyed them.

I'd much rather they gain revenue from these sales than higher taxes or increased speeding tickets.

 

[Jcole]

I would be much happier if all police depts sold seized/recovered firearms versus destroyed them.

I'd much rather they gain revenue from these sales than higher taxes or increased speeding tickets.

That was my point exactly.

 

[Simon6101]

Won't do it

The Police Dept.'s won't sell them because it is not politically correct. They won't even rmove the accessories(scopes, mags, rings,etc.) and sell them off.

 

[IndyMonkey]

When you get millions in funding, why devote time and resources to selling weapons that will only draw bad press if they get used in a crime again?

 

[sj kahr k40]

I'll make it easy on IMPD, give me the guns and I won't use them in a crime. Problem solved

 

[Gabriel]

We destroy all of ours.

 

[sj kahr k40]

We destroy all of ours.

I would like to see them resold, but I understand why that isn't going to happen.

 

[vitamink]

Another issue that the police department had was people buying guns that were in bad shape, then that gun blowing up on them and that person wanting restitution. OHHHHH my pain and suffering! There is always someone who ruins it for everyone else. Remember back when cops would help you out if you locked your keys in your car? Someone (actually many someones) sued the department for damages when they couldn't roll down their passenger window or adjust their mirrors or whatever...so guess what?.. no one gets their cars unlocked for free anymore. I wish they would go back to selling the guns again, but i'm sure some douche would just ruin it again too.

 

[Jcole]

Valid points all around. Still sucks though.

 

[j706]

We TRADE all of are confiscated,found and or turned in guns to gunshops/FFL dealers. Usually we present a list and take sealed bids on them. Then the winning bid is used for purchase of other arms and or ammunition. I would say agency's that destroy firearms are the minority.

Often times judges will order a seized firearm destroyed. At least where I work a letter to the judge requesting the firearms be turned over to the agency is all it takes and it happens.

Worth noting-Most of the evidence guns I have seen are worthless. But we did have two M60's for a few years!!Yep real live functioning M60 machine guns. Nice ones too.

 

[ccochran3]

It's sad but true, the political liability of selling guns that could be used in future crime isnt worth the revenue that could be brought in... unfortunately "we" lose out the opportunity to buy back some decent guns at decent prices.

 

[indykid]

By the same token, reselling used police cars, recovered but unclaimed autos, or other automobiles used by government workers should be banned because someone might buy one of those cars and use it as a get-away car, or get drunk and kill a baby with the car, or....

Sorry, worrying about "what if" doesn't hold water. Sell the firearms through licensed dealers and use the funds instead of our taxes to pay for prisons.

 

[Zoub]

Apparently Indiana/Indianapolis is destroying recovered firearms that go unclaimed again.

Indy stopped doing the auctions cirica 2002 after the News reported just how much the Sherriff was making on the auctions. The proceeds went to him.

 

[JBusch8899]

The Morgan County (IN) Sheriff's Office creates revenue by selling unclaimed/seized firearms. Elmore's purchased a number of such this year.

According to the employees at Hick's towing and salvage, when they locate a firearm in any automobile, their policy is to contact IMPD for an officer to arrive and take a report. This is the interesting part that I'm unsure to believe: They also state that in the case of a lost or stolen firearm, the officer request those same employees to then cut it in half with the assistance of the yard's acetylene torch.

I do remember a few years back when I resided in Buffalo, NY; that the city P.D. operated a federally funded buyback program, in which a number of the more desirable firearms were re appropriated by the receiving officers, and replaced with such firearms as Llama, Iver Johnson, Hi Point, et al. I'm somewhat confident that such behavior continues within a number of government sponsored buyback programs.

In any event, I would speculate that most government entities demonstrate on a daily basis, of their inability to operate a less than an effective method to dispose of firearms.

 

[BURNSURVIVOR725]

Another issue that the police department had was people buying guns that were in bad shape, then that gun blowing up on them and that person wanting restitution. OHHHHH my pain and suffering! There is always someone who ruins it for everyone else. Remember back when cops would help you out if you locked your keys in your car? Someone (actually many someones) sued the department for damages when they couldn't roll down their passenger window or adjust their mirrors or whatever...so guess what?.. no one gets their cars unlocked for free anymore. I wish they would go back to selling the guns again, but i'm sure some douche would just ruin it again too.

i had to pay $45 to get my keys back. but i didnt have to pay the $1.50 delivery charge on my pizza!

 

[Squib]

I was shooting at Atterbury last year and the guy next to me asked to borrow a small screw drive. I looked at his revolver and it looked like it had been drug behind a car! He said he'd just gotten it back back form the police; it had been stolen the year before. I guess they don't treat guns as carefully as I do mine.

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

According to the employees at Hick's towing and salvage, when they locate a firearm in any automobile, their policy is to contact IMPD for an officer to arrive and take a report. This is the interesting part that I'm unsure to believe: They also state that in the case of a lost or stolen firearm, the officer request those same employees to then cut it in half with the assistance of the yard's acetylene torch.

I call B.S. If someone calls IMPD out to recover a firearm, there is a record of it in the CAD system. If the officer runs the serial number on said firearm and the control operator gets a stolen hit, there is a record, not to mention everyone else on the channel hears the serial number being ran and the stolen hit notification to the officer. Having the gun cut in half by the wrecker service employee would be an extremely large no-no.