Read--Weep...Take Heed
 

Hey Guys......today my youngest son....who is an Instructor at a Police Academy near here.....had me come visit and gave me the "Grand Tour"...got to see all the class rooms...firing range...met his fellow instructors.....had a long talk with the Gunsmith and then I was given a tour of the "gun vault"...where ..some..of the Confiscated Pistols were kept.....most apparently that are taken away from criminals wind up being destroyed no matter make ..model..or how good....a very few are saved to be used in demonstrations.....anyway.....the Officer in charge of the vault let me look around....it was amazing....M-14s...M-16s...WW2 Thompsons...all types of pistols hanging on the wall pegs....single action colt .45s...Walther PPKs....Mauser HSC ....Webley 38s....and in the floor were two Large plastic tubs....he opened the top one up....it was FULL of pistols...near the top was a DWM Artillery Luger..all matching...about 75% condition...no date on it ....right underneath it...couple of WW2 .45s...then another Luger....Commercial model DWM....short barrel..no date...had GERMANY marked on lower front frame...Good Condition.....and he said these were all confiscated in robberies.....and the sad part of it was.....none of the serial numbers on any of the guns were on the Police Stolen Roster......so there was no way to locate the original owners....he said that IF someone has a pistol stolen....to please furnish the Police with the serial #.....if its stolen in Tennessee....and 3 years later taken off a crook in Montana....the Police Dept. there will enter the serial # into the computer system.....and the pistol will be reunited with the original owner.......so word to the wise .....write down all the Serial #s of your pistols and in fact make couple of copies.....and put them up......so God forbid if they get stolen....at least you will have a chance to get them back.........can you just imagine some punk going into a liquor store with that Artillery Luger..????.....anyway......just wanted to pass that on to you.......Hans Fischer:(

thank you................tom
 

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Words to the Wise
 

Thanks Hans

John

Are you really sure that they will be destroyed? The cops here (not sure if it's the PD or the Sheriff) have auctions now and then, where they sell the guns. The fully automatic ones would be iffy, but I can't see why you can't sell a semi or a revolver if they can't prove the ownership and are going to destroy them anyway. You could ask your son to call the Police Dept. or the Sheriff here and ask how they do it, I can provide the contact info if you send me a PM.

BTW: I read the list for the previous auction, but it was mostly Saturday Night Specials and cheap shotguns. Not even worth going, but I would go to your home town if they decide to auction them off. :)

Well, You don't say where you are from, Olle, but in most of the US these days Police Auctions of firearms have long disappeared. It is political suicide for the Police Chief to "put guns back on the street" in most communities, thanks to screaming, liberal, anti-gunners.

These guns will most likely be destroyed.

Everything depends on state law, city law and whether the local prosecutor / city attorney / sheriff / PD decides to sell guns.

Some places do, most don't; some sell the parts to dealers and destroy the frame.

Everything depends on politics of the local area.

Ed

Hopefully cash-strapped municipalities and politicians will see an opportunity to make money here...
dju

I'm not too far from Hans, so that's why I think there's still hope. I work very close to the Police Chief here in town, so I might just ask him next time I see him.

I believe that's what they did here. Nobody wants to see money go to waste, so it's just a matter of getting over the stigma of a municipality selling guns. I can't see anything else being a problem as long as they use an FFL to handle the paperwork at the auction, they sell a lot of seized property anyway. If our PD had a bunch of Lugers and other valuable guns and knew what they are worth, I'm sure they would do what they could to get some money out of them.

If you know your police chief well enough. Explain to him the resell opportunities for his department. Maybe he can offer to take the guns off the other department's hands and let you broker them, keeping what you want in the process..

Don't know if this was directed at me or Hans, but in my case I know the chief well enough. But it could get sticky as I'm a city employee as well, and I think it could even be illegal for me do do such a thing. :(

Here's another route that might work. Years ago when I live in CA, where they allow either the local departments to destroy confiscated firearms or supply them to a statewide annual auction, one of the local shops with good police relations (was doing their repairs and selling them ammo, etc) was allowed in to one city's armour to destroy (cut the serial numbered area of) the frames, and buy all the rest of the parts at a fixed rate per gun (around $35 including Ravens, Jennings & other crap) in trade for future gunsmithing, ammo, ARs, etc). This was a major advantage to the department as it received the funds directly, rather than the state auction, where the money went into the "General" state law enforcement fund. It was also nice for us "parts guys" as a source for WW2 & before parts and the shop tripled it's money on these sales. I'd like to see this practice more wide spread, instead of melting down the entire gun as they do here in Missouri. TH

Not real sure about this but I seem to remember that last year in Tennessee this issue was brought up as a bill requiring police agencies to sell servicable firearms confiscated in crimes. Raised a bit of a stink and don't really know what the final fate of the bill was but I'm betting it passed and is the law here. Sales were/are only to licensed dealers.

Too old tobe relevent, but--
I got out the army in 1970.
My buddy who had ducked the military came by and saud he had a job possibility.
We ended up at the ATF office at the state capitol.
He had been working undercover as a "gun narc" and was headed to agent training.
They thought I was a good choice fpr replacing him.

Not a chance, was my response,

They showed me the evidence room and it was a sight to behold.
Whenever they busted somebody they took every weapon he had and kept them as long as the case was open.
There were whole inventories from shops and dozens of high end collectables-I rcall a FG 42 several G41s and Johnsons.
Lots of MPs and a MG 08 I had once owned.

Supposedly all his got cut up after the case was closed.
I was pretty PO'd at my buddy for thinking I would stoop to such a scummy activity.
I think he did it after being caught and cut himself a deal.
Never regretted my decision.

I talked to a police officer last week, and he mentioned the same thing. He told me that the law passed and that they are actually prohibited from destroying serviceable guns.

He said that it has been a bit controversial so they are selling to a dealer out of state to satisfy people who want to "get them off the street" here. I'll see if I can find more detail on this.

Good for you, Mike....I can't imagine a more disgraceful plummet than going from being an honorable American Soldier to a corrupt, lying goon for the federal gun confiscators.

I met the Police Chief today, and he confirmed that they can't send guns to destruction anymore, unless they are illegal or unsafe.

I did some Googling on this and found that there was a House Bill (2376) to amend TCA 39-17-1317 to prohibit the destruction of functional and legal firearms. This bill obviously passed with flying colors and was signed by Bredesen.

I haven't found the amended law text yet but here is the bill that, in short, proposes that the option to destroy firearms should be omitted from the law: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/106/Bill/HB2376.pdf

Mike, I would bet that your "buddy" had to find his replacement for the ATF, before they would let him leave. TH