Colorado Springs police may sell seized firearms

[BloodEclipse]

latimes.com

Colorado Springs police may sell seized firearms

The City Council is considering a program to let the Police Department sell confiscated guns to licensed dealers. Sales could net $10,000 a year.

By Nicholas Riccardi
August 23, 2009
Reporting from Colorado Springs, Colo.


This conservative city is taking an unusual, some might say extreme, step to try to stem its fiscal woes: It's entering the gun business.

The Colorado Springs City Council is expected in coming weeks to approve the final details of a program that would allow the Police Department to sell confiscated firearms to federally licensed gun dealers. Police have already stopped melting down the hundreds of guns they collect from crime scenes, drug houses or civilians who don't need them anymore.

The sales are projected to bring in about $10,000 a year, only a slight dent for a city that faced a deficit of one-quarter its $200-million annual budget this year. But it still helps, said Vice Mayor Larry Small, who proposed the gun sales.

"Every penny counts," Small said.

Colorado Springs is home to the Army's Ft. Carson, the Air Force Academy and NORAD. Men and women in uniform mingle easily with civilians in the shopping centers and strollable downtown that sits in the shadow of 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. People here are comfortable around firearms.

But even in Colorado Springs, the idea of law enforcement as gun sellers has raised some eyebrows.

The Police Department objected, only to be overruled by the council, which in February voted 8 to 1 to direct the department to draw up the program it will consider this month. Lt. David Whitlock said the Police Department has been moving cautiously to address the many concerns the sales raise.

"There's all kinds of ancillary issues, one of which is the politics of being in the gun-selling business," Whitlock said. "The other is not introducing another weapon into the community."

Jan Martin, the lone council member who voted against the sales, said the small amount of money they could bring in is outweighed by the risk that a gun sold by the city could one day be used for a crime.

"I remember what some of those weapons were used for," Martin said. "Just the idea of putting those weapons back on the street is unconscionable."

The International Assn. of Chiefs of Police cautions against law enforcement agencies selling weapons they have seized. Destroying the firearms, it says, is a better policy. No one tracks the number of agencies that make sales, but officials believe it to be very small.

Nonetheless, Scott Knight, who helped formulate the association's policy on gun sales, said, "We understand, particularly in this economy, that some departments need to recoup budget losses."

Knight's police department, in Chaska, Minn., about 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis, is one such agency. The department upgraded its rifles recently and the only way to pay for the guns was to sell the old ones to licensed firearms dealers.

"I certainly was not willing to turn those over to the public," Knight said.

In El Paso County, which includes Colorado Springs, Sheriff Terry Maketa's agency has been selling confiscated firearms to licensed dealers since 2006. Spokeswoman Lt. Laurie Sevine noted that most weapons used in crimes are not for sale because they are kept as evidence, sometimes for decades.

Sevine stressed that licensed dealers can only sell to people who can legally own firearms. "We're not selling to any civilian off the streets," she said. "We're very cautious as to how we go about this."

The sheriff's program, which has netted nearly $30,000 in two auctions, is what inspired Small to propose that Colorado Springs police start selling their seized weapons. He shrugged off complaints about guns possibly ending up on the streets, noting that police have long sold other assets seized from criminals.

"We auction off cars. It seems to me there's not that much difference between a firearm and a vehicle," Small said. "We've got a number of homes we've seized. . . . We don't send a bulldozer over to them."

Small said he thinks residents are comfortable with the idea because he's gotten only a handful of e-mail complaints.

Colorado Springs, population 375,000, has always been more cosmopolitan and diverse than stereotypes of the mountainous West.

Yes, the evangelical group Focus on the Family has a sign on the interstate advertising the organization's visitors center. One of the many commercial thoroughfares that wind through the subdivisions is called Corporate Drive. But the city's core is full of vintage clothing shops, music stores and an old-fashioned movie theater that last week was showing "Food Inc."

Nonetheless, several residents were rather blase about the possibility of their police selling guns.

"If it's going to generate money for the Police Department or the city, that's a good thing," said Joe Nason, 28, a six-year Army veteran taking a break from working on a construction project downtown. "People can get weapons anyway. I don't think [the sales] would have an effect on crime or more weapons."

Ty Lewis, 43, a floor installer reclining in square-block Acacia Park, also had no worries. "I don't think it's that much of a risk," he said. "Criminals are going to get their guns illegally."

But Susan Jones, an elementary school teacher, had other ideas. "I'm totally against it," she said. "I don't want to have as many guns out there as there already are."

Her husband, David, also a teacher, was pushing a pink stroller holding their 11-month-old daughter, Katelyn, while their 9-year-old son, Zach, walked along. He said he didn't necessarily have a problem with the idea. But then he stopped and recalled how, when school districts were in dire need of cash, they allowed in soda and candy vending machines. Now the nation is in the midst of a child obesity epidemic.

"It's got to be managed right," he said, so the police don't find themselves having to confiscate the guns another time.


Lets hope more guns are saved from senseless deaths.

[El Cazador]

Colorado Springs is a "conservative" city? When did that change? I mean, it's not Denver or Golden or Fail, I mean Vail, but "conservative"? Although, since it's the LA Times reporting, maybe I can see how they came up with that. Anything right of Gomorrah would be conservative to them.

Man, I miss the Rocky Mountain News

[Bill of Rights]

Originally Posted by BloodEclipse

latimes.com

Colorado Springs police may sell seized firearms

The City Council is considering a program to let the Police Department sell confiscated guns to licensed dealers. Sales could net $10,000 a year.

By Nicholas Riccardi
August 23, 2009
Reporting from Colorado Springs, Colo.
...Lt. David Whitlock said the Police Department has been moving cautiously to address the many concerns the sales raise.

"There's all kinds of ancillary issues, one of which is the politics of being in the gun-selling business," Whitlock said. "The other is not introducing another weapon into the community."

Yes, because the only weapon in your community requires gunpowder. Certainly no one would ever use a knife or a hammer or a car as a weapon. Oh wait....

Jan Martin, the lone council member who voted against the sales, said the small amount of money they could bring in is outweighed by the risk that a gun sold by the city could one day be used for a crime.

"I remember what some of those weapons were used for," Martin said. "Just the idea of putting those weapons back on the street is unconscionable."

Those guns just can't be trusted! Once they've tasted human blood, they just can't get enough of it, just like any other living predator! Oh wait...

The International Assn. of Chiefs of Police cautions against law enforcement agencies selling weapons they have seized. Destroying the firearms, it says, is a better policy. No one tracks the number of agencies that make sales, but officials believe it to be very small.

But if no one tracks it, that would make this nothing more than a "guess", as in "unsubstantiated gum-flapping". Certainly the IACP would never spout something as fact that is not demonstrably true! Oh wait...

Nonetheless, Scott Knight, who helped formulate the association's policy on gun sales, said, "We understand, particularly in this economy, that some departments need to recoup budget losses."

Knight's police department, in Chaska, Minn., about 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis, is one such agency. The department upgraded its rifles recently and the only way to pay for the guns was to sell the old ones to licensed firearms dealers.

"I certainly was not willing to turn those over to the public," Knight said.

So... let me get this straight: He helped formulae the IACP's policy on (read: against) gun sales, BUT he understands the need to make money BUT he wasn't willing to sell his department's legal guns to legal gun dealers to buy better legal guns for his officers to use in enforcing the law. Got it. Hey Knight, be careful the post from that fence you're trying to sit on doesn't go somewhere uncomfortable.... I don't think there's room for both it and your head up there.

In El Paso County, which includes Colorado Springs, Sheriff Terry Maketa's agency has been selling confiscated firearms to licensed dealers since 2006. Spokeswoman Lt. Laurie Sevine noted that most weapons used in crimes are not for sale because they are kept as evidence, sometimes for decades.

Sevine stressed that licensed dealers can only sell to people who can legally own firearms. "We're not selling to any civilian off the streets," she said. "We're very cautious as to how we go about this."

Just as those of us who obey laws are very cautious as to whom we patronize when buying our guns. (Oh, by the way: You're civilians too, you statist idiot.)

The sheriff's program, which has netted nearly $30,000 in two auctions, is what inspired Small to propose that Colorado Springs police start selling their seized weapons. He shrugged off complaints about guns possibly ending up on the streets, noting that police have long sold other assets seized from criminals.

So the program is lucrative for them and if they brought in $30K, that means the dealers probably brought in even more to cover their expenses. One of the few situations in which government is actually stimulating the economy... though it's doing so only by means of selling something it never bought... If we did that, it would be called "conversion", IIRC.

...
Nonetheless, several residents were rather blase about the possibility of their police selling guns.

"If it's going to generate money for the Police Department or the city, that's a good thing," said Joe Nason, 28, a six-year Army veteran taking a break from working on a construction project downtown. "People can get weapons anyway. I don't think [the sales] would have an effect on crime or more weapons."

Finally, someone making sense!

Ty Lewis, 43, a floor installer reclining in square-block Acacia Park, also had no worries. "I don't think it's that much of a risk," he said. "Criminals are going to get their guns illegally."

And another! Wow... Is common sense breaking out?

But Susan Jones, an elementary school teacher, had other ideas. "I'm totally against it," she said. "I don't want to have as many guns out there as there already are."

<sigh> I knew it was too good to be true. Of course not, Mrs. Jones... because the inanimate object is capable of doing so much all by itself... just like the chalk in your classroom is capable of teaching the children far more capably than you are. (oh wait, that might actually be true...)

Her husband, David, also a teacher, was pushing a pink stroller holding their 11-month-old daughter, Katelyn, while their 9-year-old son, Zach, walked along. He said he didn't necessarily have a problem with the idea. But then he stopped and recalled how, when school districts were in dire need of cash, they allowed in soda and candy vending machines. Now the nation is in the midst of a child obesity epidemic.

Yes, this had nothing at all to do with kids getting lazy, playing inside on a variety of video games and turning into blobs in front of the TV... as opposed to playing outside as generations before them did. (For clarification, let me state that this is directed not as the fault of the device but of the kids for doing it and their parents for letting them.) Yes, of course, it must be because of the candy and soda in the schools, and has nothing at all to do with the candy and soda they get at home, or the crappy nutritional choices that are so readily apparent, as opposed to the good nutrition that can be had if the person preparing the meals tries just a little.

"It's got to be managed right," he said, so the police don't find themselves having to confiscate the guns another time.

Let's worry less about the tool used and more about the person using it. They're criminals, not fish... let's give up on "catch and release" and fry a few of them up.
[/quote]

Lets hope more guns are saved from senseless deaths.

Amen!

Blessings,
Bill

[El Cazador]

Man, a whole post full of good zingers!

Probably my favorite though;

<sigh> I knew it was too good to be true. Of course not, Mrs. Jones... because the inanimate object is capable of doing so much all by itself... just like the chalk in your classroom is capable of teaching the children far more capably than you are. (oh wait, that might actually be true...)