[cuchulainn]

The second paragraph is laughable.

from the WAFF site

http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=1501018New Weapons Help Fight Crime

Oct. 28 - A valley sheriff's department has some new weapons when it comes to fighting crime.

The Morgan County Sheriff's Department has confiscated more than 300 guns through the years. The guns were condemned, meaning they couldn't be sold to the public. So the sheriff's department sold them to a dealer. :rolleyes:

Sheriff Greg Bartlett used the money from the gun sales to buy 53 new handguns for his officers. The 357 Glocks replace 9 milimeters once used by the department. The new guns are more durable, have a better knock down power, and are less likely to jam. And none of the weapons were bought with taxpayer dollars.

"We found the guns and sold those to a dealer and what money we made for that, $10,000, we bought new weapons and traded in the old ones" says Sheriff Greg bartlett.

Each officer in the sheriff's department received a new weapon, holster, and ammunition.

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[buzz_knox]

The Morgan County Sheriff's Department has confiscated more than 300 guns through the years. The guns were condemned, meaning they couldn't be sold to the public. So the sheriff's department sold them to a dealer.

Whether this is good or bad depends on why the weapons were confiscated. Perp uses the weapon to try and murder someone, cool. Guy got stopped in traffic and a cop saw his pistol (which he tried to get a permit for but the local judge was still ticked at him from a grade schoo incident and wouldn't let the permit go through) and confiscated it, bad.

[DeputyVaughn]

I work for the Morgan Co Sheriff's Office and I can assure you that officers here don't confiscate guns without good cause (like pocket full of meth and gun in other pocket). These 300 guns were confiscated over a long period of time, like 10 years worth. Most of the guns were junk anyway, although there were a few special items I wouldn't have minded getting my hands on (like a Spas 12). Gun ownership and possession is not considered grounds for confiscation without some crime being involved. We were due some new sidearms and the Sheriff was pretty creative in acquiring them without having to request extra funding for them.

Anyway the article was not precise, we were issued Glock 31s in .357sig caliber. These pistols replaced our 13 year old Sig 226 9mms. Officers were allowed to purchase there Sigs if they wished to keep them. I was suprised at how few did, price was an issue. Anyway asside from holster wear and maybe some individual officer abuse most were in good shape and the only jams I know of occurred at the range and only on pistols that were not properly maintained.

Anyway we have new sidearms. I've never been a tupperware fan but I'll get used to it. I shot 100 on the qualification course. It shoots ok but the balance is so different than I'm used to. I'll be spending a lot of time re-learning my draw and presentation from the new holster so it'll become automatic.

I'll do the best I can to answer any other questions anyone has regarding this story being I work for the department in question.

Scott

[cordex]

DeputyVaughn,
If you don't mind me asking, how much did the old Sigs cost the officers who chose to buy thiers?

[DeputyVaughn]

Cordex,
I'll PM you that figure.
Scott

[cordex]

Thanks Scott.

[Augustwest]

Wassa matter cuchulainn, "can't sell them to the public, but can sell them to a dealer who can sell them to the public" not makin' sense to you? ;)

Makes as much sense as 98% of the other stuff various gov'ts do...

[DeputyVaughn]

Augustwest,
I agree that that kind of logic is stupid. If the Sheriff could have sold the guns at auction he probably would have done better. I'm not sure of all of the legalities involved but what the sheriff did was the only way to do it. At least the guns weren't distroyed.

Scott

[cuchulainn]

Wassa matter cuchulainn, "can't sell them to the public, but can sell them to a dealer who can sell them to the public" not makin' sense to you? Actually, I was laughing at the writer for apparently not seeing that.

[Augustwest]

Actually, I was laughing at the writer for apparently not seeing that.

I figgered so.

Scott-

While I'm naturally skeptical about the laws under which the guns were confiscated, I completely agree that it was a clever (and frugal) move on the Sheriff's part to get you guys newer pistols.

And since they aren't .40's, chances are they won't blow up when you pull the trigger.
:D

[Pilgrim]

Having been a levying officer for the sheriff in Kings County, CA, I am familiar with the technical problems of selling arms to the public at auction. I once was tasked with collecting a court judgment from a gun dealer. If he didn't pay the judgment in full plus interest and sheriff's costs, I was prepared to seize sufficent inventory from his store to sell at public auction to satisfy the judgment.

After checking with the BATF and the state Department of Justice, it turned out that the only way I could have sold the levied arms was either to restrict the sale to FFL holders, or have a FFL handle all the paperwork to make the sales legal if sold to individual non-FFL purchasers. The FFL woluld receive a fee for his time involved in handling the transfers. If the FFL handled the transfers to non-FFL purchasers, he would also have to collect the necessary sales tax. Needless to say, it was going to be much easier restricting the sales to FFL holders.

Pilgrim

[FTG-05]

$1 says the guns were sold to Larry's Pistol and Pawn.

[DeputyVaughn]

The dealer that handled the deal is from Knoxville TN.

Scott

[rock jock]

Your sheriff done good. He saved the taxpayers a lot of money. You folks that are complaining should keep in mind that in the past (and maybe even today), there are a lot of confiscated guns that end up in some LEO's private collection.