AZ:Avondale Mayor and Councilman Prevented from Return to Medieval Deodand Ritual

[Dean Weingarten]

In a strange twist of emotional symbolism over reason, Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers and Councilman Charles Vierhout voted against the required sale of valuable property to raise money for the police and city of Avondale.

State law requires that confiscated or forfeited firearms be sold, rather than destroyed in a ritual comparable to the medieval concept of the Deodand, where objects could be considered to be guilty of crimes.

The police department has about 1,000 firearms that have been confiscated or surrendered, and they are running out of room.

As demand for firearms is currently high, this is an especially fortuitous time to sell the property. Working firearms are seldom worth less than $100, so the entire collection will probably bring more than $100,000 for the City and police.

Only one citizen complained about the law, and wanted the property destroyed rather than sold.

Destruction of the firearms would only benefit gun manufacturers by increasing demand, although some would argue that it would give an emotional lift to those who have an irrational fear of weapons.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten Permission to share granted as long as this notice is included.

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/03/azavondale-mayor-and-councilman.html

(embedded link in the article at the site)

 

[salvador31c]

I think it should be noted that the bill to sell/trade unclaimed property (including firearms) passed in a 5-2 vote.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/...police-can-sell-trade-unclaimed-firearms.html

Vierhout said he couldn’t agree to the city selling guns back to the public. He feared victims of gun violence or their families would see the weapons used in the crimes against them sold on the Internet, he said.

According to the new city rule, the department may dispose of unclaimed firearms by trading them to a federally licensed firearm business for law enforcement-related materials or by petitioning the municipal court to order the firearm be sold to a licensed firearm dealer authorized to sell it at public auction.

Some guns, such as those used in homicides or sexual assaults, cannot be released by police for more than 50 years, said Assistant Police Chief Lynn Parkin. Only the firearms that cannot be returned to owners, or guns a court has mandated the owner can’t have back, would be disposed as directed by the ordinance, she added.

 

[Ryanxia]

I think the departments that destroy them should have their budget cut by the retail amount of those firearms because obviously they have so much of our money they don't need any more.