Drizzt
Member
March 1, 2003, Saturday, BC cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 207 words
HEADLINE: Mesa considering sale of confiscated guns
DATELINE: MESA, Ariz.
BODY:
City officials will decide Monday whether to auction seized firearms to licensed gun dealers to raise cash for the city treasury.
The move would require the City Council to change a 1998 city law requiring that all firearms confiscated by the Mesa Police Department be destroyed unless they can be used for law enforcement or donated to museums. Before 1998, Mesa auctioned seized weapons to gun dealers.
Under the proposed policy, weapons eligible for auction, including handguns and rifles, would have to be worth more than $100. Military-style assault weapons, any firearms that are illegal or were used in violent crimes would still be destroyed.
Mesa Police Chief Dennis Donna, who wrote the new policy at the urging of the City Council, said it would allow him to decide which guns should be auctioned.
"I'm not taking issue with the council decision to auction guns," said Donna, whose predecessor, Jan Strauss, opposed changing the policy.
The council appears to support overturning the policy. "Basically, with all the provisions, I don't really have a problem with it," said Councilman Kyle Jones.
The most vocal opposition has come from Vice Mayor Dennis Kavanaugh, who said he favors the current policy.
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 207 words
HEADLINE: Mesa considering sale of confiscated guns
DATELINE: MESA, Ariz.
BODY:
City officials will decide Monday whether to auction seized firearms to licensed gun dealers to raise cash for the city treasury.
The move would require the City Council to change a 1998 city law requiring that all firearms confiscated by the Mesa Police Department be destroyed unless they can be used for law enforcement or donated to museums. Before 1998, Mesa auctioned seized weapons to gun dealers.
Under the proposed policy, weapons eligible for auction, including handguns and rifles, would have to be worth more than $100. Military-style assault weapons, any firearms that are illegal or were used in violent crimes would still be destroyed.
Mesa Police Chief Dennis Donna, who wrote the new policy at the urging of the City Council, said it would allow him to decide which guns should be auctioned.
"I'm not taking issue with the council decision to auction guns," said Donna, whose predecessor, Jan Strauss, opposed changing the policy.
The council appears to support overturning the policy. "Basically, with all the provisions, I don't really have a problem with it," said Councilman Kyle Jones.
The most vocal opposition has come from Vice Mayor Dennis Kavanaugh, who said he favors the current policy.
