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Does anyone have any idea if there are law enforcement agencies that sell or
auction off the firearms that they seize on a constant basis?

I believe the answer is no. Some PD's have giant crushing machines that totally
tear apart any weapons they are fed.

But maybe, somewhere, could there be a department that sells the seized weapons
to law-abiding citizens? Inquiring minds would like to find such a department.

Evildoers with money must buy some high end firearms. It's a shame if they all go
to the crusher.

I doubt it.... but I would be interested in finding out. but sounds to good to be true

I'd love it if they did! I've seen some really old collectible firearms that the PD has displayed that I'd really really like to have.

You know some of them guns dissapear eveyday. Hey so what do they do with some of them guns?? Are they on file or something?

I'm betting that the cops themselves get to take home
the pick of the litter - Kimbers or whatever suits their fancy.

Then the rest go to the crusher.

Well, the correct answer is that most departments trade them in for their new guns. Very few in this area actually destroy guns. The stores then can sell them. For anyone who wants them, CDN Systems (seller name cdnsystems) has the contract with the state to sell firearms for the state police agencies. They list them on Gunbroker for anyone to buy. For example, the mini-Uzi they currently are selling for $799 is an old seized gun from TABC. Checking just now, I found that it had been converted to 9mm. I never knew that the whole three years it was in my safe. It was marked as a .45 and I never tried to do anything with it.

The 4043's and 4046's are old duty guns (and they got about 75 to sell).

Dury's Guns in San Antonio sells a lot of the SAPD guns. They will sell to any legal purchaser. I don't know if they just get the old duty weapons or if they get seized guns also. GT Distributors in Austin gets a lot of contracts from around the country also. They do sell seized guns and old duty guns. I think they will sell the used guns to any legal purchaser though the new guns only get sold to police, military, EMS, or firefighters (part of their license agreement with the manufacturers).

Now, the bad news is that the bad guys very rarely have guns worth having. Of the batch TABC recently sent off for sale, there were 15 seized guns, of which only three were really worth considering. The mini-Uzi was one, and there was a Walther PPK and a Thompson/Center Contender. The PPK was in medium bad shape but could be cleaned up. The Contender was in .44 Mag and decent shape with one or two spots of rust. There were three Raven 25's or similar quality (sold as a pack of three by CDN to even get a bid). The rest were somewhere in the middle, mostly valueless unless you were a collector of that specific brand or model.

srothstein wrote:Well, the correct answer is that most departments trade them in for their new guns. Very few in this area actually destroy guns. The stores then can sell them. For anyone who wants them, CDN Systems (seller name cdnsystems) has the contract with the state to sell firearms for the state police agencies. They list them on Gunbroker for anyone to buy. For example, the mini-Uzi they currently are selling for $799 is an old seized gun from TABC. Checking just now, I found that it had been converted to 9mm. I never knew that the whole three years it was in my safe. It was marked as a .45 and I never tried to do anything with it.

The 4043's and 4046's are old duty guns (and they got about 75 to sell).

Dury's Guns in San Antonio sells a lot of the SAPD guns. They will sell to any legal purchaser. I don't know if they just get the old duty weapons or if they get seized guns also. GT Distributors in Austin gets a lot of contracts from around the country also. They do sell seized guns and old duty guns. I think they will sell the used guns to any legal purchaser though the new guns only get sold to police, military, EMS, or firefighters (part of their license agreement with the manufacturers).

Now, the bad news is that the bad guys very rarely have guns worth having. Of the batch TABC recently sent off for sale, there were 15 seized guns, of which only three were really worth considering. The mini-Uzi was one, and there was a Walther PPK and a Thompson/Center Contender. The PPK was in medium bad shape but could be cleaned up. The Contender was in .44 Mag and decent shape with one or two spots of rust. There were three Raven 25's or similar quality (sold as a pack of three by CDN to even get a bid). The rest were somewhere in the middle, mostly valueless unless you were a collector of that specific brand or model.

That;s some good info! Thank you! I'll have to check out Druy's...

One of the guys I went to the Police Academy with now works for Sugarland PD and he said for the most part they destroy them. Now like srothstein most of the one they destroy are junk anyhow. He recently had to man the chop saw and destroyed quite a bit of junk but did mention that he had to chop up a Colt 1911 and a Beretta 92. I'm not sure what the story was on the Colt but the Beretta had been used in a successful suicide so I'm not sure I would want it anyhow. I know many people it would not bother but to me it just seemed like it would be a pistola with bad ju-ju.

chopping up guns is like chopping onions ...it brings a tear to your eye .

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:I'm betting that the cops themselves get to take home
the pick of the litter - Kimbers or whatever suits their fancy.

Then the rest go to the crusher.

I really doubt that. The guns are evidence and have to follow a chain of custody until their end. Most meet the saw when ordered by the courts. I promise you that there is not a box of them laying in the Sheriff's office for all to share (at least in Galveston county)

srothstein:

Thanks for the data you have provided.

What surprised me was that TABC has seized weapons during their
enforcement activities.

My perception of TABC is that they write up bars for incorrect procedures,
or conduct stings where they have underage people try to buy alcohol at stores
or get served in bars.

Do you know how TABC ends up with weapons?

My heart got broken back in the '60s when the laws changed in Tennessee. In Chattanooga, every gun, from every pawn shop, was seized by the police department. A judge appointed a citizens group to oversee that once they were seized, they stayed that way. No cherry picking by officers, officials.

In the dead of night, they were loaded onto a barge, unannounced, and were tossed overboard in a long stretch of deep water, the location not mentioned. I know a lot of guys were trolling with magnets, with little on no success.

I used to have a Sig GSR 1911 that was sold as a CPO gun. The gun store that sold it to me (Euless Guns & Ammo) told me at the time that a lot of the Sig CPO guns are turn ins from various police agencies. I took that to mean that most had been carried as duty weapons, but that some might have been seized weapons.

StewNTexas:

That reminds me of a visit we took to Hot Springs, Arkansas on Labor Day weekend of
1997, which was the weekend that Lady Diana died.

We took a lake ride on the military surplus DUKW's (ducks) which are the amphibious
trucks that the US military used during WW II. It was very scenic and cool to drive on the
roadways, then just go down a ramp into the lake and it's a boat too.

Well the story was told that at some point local law enforcement decided that the area slot
machines would be seized during a LEO raiding party. The slot machines were removed from
all the illegal places, taken onto a boat, and dumped in that beautiful lake that Hot Springs
surrounds.

The creepy thing about the "duck" ride was that shortly after we took our ride, maybe in 1998
or so, one of the ducks sank in the lake with loss of life due to drowning. When the duck sank,
many people didn't jump out of their seats quick enough. The ducks had a sun-shading awning on
top and this trapped the victims and brought them down with the duck. For all I know, the one
that sank might have been the same one we rode on in September 1997.

The City of Houston still auctions off rifles and shotguns, but will only sell to FFL's. They currently have 10 rifles and shotguns in their auction.
Auction website is
http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/housto ... orgid=4154" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;