What does the gov't do with all the guns it seizes?

[mistertrickster]

I was reading page after page listing guns seized by law enforcement in (I think it was) THE WALL STREET JOURNAL a week or so ago.

At the bottom of every page was the proviso: "this is not an advertisement." It apparently is some kind of legal notice telling the owners that they can appeal the seizures if they want to try to get their property back.

Ignoring the issue of whether this is right or wrong . . . what happens to all the guns the BATF or law enforcement confiscates?

Who sells them and how would one buy them?

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Some are destroyed, some are sold at auction.

Often to FFL's, who sell them to the public.

[mistertrickster]

2. So there's no way you know of to buy them directly? nt

[krispos42]

7. I don't think so. If you're making a living from selling guns...

...and selling hundreds of guns certainly qualifies as such, then only an FFL can sell them to the public. Unless the PD had an FFL on staff, it would have to go to private FFLs, so the cops probably sell to them in bulk or in lots.

[X_Digger]

11. Directly? As a consumer? Not usually.

_Some_ auctions include the services of an FFL on-site, but they're rare.

If you have an FFL, you can attend the auctions without a problem. Not all law enforcement agencies do this though- it varies greatly by state and some just destroy them.

http://www.government-auctions-guide.com/ and http://www.deaauctions.com/ are two meta-sites that purport to list government auctions which might include firearms.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. You could contact a local police department and ask how they dispose of them.

Some have auction/garage sale type things. Some sell to private companies like estate sales. Highly variable/subjective to your local PD.

[sharp_stick]

3. Gives them to good lefties

in order to protect the members of death panels and allow the Government to use them when the order comes to seize all private guns.

Actually I think they're all destroyed once any criminal cases are concluded.

[MineralMan]

4. Depends on who seizes them. If it's the local cops,

some of them become "drop" weapons, no doubt. The really, really nice ones go into personal arsenals and collections. It just all depends.

[mistertrickster]

10. "drop" weapons . . . hehehe. Took me awhile to catch what you meant. nt

[Wickerman]

5. From what I read elsewhere, I believe they are given to the IRS

:evilgrin:

[Captain Hilts]

6. Usually destroys them. nt

[mistertrickster]

8. Oh, $h!t. That is so sad. Some of the guns are historical -- M1's, old S&W .38's etc.

We should pass a law that historic arms cannot be destroyed.

[Captain Hilts]

9. I agree. nt

[kizks9950]

12. destroyed probably

or sold, IDK

[Heidi]

13. One example: "Pentagon shooter's gun had many previous owners"

One of the handguns that John Patrick Bedell used to shoot two Pentagon police officers this month was seized five years ago by a Tennessee police department that later traded the weapon to a licensed gun distributor in Georgia, law enforcement sources said Sunday.
Washington Post, Breaking News Blog, Monday, March 15, 2010

[PavePusher]

15. So what? n/t

[Katya Mullethov]

16. $10,000 dollars in siezed BB guns ?

Those go in the chipper .