Grand jury demands gun-shop files...shops bought and resold firearms seized by police

[Lobster Martini]

Under Pennsylvania law, police departments may resell seized or donated guns, including sawed-off shotguns and assault rifles. One of the dealers mentioned in this article is so close to West Philadelphia that you could walk there on a warm day without perspiring. It is also half a block from the subway, so you could be in the middle of Philly or in South Jersey within minutes.

Incidentally, there were 200 homicides in Philly before July 1. Most involved guns. Hmmm... wonder if having cops selling guns to pawn shops might be a bad idea...

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed 10 years' worth of gun records as part of an investigation into the resale of firearms seized by the Upper Darby Police Department.

<snip>

The weapons included sawed-off shotguns and assault rifles. In April, Chester County special-education students collecting trash near their school found a handgun that Upper Darby police had once seized.

The Inquirer report also led to an investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office after Delaware County prosecutors said they became concerned about the resale of one of the illegal sawed-off shotguns, which had been seized from a mentally ill man.

<snip>

Under Pennsylvania law, police departments may resell seized or donated guns. In this case, sources said, federal authorities are trying to determine whether the proceeds from the guns went back to the township - or into the pockets of officers.

(Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20070803_Grand_jury_demands_gun-shop_files_The_federal_panel_is_investigating_charges_that_the_shops_bought_and_resold_firearms_seized_by_Upper_Darby_police_.html)

This is from a previous Inquirer article that I happened to find on PoliceOne.com:

One of the dealers who sold Upper Darby's weapons is now in prison for selling guns to felons. "I don't care if you kill a cop," he told an undercover federal agent wearing a wire.

The second shop owner lost his license after authorities linked guns he sold to 19 Philadelphia homicides, including the killing of a police officer.

"This involves hundreds of guns," said retired police detective Ray Britt, one of four current and former officers who told The Inquirer that police routinely resold seized firearms.

"Lots of people knew it was happening, and some officers tried to stop it," Britt said. "But it went on for years."

<snip>

In interviews, several current and former Upper Darby officers said the practice had troubled them.

"I tried to stop it," said one officer who asked not to be identified because he feared repercussions. He said a supervisor had told him to mind his own business.

"They beat you down. After a while, you try to justify it. You get to thinking what they're doing is OK. But I wake up at night worrying about where the guns went."

Harry T. Davis, a retired senior Upper Darby officer, called it a "a moral issue."

"It sickens me," he said of the gun selling.

Britt, the former detective, said the department had kept seized guns in haphazard fashion, many dumped in cardboard boxes on the second floor of police headquarters. Officers came and went with no controls on what they carried out, Britt said.

And Davis, an accountant by training, said the department's record-keeping was abysmal. "There's no chain of evidence in Upper Darby," he said.

(Link: http://www.policeone.com/news/1246894/)

[benEzra]

1. Possession of a "sawed off shotgun" is a 10-year Federal felony

under the Title 2/Class III provisions of the National Firearms Act, outside of police/military use, unless you first obtain Federal authorization (BATFE Form 4); the minimum barrel length is 18". Ditto for all automatic weapons, including actual assault rifles. I seriously doubt anything was sold legally that wasn't civilian legal, i.e. NFA Title 1.

I personally have no problem with police departments selling siezed guns, as long as they do so in a legal fashion (through licensed FFL, BATFE Form 4473 filled out, Federal background check performed, no sales to criminals, etc.). If a guy gets arrested for writing bad checks and his gun collection is confiscated, why NOT sell them on the same basis as new guns? Most departments nationwide do that.

Now, if the guns are sold ILLEGALLY (no background check, sold to felon, etc.) then you have a problem (and it appears that some under-the-table selling involving the PD was going on here). But that's no different than selling brand-new guns illegally, and should be prosecuted the same, IMO.