From the Associated Press . . .
One of he biggest gun dealers in south-central Kansas is the city of Wichita, but it actually received less than half the proceeds from the sales because it works with several online companies to auction off the firearms.
Since a new state law allowing the gun sales was passes in 2015, Wichita has sold 2,082 guns that were seized during a variety of crimes, but were no longer needed because the criminal cases were complete.
The city generated $196,000 on the gun sales that went into a fund that pays for miscellaneous police equipment. But The Wichita Eagle learned that the city is received less than half of the $425,000 in total sales the guns generated because the companies that handle the sales take a significant chunk of the proceeds.
The city contracts with Propertyroom.com that sells the guns through a partnership with a major gun retailer that operates an online auction sit for firearms because the law requires them to be sold at auction.
The city finance director said officials last took proposals for the gun contract two years ago and renewing Propertyroom’s deal was the best offer they got.
Supporters of the practice, such as Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell, who wrote the law, say it’s no different than police departments selling off other seized property like cars or jewelry. And any gun purchases require background checks.
Former Rep. Jim Ward who also used to work as a city prosecutor said he knows it’s impossible to keep all the guns off the street, but he never wanted the government in the gun businesses.
Was one of the buyer’s name Holder? Or did he go through a middle man again?? “Straw purchase”!!
With what the prices are going for on many firearms these days, it appears this could be quite profitable for the city. If they would also get into the business of selling ammo…then they could really be raking in the cash! 😀
Awesome! Good for them!
$40K a year, with zero investment…eh. Sure, why not?
If they are Ok with the arrangement, no reason for anyone else to complain. Sounds like they are accepting a smaller cut to ensure they everything is in compliance. Kudos to them.
Golly! If they can make $200K off “seized” guns think what they could make selling working ones… 😉
Hey-O! Haha, well done Craig! Thank you for the good chortle.
I wonder on who is taking their pictures for them. They left their weed and bottle of Hennesy in the pictures. Or maybe that was part of the seized material and they are saving it for later.
Now the one pistol with the drum mag. Is that just foolish or am I missing the new method of recoil control?
Glad they are selling them rather than destroying them…
Good for them. Why not?
Fellow didn’t want the .gov in the gun business? I guess we can un arm our armed forces. Give them clumps of daisey’s instead of gats.
I guess only ignorant hicks from Kansas have enough common sense to make some honest money selling serviceable firearms to non-criminal buyers who jump through all the required hoops. Well done, Wichita!
Considering the time & effort the auction companies take they need to make a profit off this also…. They have FFL record keeping, photography , time writing the auction, boxing and shipping and fees payed out to internet host all rolled into this, so I wouldn’t begrudge them their cut of the proceeds
What’s the make/model of the gun on the bottom row, just right of the booze and pot? I think I know the others (Shield EZ, SCCY, Shield, and a Cobra/Jiminez/whatever piece of crap), but that one’s not ringing a bell.
It’s a Taurus 709 Slim. I got one. Great gun. Never a hiccup for several years. My wife commandeered it!
Thank you!
Oh look, along with the guns, they have alcohol and Marijuana in the image. OMG, they go together?
That’s far better than many states, which blindly destroy them, a policy which should be prosecuted as criminal malfeasance.
Anyone who does not approve of selling confiscated or otherwise acquired firearms through legal channels (FFL, etc.) must also be opposed to ANY legal sale of a firearm to a law-abiding citizen. There is no difference.
The manufacturers are fine with it. Anything that takes secondary market guns off the table is good for the industry.
I’m not so sure. The act of destroying valuable assets “just because they are guns” fosters a stigma that their product is inherently “evil.” Anything that does not fight that propaganda is bad for the industry.
Hey heh heh, so you know the secret too.
I’ve not been in the store room in Wichita, I have been in the store room in Emporia. 50 gallon barrels and lots of them full of gunms, I wanted to browse but No.
Yup its better to auction them off then destroy them virtue signaling. A little added revenue is good and who knows that gunm the cops just sold might save someone’s life.
I know of a gunshop that buys seized/surrendered long guns by the barrel. All conditions, questionable storage, some unknown makes/models. I’m sure somebody at the warehouse looked them over and pulled out anything very interesting… but a cheap barrel full of sks, hunting rifles, shotguns, etc…
just on selling salvageable parts alone, the gun shop was making enough money to have a continuing purchase agreement.
I’ve worked for a dealer for several decades and have made many trades & equipment swaps with multiple LE agencies. Duty Pistols, shotguns & patrol rifles. Also a lot of seizure guns, which are mostly cheap crappy stuff taken from felons & gang bangers. Departments around here rarely sell or auction off unwanted guns since most administrations require any money received at sale go to the general fund and not directly to the department/agency selling the items. If they trade their used guns then they get 100% of value towards new guns.(vs the library or public works dept) I always cry when I see post 86 machine guns agencies want to dispose of but are actually quite worthless on the used gun market and way too much paperwork to find another LE agency qualified to re-purchase. Nothing like having 40 mini-14 rifles or 50 Ithaca 37 riot guns in the shop. Some areas have laws preventing the public resale of department owned guns. In CA it’s illegal for departments or dealers to resell any surplus CA agency guns to the civilian instate market. The FBI now destroys any surplus agency guns too. Most department guns are actually fired very little and are a great value.
OK, so what is the online auction site that Propertyroom partners with?
From their FAQ section:
“PropertyRoom.com offers auction services to our law enforcement clients to auction their seized, forfeited or unclaimed Firearms – which are part of the property & evidence they are responsible for disposing of. While we do not auction/sell Firearms on PropertyRoom.com, we do we work with our Federal Firearms Licensed partner, BudsGunShop.com to auction them on their Firearms auction site, eGunner.com.”
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